2023-03-19: Leina Sinks
- Log: Leina Sinks
- Cast: Leina Ashta, Yuliana Kafim
- Where: Karaoke booth, Fujinomiya City
- Date: 2023-03-19
- Summary: Yuliana confronts Leina over what she heard in the Banshee's cockpit, when her aura disrupted its hungry ghosts, determined to help her as she was helped. Leina doesn't want Yuliana's help, though -- and Yuliana, furious at her extended hand being shoved away, curls it into a fist. She blames Leina for the horror she's going through, and gives her a horrific prophecy, instead. (CW: Verbal abuse)
<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.
It was a peculiar message right now, that Yuliana wanted to speak to her. Leina honestly didn't expect to see her at Harocon of all places, watching her stage show???
However, she didn't turn down the invitation, and she did indeed set the terms as per what Yuliana stated.
Fujinomiya City, in a karaoke booth. If Yuliana did some basic checks she'd see that Leina doesn't have anyone watching the place, and neither the authorities nor the PPL are aware.
The booth is dimly lit, but with bright colors ever shifting overhead, as some default setting for the karaoke setup. The couches are super cushy and red. Leina was searching through a menu of the selections. And then spying one...
-=-=-
When Yuliana arrives, Leina's at the back of the booth, holding a microphone and singing. She's doesn't have any great talent at it, but she's an ideal karaoke partner just because she's still so passionate about singing it nevertheless.
"I can't ever forget your warmth,
"Your kindness, and your all-encompassing hands.
"It's long long good-bye."
"Goodbye, goodbye, my beloved.
"I came this far because you were here.
"I wasn't alone, was I?
"Now, I long for answers."
"Catch a falling star that looks ablazed and light a fire,
"I still want to love, and I still want to be loved.
"What good is a lone freezing body to this world?
"I long for you to finally drop your act..."
"What's wrong? Why can't I stop my tears from overflowing?"
"I met you, the stars sparkled, and I was born.
"I love you, therefore I am.
"What good is waiting for a hopeless miracle?
"Through my tear-filled vision, the planet's twinkle is gone..."
It's a normal enough song for her, Leina being a big Sheryl Nome fan is a known quantity and yet... maybe the sheer depth of emotion she puts into this one is a little telling.
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
Basic checks are entirely normal. No harm meant or done, but it's important to know where one stands.
Elisa, of course, knows where she is. That's normal, too.
It's Yuliana Kafim, slipping into the booth and closing the door softly behind her. She's wearing a bomber jacket which has particular padding about its bottom hem; there's no sign of anything untoward about her ears, either, which means that the lacuna of her existence is still tightly wound about her. Her trousers are still tucked into her boots, a particular heat-trapping trick from cold climates.
She's -- put it bluntly -- neither sweet nor sixteen, so teenage idols tend to be further from her radar; even so, there's no escaping the titanic fame of one Sheryl Nome and her musical talents. She even quite likes it when she hears it on the radio!
She leans on the closed door, arms folding, one too many teeth gleaming in a grin as she lets Leina finish. It's only once the song fades that she speaks up:
"Such tragedy waits those who forget their promise to God, mm? What a bittersweet song you've chosen..."
Yuliana pushes off of the door, and ambles over to lounge on one of those comfy couches, gesturing to the seating with a hand. She's even nice enough to sit on one end, so Leina doesn't have to be within grasping distance. "Come! Sit. There is much I would discuss with you. Have you been well, little Leyasha?"
<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.
Leina for what its worth is wearing Harocon '97 Staff shirt and a pair of Jeans. She's got some tennis shoes on, and a jacket draped over her purse.
And in her hair, a barrette with a tiny holographic projector, showing off a magical girl wand just a few millimeters from the barrette's surface.
When Yuliana comes in, she doesn't actually even startle. She offers a wave but continues singing without so much as a break in the song.
"If one day we can be reborn into a world where we're safe and free
"Then I know I'll find you again, I know you'll race straight to me
"Never let me go, let us never again take love for granted
"'I won't let you feel alone,' I want you to whisper to me, planet..."
