2023-06-01: Unveiled! The Void's Gate Is A Woman
- Log: Unveiled! The Void's Gate Is A Woman
- Cast: Yuliana Kafim, Koji Kabuto, Sayaka Yumi
- Where: Mukaida Park, Fujinomiya City
- Date: 2023-06-01
- Summary: Yuliana facilitates a dead drop of some intel, and it leads her path into Koji and Sayaka, innocently engaged in a lunch date. They get to talking about her experiences with the Void, her relationship with her wife, and her hopes for the future -- and what that means for the rest of humanity. Yuliana doesn't like everything she hears, but even as she tries to reach the sympathetic scientists of the PPL, Elisa's one step ahead...
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
Fujinomiya City -- Mukaida Park -- 1226 hours
There's an Indonesian woman in a clearly-padded light jacket and a newsboy's cap, hanging low over sharp-edged sunglasses. She carries a nondescript briefcase, brushing against dark slacks. She puts it down when she sits on a park bench, distracted by ducks on the pond. She must feel her phone alerting her, because she slips her hand into her pocket and answers it. It's a loud conversation, and an angry one, and in shock the woman jumps up from the bench and storms down the street.
She forgets her briefcase.
Fujinomiya City -- Mukaida Park -- 1230 hours
A Han Chinese man in a business suit goes to sit on a park bench, pulling out a newspaper and resting it on a knee as he eats a konbini sandwich. He eats his lunch for a good fifteen minutes, before he checks his wrist-watch, and mutters in accented Japanese to himself. He picks up -- his? -- briefcase, and hurries away from the park.
He forgets his newspaper.
Fujinomiya City -- Mukaida Park -- 1245+ hours
The newspaper is completely normal: today's issue of the Fujinomiya Shimbun. It's opened to the business section; there's an article about the economy, with some alarm over how the recent ELASTIC Act will affect businesses.
As for the two people who last sat on that particular bench --
One of them has since put her phone back in her pocket, and is deeply occupied with buying some delicious kakigori from a street vendor. "Cherry syrup and -- ooh, is that pomegranate? Yes, absolutely -- thanks, that looks great," her interaction with the man in the stall is remarkably normal. She walks off with a cup full of that distinctive shaved ice, all topped with delicious fruit flavours, and whatever argument she was having has clearly been resolved. (Her Japanese is really very good, though it's clear it's not her native language.)
The other one is moving with purpose towards an office building, still holding that briefcase -- surely it's his place of work. He must be late getting back after going out for lunch. Long lines, perhaps.
They didn't move in the same direction; they're complete strangers, in dress and in manner.
Would anyone even guess it's the same briefcase?
<Pose Tracker> Koji Kabuto has posed.
The ELASTIC Act's effects on the Fuji area have several parties concerned - none the least the head staff of the Photon Power Research Institute.
After all, some of the areas they've expanded into recently hardly fit the directive of providing Japan with its energy needs; there are concerns that some of their materials and research could be confiscated and end up in the hands of... less ethical institutions.
God knows what the Benerit Group will make of the machine under the mountain if they discover it... But while Infinity can't be moved, the Institute's analysis of that impossible Mazin can at least be stored elsewhere, and the foresight to have declared it a problem NERV has jurisdiction over means the Institute itself doesn't have to be fighting off inquiries about it at all hours.
These, however, are all problems that can be deferred, at least for a couple of hours. Letting the endless work of a better world consume all their daylight will hollow Koji and Sayaka out eventually. This is why he showed up at her office with a pair of bento boxes. "C'mon, let's get out of the Lab for a bit. Lunch date?"
So:
They're out on the street in the light of day, looking for a place to sit and crack open their lunch... when Koji nudges Sayaka, nodding over to the shaved ice stand. "Is that...?"
He's not sure how to feel. Part of him wants to at least talk to Yuliana - about what she showed them, if nothing else. Part of him wants to charge straight at her, yelling. Still a third part wants to pretend that they never spotted her and get on with the date.
He looks over to Sayaka. He'll follow her lead.
<Pose Tracker> Sayaka Yumi has posed.
Sayaka for one, is certainly suspicious of this Benerit Group and their ELASTIC act. Especially at a time like this - is it a stretch to wonder if Dr. Hell's had a hand in this in his new calling as a politician.
