2023-07-17: .rusalka's cake was made for the falL
- Log: .rusalka's cake was made for the falL
- Cast: Yuliana Kafim, Elisa Kafim, Alma Stirner
- Where: The Silent Castle, Kaffeklubben Island
- Date: 2023-07-17
- Summary: Family dinners at the Silent Castle are times for Elisa and Yuliana to come together... and today, Alma's able to contribute to that effort with her newest cake. Any tension in the Castle is surely imaginary. Elisa does so much for Yuliana, after all -- including, when Yuliana prompts her, revealing that she's found a solution to the problems Alma poses them now. She assures Alma she'll soon be free... that's what Yuliana wants, now, after all. (CW: Brainwashing, domestic violence)
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
Yuliana has been rather attached to Elisa, since their -- since Yuliana hurt her wife so. May I?, she asks, she checks, at every juncture; is it okay? She hasn't left the Castle. She's told Elisa who she's spoken to and what they said, in those scant moments they're apart, conversations with Wen or Parminder or over the phone to the outsiders. So too has she told her what is inside her heart, all her love and her anxieties and her bitter, bitter regret, all her innermost existence for Elisa alone. She volunteers everything herself, and willingly -- always looking to Elisa for her gentle-handed guidance. More frequently than her encounters with others, of course, she has been glued to Elisa's side... draped over her, affectionate, clingy.
So too at mealtime: Yuliana sits beside Elisa, chair close to hers, and beneath the table her tentacles snake over to wrap about Elisa even as her hands are occupied with tapping her spoon. Dinner was sushi, and of course the wives were quite invested in feeding each other -- but now dinner is over, and something else has graced the dinner table, for dessert.
Why, it's one of Alma's famed cakes...!
"Oh, this is wonderful, dear," Yuliana smiles, to Alma, when she unveils it. "You've really outdone yourself, today! What is the occasion?" Surely it's not the way the Castle has been so sensitised, the past few days, as their Gentle Mistress trembles with her love; and surely it's romantic, were it ever the case that it was so. What everyone knows is that the Kafims love each other more than anything in this world, and this is the knowledge which underpins their house and home.
(If Parminder makes pointed comments about Yuliana's clumsiness, why, that's just the fool talking nonsense again. Yuliana would never walk into a door, besides; Elisa would catch her. He's ridiculous.)
"And what flavour is this, now, Rusalka?" Yuliana presses, on the subject of her cake, smiling. Beneath the table, one of her ankles hooks about Elisa's, as if she weren't wrapped about her enough.
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
Elisa has been...
Elisa has been, since then. It is not that she is intentionally distant, so much as that she is more reserved than before, as reserved as she once was. She returns the affection, but only returns it; she does not initiate much, at the moment. She has instead been lost in thought, careful and careful and careful...
Until dinner, of course. Now she has started to emerge from that shell, and she has been feeding Yuliana as much as the reverse; it is terribly romantic. This is knowledge. Parminder knows nothing, of course.
But now...
"Ah," Elisa says. "This is significant technical skill."
That's like a compliment.
<Pose Tracker> Alma Stirner has posed.
Things have settled down a bit for Alma, again. There's an agitation at the back of her mind that's getting worse by the second, but that's fine -- she just needs to do one thing to address it!
That it's one thing she really doesn't want to do, and one thing she's had to spend literal weeks psyching herself up to do, is somewhat beside the point; Yuliana said it's the only way she'd allow her to resolve things in a way that makes sense to Alma, so it simply has to happen.
Rusalka nods enthusiastically, in the present moment. "Salted caramel apple!" she enthuses, explaining, "On Earth it's usually more of a fall kind of cake, and the ones I had back then were smaller, but... it's got a really nice depth of flavor, right? The salt really brings out everything..."
If the compliment is hesitant or backhanded, well, Alma doesn't really care. Her eyes sparkle a little bit as Elisa remarks on the cake, and she gushes, "Thank you, ma'am!"
For her own part, Rusalka has eaten only a little bit. ... she does have a slice of cake, though. "You two are so happy with each other," she continues, equally enthusiastic. "I'm really happy for you, Yulie."
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
Even unintentional distance spurs on Yuliana's anxiety, pushing her to try harder to prove her love, her affection, her devotion. She approaches Elisa, time and again and again -- closes the space to sit beside her again, reaches across to take her hand again, weaves their fates together again.