As she finishes, she doesn't take a bow, though she puts a smile on her face as if putting on a sticker.
"Just... Aznable you know?" Her smile thins out, "Putting us all in foul moods. Didn't feel like a day for Infinity or Northern Cross."
Of all people, perhaps Leina most of all, and yet she doesn't mention that. There's no need to tell Yuliana that particular secret of Sayla Mass.
It's more than that though, of course it's more than that, she doesn't mention that either. And Leina actually sits fairly close. Not so close that she's within that aura, but on the outer edge. It's like she just has it instinctually marked in her head.
She no longer has to walk face first into it to know exactly when and where to stop. Then again, Yuliana certainly doesn't have that frill up...
"More or less I guess?" She admits, as its an easy enough explanation for how tired she looks for someone who looks past the makeup, "Not sleeping the best. Nightmares of the past are new again?"
However, her smile does perk up, and she does straighten up, "I'm glad to see you well though. I thought you'd be recovering longer, the last thing I expected was seeing you at Harocon! Did you have a good time?"
She doesn't ask why she wanted to see her yet, but she knows Yuliana will get to that soon enough.
"You looked it at least, I loved your outfit!"
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
Yuliana frowns, when Leina mentions Char, but doesn't immediately press on it. She does note Leina perching on the edge of oblivion. She thinks she is safe there, perhaps, Yuliana thinks. Or perhaps it's a Newtype's idea of affection...?
She doesn't raise her frill, in any case. Not... yet.
"Hmm? You, too? Nasya mentioned sleeping poorly... as did Koji, come to think. They're not habitual challenges, then, I suppose." Yuliana knows something of nightmares. She doesn't look tired because this has been how she looks for many, many years now; it's her baseline, normal, long-since adapted into something resembling capacity.
She raises a brow, and goes on: "As for me, I remembered the invitation and figured it would be a pleasant diversion... after all that's been going on. Speaking of -- Aznable, you said?" She presses, fingers drumming on the back of the couch, as she folds one leg over the other. "But it was a lovely date, really," just because they're married doesn't mean Elisa and Yuliana can't go on dates any more!, "and weren't our outfits just darling?" Her expression brightens, the endless green of her eyes shining. "Where else will you find occasion to wear a Haro dress?"
<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.
For a moment her posture truly does sag, "They were habitual in the past, it's just, recently they've changed. Ever since..."
There's this light sigh, "...not long after Captain Aiden's last attack in the Banshee? The girl I told you about from my past - they're all about her. Always about her."
Leina pinches the bridge of her nose, and rubs them, "It can't be her, and yet? I don't have any idea what they did, so I can't discount it..."
She gives a helpless shrug, the situation is obviously bothering her. More impressively, Yuliana won't sense even a hint of a lie there. It all seems true enough, if there's anything untrue, its in the omissions.
"... I guess it shouldn't be any surprise that even the dead aren't sacrosanct to the Vist Foundation." A sharp spasm of anger on her face. And it feels real even...
... Leina's eyes slide over to Yuliana, "Yeah he's back, just like Amuro Ray came back under the influence of Oath over Omega. The first thing he did was make Earthfall in the Sazabi and attack Kowloon Memorial Park." She doesn't need to tell Yuliana what that is.
"He should have stayed dead." Leina mutters, in a moment that is perhaps far too honest, and yet not unusual at all given who it is.
The comments about the date and the Haro dress spark a smile out of her again, as she brings a beanie knit cap out of her bag of a Haro, with flaps on both sides. As she hits a button and it flaps and lights up.
"A birthday gift Banagher and Mineva got me. Wore it most of the convention." She winks at her, "And it was adorable! You'll have to tell me where you got it! Or wait, did you have it custom tailored?"
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
Leina claims it's Elpeo, and Yuliana's eyes narrow as she scrutinises her, in the telling. She doesn't... seem to be lying.
Does she really not know?
For the moment she lets her speak, anger crossing her eyes as Leina speaks of Char's return. "Bastard," she mutters, herself, and it seems they're in agreement.