And further still, it's not the only thing to be worrying about, as while they received some good news for once from NERV -- Leina's status is still yet unknown.
In the end, Koji's right though. All these things weigh on them heavily... but it's hardly lighting the future if they miss the light in the process. It's pleasantly surprising to see him initiate, something besides. "...Only lunch-time, huh." Sayaka rises from a mountain of papers stacked onto her computer desk. "Yeah, let's go."
They find their way to a nearby park, Shiro always liked hanging out here, Sayaka remembers. And when Koji points out a certain woman buying kakigori from the stand, Sayaka's eyes look for a better angle. The voice is at least quite familiar. "...Yuliana Kafim." She completes his sentence.
"Well," she starts. "I don't think we need to hide ourselves. She's probably trying not to make a huge scene here, and I honestly doubt still she's the type to go around ruining people's dates." She concludes, quietly. "So let's get a bench." Conveniently, the bench isn't outside of Yuliana's view, it actually happens to be the one she and the businessman both took on their way, now vacated.
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
Having acquired her kakigori -- with the kind of outrageous toppings one could only get so easily here in this land of plenty -- and having tipped the vendor generously for such a delicious tithe, Yuliana ambles back on down the street. Spoon in hand, she does look to the bench, just the once, to make sure her man's got the goods.
The briefcase, she sights, is gone. Most like he's secured it, she thinks -- because he's also gone. God willing, he's gone without anyone's notice; she might be putting her neck out, coming to Federation territory like this, but it's nothing compared to what agents in the REA are facing as they try to take on the rot inside.
The only reason she's out here is because the Republic's extensive surveillance system made... the typical internet exchange a little too fraught for their comfort.
Of course, she can't contact him to be sure, out here. They have a signal they'll arrange, but it won't be for some time.
Besides -- it seems there's something to occupy her. "Those two..." Yuliana scowls, as she sights Koji and Sayaka, sitting on that bench. It might, of course, be a coincidence; they do live in this city. But if they've sniffed out her operation --
Yuliana doesn't particularly want to interrupt their date. Both because those two badly need one, and because it's dangerous for her to approach those two; she declined to follow Rita when she brought Michele and Zoltan to the Photon Power League for a good reason, in her mind. They're enemies, now, for good or for ill.
Unfortunately, she has to be sure.
So she saunters up -- and at least visually, it's hard to identify it's her, between the cap and the shades and the jacket she's wearing despite the nice day outside. Get close enough, though, and it's plainly her, a distinctive scar sinister to her face. And her voice, as well they've noticed, has that distinctive mezzo-soprano tone to it, neither particularly high nor low.
"Hmm?" She asks, on a casual approach, all nibbling at her shaved ice. Her tone is conversational, at least, if a shade surprised. "What's this? Don't tell me you two have finally screwed your courage to the sticking-place and gone on a date..? I hope you won't tell me you're coincidentally eating lunch at the same time, at the same duck pond."
She lifts her spoon, as if to demonstrate: "No worries, no worries. I'm not here to cause you any trouble. I've just come out to get some kakigori. Do you know they have pomegranate topppings over there?" She gestures, to the vendor. "Delightful!" And she certainly sounds invested in all the snacks of Fujinomiya.
<Pose Tracker> Koji Kabuto has posed.
Koji waits for Sayaka to open her bento first before his. The look of the contents, to Yuliana's discerning foodie eye, is unmistakably handmade, the ingredients selected for each of their distinct palates. Oh this is definitely a date.
The traditional rice and fish samplings are there, but the differences become apparent with the central dish - gyoza! Koji's are pork, a classic, but Sayaka's are chicken.
Cracking his chopsticks, Koji looks up as Yuliana saunters over. "Ah. Mrs. Kafim." The smile might, perhaps, not be as full as it once was, but it is still warm. "... You're taking a bit of a risk, aren't you?" She is, after all, still a wanted criminal to the Federation. She says she doesn't want any trouble, and: "... I appreciate that," he admits, letting himself relax.
"How are you feeling?" He inquires - and perhaps it's odd, to inquire after an enemy's health, but... the way in which Yuliana left that battlefield still sticks in his mind.
