2023-10-06: We Shall Land
- Log: We Shall Land
- Cast: Yuliana Kafim, Elisa Kafim
- Where: The Silent Castle, Kaffeklubben Island
- Date: 2023-10-06
- Summary: Yuliana watches Elisa's Olympic achievements with her, and talks with her about the art of gymnastics, Elisa's history, and the honour which will come from the Empress's sacrifices. They do their homelands a kindness, offering them this path into the future...
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
OST: Ennio Morricone - The Ecstacy Of Gold https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYI09PMNazw
Yuliana's failure at Sri Lanka was difficult for her -- and for the REA's citizens, but this is not about that -- and she was strangely reticent, going into Celestial Being's mission to Azadistan. But she cheered on their... well, it was a moderate success, at least; Yuliana isn't sure whether the fellow survived, but they got him out of there, anyway. Gave him a shot.
(Whether they got him shot in the first place is beside the point.)
They went to Paris to celebrate, of course. Dined at the Eiffel Tower. Where else?
Yuliana hasn't ventured outside alone, though; it's just too dangerous, she supposes, in the light of the REA's newfound agitation over her. She's been staying inside, where she's safe. Here, with her people...
She's hardly been idle. Even given the communications issues of late, now Parminder has a team of absolute eggheads to keep their network up, Yuliana's been able to find things much more efficiently. (Something, something, lasers. Yawn. She's not a network engineer.) And so, one day, she comes to Elisa and she says...
"Guess what I found!"
What she found requires nothing less than the employment of their home cinema. With a tall, sweeping ceiling and Meltrandi-sized seating, the heart of the Silent Castle is sized for giants; this room, as well, suits Elisa at size. Yuliana is just as comfortable here, of course, draped across the crook of her wife's arm as she watches the Olympic footage she's dug up. Her hand idly traces the definition of Elisa's triceps, where it bends at her upper arm to catch her, in a loose embrace of her arm which takes the whole of herself to accomplish. (Right now, her wife is six times larger than her; she fits quite snugly.)
She is watching the screen this time, though it's difficult to say, in this case, that she's not still busy being enraptured by her wife. What she found, as she soon revealed, was the footage taken from Elisa's Olympic competitions; all the women competing for gold, and the one who defeated them all.
There, on a projection which takes up the entire far back wall...
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
Elisa Kafim found some interesting truths at the mission for Celestial Being, a boy whose name she will remember, and another initiate into the mysteries of the Void. Oh, that man will assuredly never pursue them...
But the Void will pursue him, in his dreams.
But Paris was lovely. No one would dare trouble Elisa and Yuliana together, surely.
Laser beams. It's fine.
And Elisa, Macronized, sits there with Yuliana, comfortably reclining with her wife. The footage of the Olympics, those years ago...
The first footage is the uneven bars. Elisa of years ago, without her characteristic heels, springs up to the first bar--and her dexterity is a thing of legend. She whirls, and spins, and grabs the next set, flipping through the air on her way back and forth.
There is a brightness in her eyes, then. An intensity.
Even her landing is perfect, without the stutter-step that would have had points reduced.
Elisa watches, thoughtfully. "Yes..."
Thoughtfully indeed. "It has been so long, it feels like, since I have seen this."
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
Perhaps they'll meet again, some Winter's morning...
Yuliana met a man, too; he's dead, now. She did have an entertaining story of Regina dropping a man with a gun trained on her, though. They already know Regina -- they like her, she's a delightful cook! -- but it's nice to know they have reliable friends, isn't it?
Of course, no one would trouble Elisa and Yuliana together. There's nothing to fear, when they're united. (So long as they're united.)
Yuliana's admiration is naked to the eye; her head tilts into Elisa's arm as she watches her flip back and forth through the bars. When Elisa is without her heels, she's just about Yuliana's height, perhaps a breath taller; Yuliana can very much imagine the skill required, moving the way that she does.
"Oh, you're so talented," Yuliana sighs, and her affection is just as plain. "My darling, it must have taken such effort to move as you do! With total control over your body... you even came to a stop perfectly. Oh, look at you...!"