So, too, is she in agreement with Leina about -- "How precious!" -- that flappy cap. She has a smile for that, at least, and a chuckle for her closing statement and wink. "Oh, my dress was custom-tailored, yes -- we've a seamstress in Zaftra who sees to our complex work." Which is to say, a seamstress whose will they crushed in Zaftra. She's probably fine. "We first commissioned her for our wedding dresses, but we were so impressed with her work we've continued to seek her out..."
A light pause, as Yuliana presses her fingers to the side of her cheek. "But you'll have poor luck finding her," she decides on her approach, "given it was my Elisa who convinced her to take the work on... by and large, she doesn't remember us at all. I suppose she goes through most of her life not realising she ought to drop everything else if our demands come through..." Her tone goes more distant, more contemplative, as she reflects on Nadejda's experiences.
"Haa..." She sighs, shaking her head, and looking back to Leina. "I don't know... do you suppose she'd notice anything, day-to-day?"
<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.
Does she know? It's definitely hard to tell at a glance, but from all indication that was either the truth, or she's just that good of an actress - or...
There is definitive agreement, as she glowers over the subject of Char. It was personal before. It's even more personal now.
Still, the subject of Haros relieves the tension. At first she nods along, but then there's an expression like...
... there's just this momentary glimmer in her eyes and it's hard to say if she it's simply her comprehending the messed up aspects of it, given Alma, given Elisa's powers or... something else just happened.
"I. That's interesting. Elisa said that's the most difficult and taxing of her powers. I wouldn't have expected her to use it on a Seamstress."
Leina just blinks, looking thoughtful, "If I had to guess, based on what I know of that and various forms of conditioning... probably not, until there's a relevant stimulus? Like... your order."
She doesn't actually weigh in on the morality of the subject, because if its just a minor memory alteration, that is perhaps, kinder than the idea that someone in the REA found out she did a job for either of them?
It's difficult to say right now.
"I'm not really involved in rehabilitation efforts so I don't know enough about how Elisa's methods really work?"
Did Yuliana activate her? Or didn't she? If so, it might have been as simple as the train switching tracks in her mind without more than a split second of slowing down.
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
"Hmm? You misunderstand me," Yuliana corrects her, a touch arch in tone, even as her head inclines in a gesture which would otherwise invoke humility. "She's simply under orders not to reveal us so carelessly. It's a different matter entirely to erasing the effects of what came to pass."
Yuliana doesn't know what she doesn't know.
She's certainly examining Leina carefully, though. "Far be it from me to dismantle my Elisa's methodology, but it's a standard trick in the playbook, wouldn't you agree? For sleeper agents, that is." And if she feels badly about using that playbook on Leina, well -- omelettes, eggs, and so on and so forth.
"Of course," she sighs, "sometimes it's more subtle than that. Pressures on behaviour... that's how it was for me, you understand. They invoked the wolf and made me ravenous... but there was no need to change so much about me. In so much of this they failed to make me a different person... but only the person I was in the ways they desired."
She shrugs, brushing her bangs back. (She has bangs again! Thank Elisa for that. They're less all-concealing, now, and to either side of her face in a hime cut, but it's nice to have them returned.) "I suppose something like that could work with all sorts of people. Warriors, sneakthieves, cowards..."
There's the barest breath of a pause, as her gaze slides back to Leina,
"... caretakers..."
<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.
"Oh I see!" Leina takes to the correction well at least, "My apologies for the misunderstanding. That makes perfect sense."
There's something about that word, Sleeper Agents that has her just a little too still, her nails, still polished from prom but short are just, digging into the denim further than is comfortable.
"R-Right. Or the dog." Leina notes, looking away. She's a touch more agitated now, though it could just be that its now touching on the first person she ever killed with her handgun.
When Yuliana lists things out, there's just this sudden shift as her eyes snap back, "I mean... yeah, Alma is... kind of proof of that."
Yuli might notice the moment her lower lip moves back, just subtly, then forward again. "I don't understand where this line of questioning is... going really?"