<Pose Tracker> Sayaka Yumi has posed.
Yuliana finally makes a move, not confrontational despite them surely being enemies at this point. Casual, conversational, and... surprised they're on a date just like anyone who's a part of their life would be.
"Well.. someone thought it'd be a good idea to get me out of my office for lunch." Sayaka opens the bento box. "So yeah! You could call it a date." She sounds quite enthusiastic about it.
Looking at what's been packed, there's a satisfied smile. "Chicken gyoza.. you remembered my favourite, too."
Next, she turns her attention back to their surprise guest. "It sounds like you have good taste." Pomegranate, huh. It is a huge risk to be here for sure, but... "Yeah. I'm here as a civilian, so I'd rather not have any trouble." She nods firmly.
When Koji asks how she's doing, Sayaka has a rather different question: "So, how are things with your wife?" She's aware she made some pretty bold accusations last time, she'd like to see how they seemed to handle that.
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
Oh no, it's definitely a date. More's the pity! Yuliana certainly approves of the meal, though. ... hopefully, that's not Alma's recipe. "Aww," she grins, when Sayaka notices the gyoza, and it's not a particularly malicious grin, as they go. "Isn't he sweet?"
She tilts her head, when Koji asks her if she's taking a risk. "That's up to you, isn't it?" She asks, tilting her sunglasses down to glance above them to him with those strange green eyes of hers. The way she passes the responsibility to them is entirely deliberate. "I take pains to avoid looking like my wanted bulletins, in a place like this, but you've clearly recognised me anyway. Or perhaps I'm just not being careful enough? But you really needn't worry," she turns her attention to Sayaka, there. "I don't particularly enjoy endangering civilians, by and large." Unless they get in the way of her reality-warping adventures? Never mind that.
Answering a question like that, at least, contrasts with how she gathers her decorum to address the second one. Hearing Koji ask about her welfare is surprising, but --
Is she just going to get hurt?
"... I'm... well, now. Thank you." She's less assured about that answer. "My wife made sure I was all right... she's eased all my concerns."
Yuliana takes a bite of her shaved ice. She fearlessly eats those pomegranate seeds, though they're tied to a fell existence.
"Life with my Elisa is wonderful, as ever," she insists, to Sayaka. "You were... mistaken, though I recognise it was misguided concern." She frowns, and can't help but add, a shade petulant, to prove her wrong: "You know, the minute I spoke to her about feeling a little stifled, she wanted nothing more than to do right by me! She immediately challenged her own anxieties to trust me more!" Yuliana's still wearing that purple bracelet, half-obscured by the sleeve of her jacket. Anyway.
"So you see, we're very happy. In the end, I didn't even really need to talk with you about such private things at all. Don't mind the minor indiscretion. It won't happen again." Point made, Yuliana takes another bite of shaved ice.
("You know," Yuliana adds, parenthetically, "this is really very good.")
<Pose Tracker> Koji Kabuto has posed.
"It's my favourite thing to cook," Koji replies to Sayaka noticing the gyoza, face warming with obvious fondness. Oh NO it's REALLY BAD.
"Well. Officially we're a civilian institution, as Sayaka says," he agrees. "... and right now I have no particular reason to start anything." He has so many questions, though.
"All your concerns eased, huh?" That's a very specific phrasing, but: "I'm glad you're feeling better. That was... quite an experience, at the end." The stars winking out to be replaced by fractures in reality around people you consider friends... He might have managed to get most of his anxiety about it out onto paper, but the sight still lingers in his mind's eye sometimes.
Perhaps expectedly, Yuliana turning her petulance onto Sayaka sparks some protectiveness in Koji, but he knows full well she can handle herself - so, despite bristling a little, he restrains the urge to jump in on her behalf, only commenting "There's nothing wrong with reaching out if you think something's not right."
<Pose Tracker> Sayaka Yumi has posed.
There's also an obvious flush in Sayaka's cheek as Koji confirms her favourite lunch is Koji's favourite to cook. Aww... even Yuliana's charmed!
"Well, I don't think there's anything wrong with your disguise," Sayaka posits. "We're just familiar enough is all." After all, she was able to catch her last time in Fujinomiya too. "Despite everything.. I'm glad you're well. It was a lot, wasn't it?" That feeling, that woman who seemed to have so much hatred... she's not sure what to feel about it.