Face nuzzling into Elisa's arm, she hugs it, all draped over her. "Really," she says, a chuckle on her lips, "I'm surprised I was ever able to catch you... with such a marvellous performance as this, there must have been a dozen women with their eyes on you! Hahaha... I'm fortunate no one was persuasive enough to sway you, wasn't I?" Leaving aside that Elisa was arguably the one to catch Yuliana...
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
It is good to have reliable friends.
And to have reliable one another.
"It did," Elisa says. "Years and years of practice, largely. Talent can exist, but it is truly the effort, the consistency that allows that talent to matter."
Elisa reaches out with her spare arm--without jostling Yuliana--to stroke at her hair, briefly, with just a giant fingertip. Then she sets it down again.
A wry smile. "Oh, there were many. But none who mattered so much, in the end, as you."
Leaving that aside...
Her vault, likewise, involves a series of spins and movement that dizzy the mind to look upon. She took every category, that year.
"We are both so fortunate," Elisa agrees. "No... even then, I sought something greater, I think."
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
All they can really rely on is each other, after all. ... but it's nice to know that others are trying.
"Mmm..." Yuliana hums appreciation, tilting her head into the touch of Elisa's fingertip, the frills behind her ears tickling at them as they wriggle. "Yes, talent is an expression of practice and effort, isn't it? Ah! You're so diligent..."
And she is, of course, the (only) one who mattered. "Good," Yuliana purrs, stroking Elisa's arm as she watches the silver screen. "Yes, all those other women don't matter a whit, do they?"
She gasps, watching Elisa master the vaulting table; it's over in less than a minute, but the movements are almost too complicated for the timeframe. "Ah, zhenushka! You don't even stagger...!" Perfect, she said; she evidently still thinks it's the right word for it.
Finally Yuliana does look from Elisa to Elisa, for a moment, up to her massive, perfect wife. "Even then, you were a seeker, Elya...?" She wonders, her endless eyes shining in the reflected light of the theatre.
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
Frills!!
"Indeed it is. A starting point is only a starting point, until you take the next step."
Elisa smiles, then, the giant nodding along to her wife. "Not at all," she says. And then, the movements...
Yes, Elisa sees the footage of herself. And Yuliana's praise is pleasing. "The landing is important. One cannot allow a vault to end in failure. ...A bit of staggering is not unusual, but it is best avoided. Points are removed."
But Elisa looks down to Yuliana in turn, and that wonder...
"Yes," Elisa says, "Though at the time I did not know what I sought. I sought it at first in physicality. In the pursuit of excellence. Then, later, in study..."
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
Yuliana is so casually other, now. There are those tentacles, loosely coiled about Elisa's arm like the rest of her; and, of course, her frills, which fan out with pleasure to see Elisa performing so well.
After all, a starting point is only a starting point...
"But they didn't take a single point from you," Yuliana purrs. "None of these women come close to matching your prowess..."
Yuliana's head tilts back, almost gazing to Elisa upside-down; it's a little dizzying, but just in a way which brings a flust to her cheeks, frills greener than they were. "Ahh... you've always tried so hard, Elya. No one is a harder worker than you...!" She laughs, and says, lightly: "Though, I wonder how you knew what to study...? Maybe we've always... been moved by the same hand..." With eleven-jointed fingers, and catching claws, all split at their knuckles.
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
Elisa is other, but differently. She does so enjoy Yuliana's attributes. The tentacles are a lovely way to stay connected...
"They did not," Elisa says, proud. "There were many who were quite good, in those days. But I was the foremost of them."
She peers down at her wife, looking up at her. With what she has tried so hard...
"Perhaps." A smile. Then, she considers Yuliana's question. "It may be," she says. "I had thought... to push the boundaries of what 'man' could be. To find our limit, and surpass it."
"I have never heard Her voice in quite the way that you do. But I will not say there has never been influence, in ways subtle and gross."