She tries her best to look confused, "I'm just surprised, I guess, this isn't the kinda thing I expected when you said you really had to meet with me."
The hand furthest from Yuliana cards through her short curly brown hair on the left side of her head.
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
Yuliana appears quite collected, even as Leina grows so agitated -- and declares that Elisa's mind control makes perfect sense. The tragedy of this world is that right now, she's the adult in the room, with all the experience to make sure Leina doesn't get eaten by that complicated existence as she steps out into it.
It's called 'acting.'
Takes one to know one.
Takes one to see the effort Leina puts into her confusion, that little trailing pause in her query, the softening of her phrases. "It's possible you don't understand," she allows her that much, her own tone level.
"Let me abandon delicateness, then."
Her lips purse in a frown, and she is bothered, whether she's letting it show or cannot help but have it be shown. "The struggles of a Newtype are zeroed out about me," she explains, tone cooling. "Whatever powers they may bring to bear I deny, and I am not destroyed by that process. Do you remember when I fought the Banshee, Leyasha?"
Why is she asking Leina that? Leina wasn't --
"Do you remember pleading for help in the silence of your tomb, between your desperate efforts to calm whatever restless spirit laid there with you?"
-- there.
"You asked," Yuliana's chin tilts up, calling attention to the pink scarf about her neck, "and I am come. You will return with me, Leyasha, and we will put this to rights. We will call it a kidnapping, that you needn't fear bringing shame onto your family for your actions. You are my friend, and I will do this, for you." Her tone is conclusive and closed to argument, imperious and strong.
<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.
Leina gives Yuliana this apprehensive yet curious look as she tells her she's going to abandon delicacy. There's this slow nod.
"I mean... at the wedding? Yeah I remember..."
Her eyes dart to the side and Yuliana will see the subtle dilation of her pupils. "My... you mean Roux's ReZel? I was... pleading with... Captain Aiden to stop." It's obviously getting desperate now, the last gasps of an attempt to deflect away from the truth. A hand touches her purse, her jacket.
Her breathing is picking up pretty rapidly, "No! No! I can't You're- You're under a mistaken impression! I'm doing this- doing this of- my own free will."
Her look, her posture, its all panicked and pleading, "I-I walked into their office- her office, and made a deal. It was the only way to save both of them. The only way out-! I don't know what - what they did to her - to do this - I'm just, a- a component- a vessel for-"
She just, quickly stands up, smoothly grabbing her purse and jacket, but she doesn't try to charge past her, just clutching at it, "Please, if you're my- my friend you have to... have to let me go- it's the only way! I promise - I promise I'm keeping her under control so that noone dies. Noone ever dies. She thinks its play, she attaches to her playmates- if she kills anyone... then she can't. She can't, she can't, she can't..."
She's shaking, terrified, something glimmering in those eyes of hers, "It's the only way out for them. It's the only way. You'd do-do it for Elisa. I- I know you would."
Her eyes keep darting for the door, her hand is in her purse, but... despite how distraught she is, she makes no motions like she's actually thinking of violence save as a last resort. Just flight.
She must really actually consider Yuliana her friend.
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
At the wedding? No.
It was not Yuliana who fought the Banshee, then.
She doesn't have to deny it, though; her explanation is enough. Her lips curl, in a sneer which betrays her own tension, as Leina insists she's mistaken.
Leina stands, and Yuliana doesn't have to, immediately.
Because a horrible tentacle -- a little like a snake and a little like an orchid and a little like a hand and a lot like nothing of this Earth -- shrugs out of its pocket and darts out from inside her jacket to wrap something like jaws or claws around Leina's wrist. The fingers are black, and they are cold.
(She does not unsheathe her teeth; they will not break the skin.)
Yuliana rises, slowly, even as she holds her in place, and when she's on her own feet she steps firmly into Leina's space. "You think I am mistaken?" She hisses, as she grasps Leina's shoulder with one of her own hands. (This, at least, is warmer.) "Do you think I know nothing of being a component, girl? Do you think I know nothing of doing something so distasteful for others? You, who has studied me so closely?" And isn't it a betrayal, to kill her own countrymen?