She's been touching her face a lot, as if it could remind her.
... as meanwhile she brushed Parminder's needling off, snappish and irritated that he'd even joke about something so outlandish.
But tonight -- tonight Elisa has undertaken the deliberate motions of reciprocating, feeding her in return, and Yuliana's on her ninth cloud about it all. Her eyes shine with love and with gratitude, and she does not think of the thoughtless words she threw at Alma, the words set to define her fate.
She does think of her cake, at least. "Ah, delightful!" Yuliana enthuses, taking a slice. "Don't you think an autumn cake is nice in this summer heat, sputnica zhizni?" She asks her life's companion, looking to Elisa again (as she ever does), though the 'heat' this far North is hardly something worth mentioning.
Oh, it gets a few degrees above freezing. Isn't that nice?
Yuliana beams, leaning a little closer to Elisa, as she takes a spoonful of cake. "We are, aren't we? I appreciate you've noticed, dear. I love my Elisa more than anything in this world! There's no woman luckier than me, to have such a dedicated and thoughtful protector." And there is genuine effusiveness behind her praise, shining in the dark.
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
It is nice, to see Yuliana so brightened.
It is... adequate, to see Alma existing. Elisa has a lot to think about as regards that woman; perhaps that's why when she looks at her it is so appraising rather than any especially human emotion. Even when Alma is so bright and cheerful! "You are welcome," Elisa says to her.
Elisa, too, takes a slice. "Yes," she says. "It is a good choice." She would call it thoughtful, but perhaps she wouldn't call Alma 'thoughtful' in her current condition after all.
Still, she notices...
"Indeed. My Yuliana is the only one for whom I would do all that I do. She is quite special."
"But you have done well for her, in this time."
<Pose Tracker> Alma Stirner has posed.
Alma giggles at the mention of the 'summer heat' in a place that's inconsistent about cracking positive degrees in Celsius. It's a good bit. (All of Yulie's bits are good, but honestly this one would probably get Alma at least a little even under normal circumstances. Yuliana is very charming.)
If Elisa's gaze is appraising, Alma... mostly doesn't notice. It's hard to miss it completely, given how oriented on Yuliana and Elisa Alma is by force, but by the same token, she struggles to think of it as being bad. "It does kinda suit the way this place feels," Alma agrees, at the thought of an autumn cake in a place like this.
The praise gets her to nod. "Thank you, ma'am," Rusalka says, and it's a little more formal, a little flatter than the way Alma talks to Yuliana.
She considers, for a moment, asking about something. The Spinatia that they of the void have refit for her suits her tastes perfectly -- but it might be good to give it one more final tuneup before she...
... no, it'd ruin their moment. She remains quiet.
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
Maybe not thoughtful, but Alma makes excellent cake, anyway.
Quite special... Yuliana's snakes coil a little tighter, around Elisa, hearing that. She'd only do all this for her, so of course she's special, isn't she? Quite... quite special. Yuliana giggles, along with Alma, almost as if it's normal -- but of course, her laughter is Elisa's, too.
Yuliana takes another spoonful of cake, and remarks: "Really, this is wonderful! You must try it, Elya!" And there's a spoonful of cake for Elisa, of course.
Dinner is frequently this way.
Frequently the way of Yuliana losing her train of thought, gazing on her wife. It's a few moments before she seems to remember Alma's with them, today -- though when she glances back to her, something sparks, in the back of her mind, against so many things she's deliberately not thinking about.
"Ah, Elya... you do so much for me," Yuliana smiles, looking to her wife again. "I know you're working so hard... I'm so glad. But, may I ask... have you made any progress, darling, on the matter of dear Rusalka's... issues?"
She picks the word delicately, as if she hadn't gleefully forced those issues into her shin.
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
Elisa is not kind. ...And Alma has become something of a liability to her at this point. Giggles and all.
It is formal, the way she and Alma interact. That is fine. She regards Alma, again, as if she can see what she is thinking, though obviously she cannot. That is a profanity that she does not practice.
Elisa feels the tightening of those snakes... and smiles. She opens her mouth, to try the cake. "mm..."
Then, she considers Yuliana's request...
"Yes, that is a matter of some consideration, isn't it?" Elisa answers, with a smile. Delicately...
"I have, in fact." A pause. "Soon, Alma, your task will be finished. How do you feel about that?" She is still smiling.