"Hmm," she picks out a piece from the bento box, while listening to Yuliana almost chide her for being mistaken. One she's finished, she adds to Koji's comment with, "Part of being a researcher is expecting to be mistaken and hypothesizing the worst case scenario. And sometimes it's very easy to get stuck in your head." She remembers the phone screen though: Elisa's posessiveness. Even now, when Yuliana assures her everything's fine, she's not convinced. But they already agreed not to start something, didn't they?
"If you really are happy, then... I'll keep in mind not to discuss such privacies. I" Even if she's very pleased to prove Yuliana's previous assertion that she and Koji would never move forward from last time wrong. And... she doesn't ask to give Elisa her regards, as is proper in such conversations.
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
"Good to know," Yuliana nods, to Koji. They're not starting anything! A thing is not starting.
And she smiles, when Koji says he's glad she's feeling better. Though -- "Quite the experience?" She sounds surprised to hear him say it. "I hadn't thought -- well, you weren't in one of those Psychoframe machines, so -- I didn't realise it reached you." And she does sound sad, as she adds: "I regret that you were caught up in that... particular argument." Between herself and the Newtypes, no doubt.
She sighs, and nods, to Sayaka. "It is... too much to ask the uninitated to bear. They forced something of -- well, it was rather skipping forward in the process. It was too sudden... even I had to adjust, you know."
To the eyes in the darkness.
But alarm crosses her face when Koji says it's fine to speak up if something's not right, lips tensing around her plastic spoon with a quiet little, 'mmf??' She swallows her ice, and insists, jabbing that spoon at Koji: "Are you trying to make me feel like something isn't right?! How could you --" But then she takes a breath, eyes closing, for a moment, before she looks back to him with a smile again.
"Hoo? I almost got carried away. But I see what's going on -- you're jealous. But you really don't need to worry so much, you know! You're making so many positive steps here! You'll get to where we are, I assure you." Her smile wavers, for a moment, before she puts it back in place for Sayaka. "I really am happy. If I'm upset, it's only because it would break my Elisa's heart, hearing her love called into question this way." She sighs, looking down at her shaved ice, and pokes at a pomegranate seed with a spoon. "She really is worried about me, you know... she said I'd..."
But her eyes widen, just so, behind her lowered shades. "Ah -- I shouldn't say."
<Pose Tracker> Koji Kabuto has posed.
Koji... shakes his head, actually. "It was... " (disturbing) "unpleasant, but it has..." He pauses, considering. "... Has it always been that way, for you? Seeing the world like that? Hearing that voice?"
Yuliana's reaction to him has his brow furrow. "I just meant - given the choice between trying and being wrong, and not acting on your concerns when they're correct? I think it's better to risk being wrong." ... As a broad ideology, this doubtless applies to Yuliana's own efforts in a way that will prove unfortunate in the future, but - "I can never fault anyone for following their own principles."
Is he jealous? He exchanges a look with Sayaka, and grins. "We'll get where we're going eventually," he agrees. "Side-by-side."
'She said I'd - ah. I shouldn't say.'
Now, though, concern returns to Koji's expression and he sits up. "Yuliana... If this cause of yours - if changing the world this way - is hurting you..." but it hurts her to not pursue this too, doesn't it? Second thoughts cut him off for a moment. "... I can't pretend to understand it, right now... But I can at least hear you out."
<Pose Tracker> Sayaka Yumi has posed.
"And I felt it from all the way back in the Ra Mari II, after I'd already left battle." She notes, in regards to how far the phenomenon was able to reach. "...Against Lieutenant Stirner." She adds, a hint of sadness in her tone there. "At the very least, I hope you're taking good care of her... you better be." After all, she didn't think she had anything left.
"I guess we just can't know for sure unless we ask." Not even an 'Oldtype' thing in this case: sometimes direct communication is important for everyone. "Jealous, huh?" In the same moment, she exchanges that look back to Koji. Were they jealous of Baron Ashura's eternal union? "We really have moved forward in a lot of ways. To the point where Jun keeps telling me 'god, finally'." She grins.