"It was not my Elisa who demanded this of me. It was not for my Elisa I gave it."
The REA, then.
"You will keep her under control until you die, then," she issues, and the strain makes her cold. "Just as you wanted. You will burn yourself to ashes for the chance they will fulfill their promises. Do you know what happened to me when I burned to nothing, then?"
She's clearly angry, but her eyes are just a shade too damp. "They told me to lie down and die, and God help me, I did, with not a word of protest as they shoved tubes in all places they oughtn't be. They shoved a needle into my spine and watched as I cooked alive from the skull on out. And do you think my people would have been spared if I'd died there, throat blocked to screaming?"
Yuliana shakes Leina, as her voice climbs to a scream, and it's lucky that these booths are soundproofed. "No! You know they would not! You were there to see them hunt my people down like dogs! So it shall be with your beloved Banagher, and Mineva, too! If you've no other way, it is no way but to return with me, idiot child! You cried for help, and now you will ACCEPT IT!" And if there's something like desperation, tearing at her anger, well -- perhaps it's just frustration.
<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.
Before she can decide on flight or talk or anything, the snake whips out, and around her wrists. There's a startled yelp, but not a shriek.
Murasame must have deadened that reaction in her, or perhaps she simply knows better than to cry out.
She's shaking within their grasp, but she knows better than to move, eyes wide and darting from Yuliana to the state. If Yuliana looks closely in her purse she'll see what certainly looks like a flashbang rather than a firearm that was half gripped in her fingers.
What a desperate measure for such close quarters. She'd rather blow her own eardrums out that risk greater harm.
The wave of nausea and dizziness comes over her, but its not so bad, its like she's grown more and more accustomed to this with each exposure. The throb pounds in her skull.
Still, her voice catches in her throat, well and truly terrified, and she just makes a pathetic shake of her head from side to side, as if to say 'No I believe you know. No I believe you know.' over and over.
There's this moment of surreal shock as she thinks of a quote from her favorite old book...
If it would make people happy, I wouldn't mind if my whole body burned to ashes.
It takes her some time to find the words, she has to choke down some sobs, she has to breathe until then she takes the scolding like she truly is a child, but in the end she doesn't accept it, "I'm not saying it wasn't like that for you-! Any of that! This is just... it's... the kind of person I am... Yuliana. I've stopped... pretending that... trying to be a good person would ever get me there. That ship sailed too- too long ago. This is who I've... always been. Someone who thinks she knows what's... best for everyone. A schemer. A manipulator. A liar. That wasn't... Glemy Toto that did that! It was me! It was always me! I've been like this since I was a kid-!"
She's still shaking, still trembling, but she's not trying to fight her save with her words, "But I can use that... I can use that, for them. I can't protect them from the world. I can't, I can't - eventually it'll catch up to them - and crush them - but I can - I can still save them-!"
More breathing, she pinches her eyelids shut as if to staunch the flow, "I know, people, like them, like her. They have no- no reason not to- Martha doesn't want a prolonged war. She wants to complete- certain objectives. Then- then she wants it to stop. You think she- really wants to fight Koji forever? Or risk 3G coming after her? Or Domon Kasshu? Or even you and Elisa? She'll have to make good, or it'll never stop."
Her eyes open again, seagreen eyes wet with tears just look at her, "If I die then... it's no less than what I deserve. Everyone is going to hate me after this anyway. My life... will be over. Please... this isn't going- to help. And the only way you could - I can't ask you to help me with that. You deserve your- your second chance. You shouldn't waste it... on...on..."
After a moment her head hangs, she knows at this moment she's relying on one singular thing, and that is Yuliana being willing to let her go, "...someone like me. Please... please let me go. It's their only chance."
And it isn't hers? Well... if it would make them happy... she wouldn't mind.
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
"Nice try," Yuliana spits, as her eyes fall on the flashbang.
But Leina does manage to choke out a response, eventually. She names herself a liar, and Yuliana's tongue clicks, against the inside of her teeth. "Tch," and it is no true interruption.