"I have devised a Method."
<Pose Tracker> Alma Stirner has posed.
Rusalka doesn't even seem like she's listening as Yuliana and Elisa discuss her fate; she's hung on Elisa's words, insofar as they're formally relevant, but there's a remove to all of this. Despite the fact that it's about her, and her fate.
She does activate more earnestly when she's directly addressed. "It's very nice of you to concern yourself with my feelings on it," Alma starts, still in that formal, careful register. She takes a moment to adjust her position in her seat, then continues, "As long as Yulie's happy with what comes of it, I'll be happy with it, too..."
She looks down at her cake, and takes another bite before looking to Yuliana. She chews at her lower lip, then her upper lip, then pushes them together a bit.
"I'm sorry I've been such trouble," she adds, softly.
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
Perhaps her wife is not kind, but for Yuliana, she smiles. For Yuliana, she considers. For Yuliana, she has made progress...
All this, for Yuliana. All of this was for Yuliana, fickle and ungrateful and excitable though she may be.
And Yuliana smiles, grateful still, as Elisa answers her and answers their atase, generous enough even to ask her feelings on the matter. She doesn't need to ask Yuliana's, of course -- she's volunteered them so freely. They shine in her eyes. Naturally she agrees with her wife, on all matter and this.
Yuliana swallows her next bite of cake, and sighs, with less consideration to Alma's words by far. "It couldn't be helped," she says, forgiving, or at least permissive. "The situation grew out of hand... I'll do you the honour of not blaming you for that. It's Lilith's cowardice, hiding away from the consequences of her actions... yes, surely it's Lilith that's to blame." And will it soothe the frigid depths of Elisa's heart, at least, to hear the vitriol dripping from Yuliana's downturned lips as she passes the buck?
She still hates Lilith so much. No wonder she'd say the things she's said.
"But I'd be happy to release her," Yuliana says, her attention shifting to Elisa, again. (And her sneer turns to a smile, again, as surely as her attention orients to her wife once more.) "She's done enough for us, don't you think, my darling?"
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
Is it nice of her? Is it?
"I'm certain you believe that," Elisa says, and it is almost warm, the way she speaks of Yuliana's happiness so affecting Alma's. Rusalka's. But that's the same, isn't it?
Elisa does not feed Yuliana the next bite of cake. She has a different matter in mind for her wife; this particular gift is not that.
"Oh, it's true. It was not your doing at all, Miss Stirner. You have no reason to apologize. You have been very good to my wife despite this."
Will it soothe her? Maybe. Maybe not.
"Quite. I will attend to this matter. The solution will take a bit of time, yet. But very soon, Alma..."
"After all, my Yuliana needs you no longer."
<Pose Tracker> Alma Stirner has posed.
Alma's expression darkens at the mention of Lilith's cowardice. "You're right, of course, Yulie. Lilith always was kind of thoughtless... she always knew what was best --" She grips her fork extra tightly in frustration, but doesn't dare voice that frustration; after all, this is meant to be a happy dinner, and up until now, it has been. Why ruin that?
She nods at the mention she's been so good to Elisa's wife, and agrees, "If -- you think that's best, Yulie." ... She's sure that if she tells Londo Bell just what she's been doing on her lengthy excursions she'll be discharged... she's alone again, of course, even if she did briefly stumble into Mia... What she wants to do is stay, but --
'My Yuliana needs you no longer.'
"I'm -- aware of that, of course," she says, and there's a way the words dance across her tongue that doesn't quite suit her. "She's been terribly kind, you know. To someone she doesn't need anymore." Swallowing, she says, "I'll stay here until you have the solution ready. I'm sure nothing will be missed."
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
Yuliana meant for them to be separate -- Alma's existence, and Rusalka's -- as if to give her some distance between her life here and the life she might otherwise have. But if Elisa were to say one were the same as the other, could Yuliana refute her?
No.
"It's all right," Yuliana excuses Alma, again. "You needn't dwell on her." Lilith is such an unpleasant conversation for the dinner table!
Yuliana so loves all Elisa's gifts. Her gaze softens, just so, as Elisa describes her as her wife, with such attention to how Yuliana's been treated.
If she knew Alma wanted to stay... but she doesn't, really, does she? It's... what they've done to her. What they did to her, to make her...