But the way Yuliana seems to cut herself off... Sayaka frowns. "The Void and Photon Power might possibly be fundamentally opposed. But it doesn't mean we have to be, in this moment." She adds, in Koji's offer to hear her out.
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
"Yes," Yuliana answers Koji, but quietly, quietly. "She loves me. And She will not be denied." Cannot be denied. "It's always been this way, ever since Medical put me through their program. Though... my vision has not always been so clear." Literally, or figuratively?
She frowns, to Sayaka, and adds: "She's free to come and go as she pleases, you know. I'll admit that situation got out of hand, given my initial aims. We are attempting to address it, but it's a deeply delicate process. I suggest you direct your concerns to my Elisa -- she's the one having to labour under all your expectations." 'You', generally speaking, being 'everyone who isn't Yuliana and her wife'.
She takes another bite. Pomegranate seeds are delicious, in fact. Does she know the story behind them? Would she hesitate for a second, even if she did?
She scowls, but Koji and Sayaka's scientific answers go -- at least some way towards mollifying her. "Of course," she assures them, or perhaps herself. "That's just how you think. I'll not fault you for that." Though she could, certainly. But she is a generous and forgiving soul, is she not?
It helps that she can tell herself that Koji and Sayaka are agreeing with her assessment of Koji's jealousy, anyway.
Yuliana frowns, hearing Koji's concern, and Sayaka's offer. She shouldn't keep trying, but... it's intoxicating, isn't it?
"Photon Power...? Your light's too harsh on my scars, Dr. Yumi. I don't expect you to recognise that. But since Koji's asked so earnestly," she sighs, lightly, "I'll tell you. I have a responsibility to this world," she says, an edge of fervency to the words. "And I am the only one who can do this. My wife would take the burden if she could, I know for she's told me -- but I am Key and Lock to the Gate, and I alone. My Elisa goes to great pains to address the pain of it, the... limitations of my body," still so mortal, still so human, though she's halfway to something greater, "but there are certain things I must take upon myself, certain sacrifices I must make. It is for the best. Existing in this world, though I belong to another... it's agony," and she wonders if telling them this is as doomed as telling Leina, and her gaze tracks to the side, away from either of them.
"Sometimes my head is so full of pain, there's no room for any thoughts at all. Ever does the Empress unmake and remake me, constantly trying to find a suitable configuration... these days, it's every night. I'm driven to madness, I lose all control... but it will be better, when the Gate opens. I will not be torn between worlds." She smiles, all too serene. "And half of humanity will not be left behind, as the other half abandons them to some shining future we'll never have."
<Pose Tracker> Koji Kabuto has posed.
The mythology of the pomegranate is well-known of course to the Photon Power Research Institute - the influence of Greek mythology on their design conventions and their history of warfare is no secret. Noting the seeds, Koji sighs. "You straddle this world and Hers, and She is calling for you to join Her." There is an understanding there, of a kind.
Half of humanity leaving the others behind... "... I fear that we'll all be left behind. There was no love in that gaze, or those words, for anyone but you, Yuliana." And with that... authority, to flay a person's psyche down to their core and leave it to themselves to put themselves back together... "Even if we weren't, wouldn't it be an intrusion?"
<Pose Tracker> Sayaka Yumi has posed.
It very much did go out of hand, but Sayaka's not sure what Yuliana was expecting from the very premise of it. "I'll consider it," she nods, about taking her 'concerns' to Elisa. "Before it becomes an issue of human rights."
Yuliana reveals the mythology behind her work, the truth about 'Her', the goddess of the void's world. "And you must feel so alone, being the only one to experience this on a regular basis," Sayaka considers - no wonder she's attached herself so easily to Elisa.
But ultimately, Sayaka believes in the individual futures people craft; not these grand, lofty futures that all too many people propose. "It's almost like the opposite side of Rita's coin." She nods. "You two are friends aren't you? It's no wonder you think so similarly."
"I think you deserve a future where you no longer have to suffer, as with anyone. What I disagree with is assuming it's what's best for so much as half of humanity and taking away their opportunity to build their own future." Maybe she can't understand if she hasn't seen what Yuliana's seen -- but she'll still fundamentally oppose the hatred she felt from the void.