Give her her length of rope and she will hang herself.
"The death of one more exploited Newtype will not bring endless war to the Vists," she promises, voice grave. "When you're military hardware, you're expendable." The word stabs through her just the same, something almost ill to the anger in her eyes. "You know this is the way of the world."
But Leina looks to her, and Yuliana's grasp tightens, with new anger which flashes over her face. "What you deserve is not yours to decide!" She screams, and it's a good thing she doesn't wear too much makeup around her eyes, unlike her elegant wife. "Who are you to call my efforts wasted?! To decide my path! Your arrogance is matched only by your self-deception! Y-you stand here and -- deny me?!" Her voice hitches, as she draws in a shuddering breath.
When she bites her lip, it bleeds. There, on the right side of her lip, the lower half is scarred from so many punctures.
"You've not stopped pretending for a moment, stupid girl! Had you truly embraced your talents, they would not burn in your veins! I know what it is to be venomous, and I name yours insufficient! While you torture yourself with your capacity, you will always be what Glemy saw in you! Just a witless doll whose pain was the funniest thing in the world--!!" And as she keeps screaming, as her tone rises and she mantles into Leina's space, she knows she's doing it again.
It's what she always does, when she's hurt.
Lashing out with anything she can grasp, to do the most damage she can, regardless of what she thinks or what is true.
Stopping herself is another matter.
"Their only chance?! Don't make me laugh! They will be consigned to their most horrific fates, and I only hope you live long enough to see them doomed before they use you to death!" She pushes Leina back -- which, mercifully, also means releasing her, as she turns and grabs the bottom of her jacket to pull it out. She tucks that evidence of her monstrosity away, again, disgust on her face.
She doesn't look at Leina. She doesn't even care to keep an eye on her and make sure she won't attack. "You dare to spit on my mercy? Then you can suffer as much as you like. Reflect on your error, and know I would have made this right, stupid girl." If she rubs at her face, it must surely just be from how exhausting Leina is. "Do you think any other will save you? Do you think your precious Newtypes will see through your trickery and know your cries? Do you think they're better than me?!" And she actually sounds hurt, as she makes that last demand, glaring over her shoulder with damp eyes.
"Remember that they were not here," she issues her, chill. "I was."
She's the one who steps for the door, with one last line, as she opens the door.
"And I will decide what you deserve."
This time, crossing through, she slams it shut.
<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.
Leina pales as she says that, and her fingers loosen on it, not wanting to provoke her. It's not as if she doesn't understand she's just one more weaponized Newtype.
She doesn't think she can beat the system, just survive within it. Yuliana is right though, there is a reason why most Newtypes never live outside of a lab as long as her. Either they become Ace pilots or they become test subjects.
"Th- they're I know you mean - well - I - not wasted... I appreciate..." In the end her words are halting, but it's like she can't form a full thought.
Like they're running up against something.
And she's not sure what it is. It's like every time she tries to speak now, she runs into wall. She dashes herself against it, again, and again, and again.
Trying to find what to say, against these words. "I- no- I-" There is a wretchedness to her as she trembles, Yuliana's words just make her keep running against this wall.
Again. Again. Again.
It makes sense, it's perfect logic for evaluating the kind of person she is.
Again. Again. Again.
It hurts. It hurts a lot, her head is pounding, and its like brick dust is flying and... flinching as she calls her a witless doll.
Again. Again. Again.
A horrible threat, an awful fate and... and then she's shoved, off-balance she has to grab the karaoke stand, as she's released.
"Yu-Yuli... I'm..."
The door slams, and if on impulse, she runs to the door, throwing it open, "Wait! I don't think - I don't think - that... at all- I thank you for-" The words choke into sobs, and whether Yuliana is gone or not, she slides down the door frame, as if her legs were just weak, as if they'd given out.
"-for- for looking out for me. Sorry... I'm..." And then she full crashes into just, pathetic sobbing within the open doorway.
In the end that's all she can muster. And it's not even clear if she heard any of it.