If Yuliana thinks it is neither nice nor kind to say it to Alma that way -- well, she wouldn't be bothered, obviously. It's just the truth! Don't they want them to tell Alma the truth?! Surely they do -- and Yuliana's hand reaches over, to rest on Elisa's arm, smiling to her wife. "Oh, Elya, you're so reliable... I knew you'd find a way to make me happy, again, after circumstances changed the way they did." Not that Yuliana wasn't happy with Elisa's gifts before this, you understand.
It's the REA's crimes which made her unhappy. Elisa couldn't have known she wouldn't be pleased with it if she knew!
"But Rusalka's done well," she allows her that much, with a glance back in her direction. "So I'm sure you'll miss nothing, zhenushka. I wish to release her completely, you know." And what would that cost her, in the scope of things...?
Surely nothing more than Alma is willing to pay, since Yuliana wishes it.
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
Elisa sees that expression of will--that frustration. She wonders what will come of it later.
"Of course she has. Her nature is so giving." A pause. "And as she says, you have done well. We will be sure to treat you accordingly."
Elisa doesn't really care about keeping them separate. Perhaps she should. It is a thing Yuliana wanted. But she was never one for that particular kind of illusion...
Elisa pats Yuliana's hand. "Of course," she says. "I vowed to watch over you. I will never forsake you."
Then, she she looks back to Alma. "Yes, all will be well."
"I believe that."
<Pose Tracker> Alma Stirner has posed.
Thoughts of Lilith immediately recede from Alma's mind, and she seems... happier? for it. Certainly the emotional tone of the moment shifts -- though in this place, at this time, she's as silent as anything else in the Silent Castle.
She again allows the adults in the room to discuss her fate without much comment. She even eats! It's tasty. She does take pride in the things she does for Yuliana, of course.
"Thank you very much, ma'am," Alma replies to Elisa again, tone still a little flat. "I know. I can't do anything but trust you with this kind of thing, you know."
Her leg tenses up, reflexively, involuntarily.
She echoes, "I believe that, too."
The feeling abates, as do most others.
Alma discreetly retrieves a compact from her handbag, sitting beside her seat, and checks herself out briefly in the mirror. ... Yes, she's satisfied with this, too, still.
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
And Yuliana's ever-giving heart swells most of all under Elisa's attention, for Elisa is so much more discerning about her generosity. Only for Yuliana would she offer so much... oh, if only she were more like her beautiful wife.
How must it feel, Yuliana wonders, to be given things by someone so bighearted and bounteous? She can only pray it doesn't devalue her devotion to Elisa, but...
Oh, Elisa loves her, still.
She sighs, happily, when Elisa goes to the effort of patting her hand. "Oh, zhenushka... all will be well," she echoes, and with dreamy satisfaction.
(She could speak of things she said in anger, here, her fits of pique -- but she so desperately doesn't want to upset her wife, again. Surely Alma has forgotten it, in any case. Yes, Alma --)
"Ahh... she's right, isn't she?" Yuliana asks, all too fond, a few beats too late. "If only we'll trust you... you've always taken care of everything, Elya. It's in your hands," she says, under Elisa's fingertips, "as I am."
It's nice that Alma looks good, isn't it?
Even so, Yuliana's doe-eyed gaze is only for Elisa.
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
She can't do anything but trust her. Elisa smiles. "You are welcome," she says. "Soon, you will be able to do all kinds of things. I hope that you find it as pleasant as you have found servitude."
Elisa loves Yuliana very much. All will be well, she echoes, and there are things spoken in anger, but clearly, they are not important, right?
"I will always care for you, my darling," Elisa reiterates to Yuliana, and then she looks to Alma, considering.
"Yes," she says. "I indeed have a plan..."
Then she turns, and picks up a forkful of cake, presenting it to Yuliana. "Now, let us enjoy the work your Rusalka has given us while we can, yes?"
"Say 'aah'..."
<Pose Tracker> Alma Stirner has posed.
Alma nods along, closing her compact again, after looking at a face she sometimes feels like she doesn't even recognize. (It pleases Elisa, though, and lets her track whether she's in need of correction, though! Surely such things are fine.) Elisa will take care of everything -- including her -- as she always does.
"We'll see, I guess!" Rusalka chirps just a bit too much, before finishing her cake. "I'll -- let you two have fun. I've just about finished anyway..."
She smiles a little blandly, stands up, and leaves. ... It won't be long now, one way or another...