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
OST: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0jquIEcW8E Nine Inch Nails - Sunspots
"Tch," Yuliana grimaces, when Sayaka brings human rights into the equation. As if Newtypes have --
Oh, she does still have thoughts like that, even if she's making some effort to reframe those miserable creatures, in her mind. She... elects not to voice them.
"She will not be denied," Yuliana repeats, once and once again, when Koji speaks of the worlds she's caught between. Sayaka says she must be lonely, and she nods, holding that cup of melting ice closer to her chest. (She can't hide.) "For a decade, I thought I stood alone," she says, and can't keep the misery out of it. "Then -- then my Elisa entered my life, and -- she understood."
Yuliana shakes her head, just so. "Rita... I hope she'll see things my way. But she always had the most... well, I certainly learned how Newtypes viewed people like me and you." Distaste curls her lips upwards. She has... one too many teeth. Her right fang is far too fangish, crammed in beside a normal canine. "Me and her, we're -- I still have things to settle." Her stubbornness settles just far enough for her to add, a belated moment later: "... though I'm not planning to betray her, now, if that's what you're asking."
Rita does have a plan, after all, and she has involved Yuliana in it.
She frowns, though, when Koji raises the issue of Her hatred. "She -- was angry griefstricken that you'd steal me away, that's all..." Yuliana insists, the nuance of the word all clustering over each other, but her denial wavers. A moment later, and she cedes: "... well, She is vengeful, I'll admit. It was not just the Republic who impressed hatred into me, scar after scar. If... humanity faced that hate, without escape, it would..."
The disturbed expression on her face likely isn't feigned, though there's no looking into her heart to be sure; a little twist of her lips, brow knitting, glance pulled to the side.
And then her eyes shut, for a moment; she takes a breath. Her jacket rustles, though there's no wind. "You'll have to forgive me," she smiles, again. "My thoughts do tend to run ahead of anyone's reckoning. But you know -- there's really nothing to fear. It will be better, when the world expands, and the truth comes to you all. It will be beautiful." And are those her words, coming out of her mouth?
"All will be well."
They're not.
She shakes her head, still smiling, to Sayaka. "People need guidance," she says. "And rarely know what's good for them. It is so easy to become... confused. It happens to us all, really." It's so easy to assume your own experiences are universal -- when you've been placed at the centre of the universe, as Yuliana is. "We will not take away anyone's capacity to build into the future. We are creating the future -- a future with peace and equality for all. Don't mistake my generosity for Rita's transgressions, as if my drive reflected hers." As if she heard her beliefs, and built her own with the same blocks.
But really -- she's more disturbed than she's giving them credit for. She tells Sayaka to ignore the similarities, but she can't ignore them, herself. She dips her head in a nod, and pushes her sunglasses back up her nose with a finger. "You... will have to excuse me," she says, stepping back. "I really must be getting back to my wife. I am... glad we could have a cordial conversation. Do forgive me for interrupting your lunch date."
Another step back, and she turns, and starts hurrying away.
<Pose Tracker> Koji Kabuto has posed.
Koji watches Yuliana go - and once her back is turned, that concerned frown only deepens.
"'How Newtypes viewed people like me and you,'" he repeats, turning to look at Sayaka again. "... Whoof. That's a lot."
The two of them do not have one of those bonds Yuliana so despises. Nevertheless - perhaps there is wordless communication between them, in their shared gaze, as Koji takes Sayaka's hand and squeezes it.
"... I don't know that we're going to be able to reach her," he admits. "This is a lot messier than we thought and we don't have the skillset to unpack all of this."
He looks back to where Yuliana was - she's now expertly vanished into the crowd.
"We can't give up, but... This is going to get a lot worse."
<Pose Tracker> Sayaka Yumi has posed.
Yuliana's words are heavy - about the vengeful goddess, the way Newtypes view people like 'them', and how the people need guidance.
Sayaka's green eyes meet Koji's dark browns, they still look so very exhausted, and perhaps such a conversation didn't rectify that.
"Her wife. Perhaps I really will take her up on her offer to pay the Doctor a visit soon." She's not certain there's any other options
"For now though... we still have plenty time, and unfinished bento boxes. Let's get back to making good on that date, Koji." She says, holding a chopstick in one hand, keeping the other pressed on Koji's.