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
"As you are now," Yuliana insists, with loving motions in her own fingertips. "Foremost of my heart."
(And in the world, surely, but Yuliana's always been romantic.)
Yuliana blinks, long and slow, leaning in against Elisa's arm as she looks up at her wife. "Was that the meaning of your kaiju research, my darling?" She asks, with her own smile -- still warm, though she's a little cooler, these days. "Yes... some echo of the truth..."
A beat, "ah!", and Yuliana gasps as she shakes and rattles her head. "Dizzy," she explains, as she picks herself up with the help of Elisa's arm. With a moment to orient herself, she hoists herself up onto her wife's shoulder; standing there, she's actually at eye-level, more or less.
And so, of course, she leans in to kiss Elisa's cheek. It's the obvious play.
"I was always drawn to you, zhenushka," Yuliana sighs, settling herself down on Elisa's shoulder. "You were the only other person who seemed real, to me... it was so easy to trust you, where I could trust no one at all. You felt so... familiar..." Her gaze grows vague, for a moment, before she smiles. "Surely it was Her influence which drew us together, Elya. She has blessed us."
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
"And you mine."
A nod, titanic, as Elisa answers Yuliana's question, careful still to keep her shoulders and arms still. "Yes. I believed that, as man had found the Zentradi and paired, that the next frontier was in kaiju. These great beings, like and unlike man, living with him and apart from him.... Surely, this was it."
"An echo of truth."
Suddenly she is dizzy! But Elisa waits for Yuliana to reach eye level, bringing up a hand to make a platform and a guide in case she should slip back, and when Yuliana is settled, sets her hand there to keep her.
"Yes," Elisa agrees with that last. "She has blessed us indeed. And we shall share some of that blessing."
"...But some belongs only to us," she says, smiling, looking back to the footage, this time of flips from the balance beam.
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
Being fair, Yuliana's cheeks aren't only flushed because the blood's rushing to her head. Her wife is quite charming, too.
Her hand comes up, to brush at her frills, the spines wrapping about her fingers bonelessly in the motion. "Strange, isn't it?" She wonders, looking up to her wife. "Even after you found the truth, I ended up like this..." Many people call kaiju monsters; many people would call Yuliana monstrous, too.
But she is still human enough to grow dizzy when the blood runs to her head; more, perhaps, than the average human, given how sensitive her head is. Elisa's hand is there to aid her, of course, and Yuliana leans against it, gladly letting her keep her in her grasp.
Yuliana's cheeks colour again, when Elisa speaks of exclusivity. "Yes," she sighs, nuzzling her cheek against the sensitive pad of Elisa's finger. "Only for us, as I am for you..." And she looks back, towards that screen, affection shining on her face as she watches past Elisa flipping so effortlessly through the air. "Oh, I can't fathom how you land so deftly on such a narrow thing," she asides, in fond murmur.
"Her blessing... is that what we will bring to your home, after these accomplishments?" Yuliana says quietly, watching the playback, the way the footage slows her feats to show mortal men just what she's done. "Ah... when we offer these sacrifices to Her, are they exalted? I wonder..."
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
Strange? "...Perhaps. Perhaps that is the other reason I sought such answers, in the end. Guided to be ready for you..."
Still human enough. It is enough. And there when Elisa speaks of exclusivity, she feels Yuliana's cheek against her fingertip. "yes," she says. Then, a smile. "It is in knowing where one must step. Always remembering one's relative position to the world. Always."
Yuliana is quiet... Doubting, perhaps. Elisa mulls it over, as she watches. She considers. The accomplishments she had...
"...Yes," Elisa says, and her voice is slightly cooler. "We honor my old home by making it a part of the plan. We ensure that Orb and its people have a place in the world to come."
"For I know where I stand. I stand with you. And we shall land, my darling..."
"Yes. We shall."
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
"I'm so lucky," Yuliana sighs when Elisa speaks of readying herself, frills from another realm wriggling in their joy. They are part of her, now; she is part of there, now.
And she says that she is lucky.
"Always," she echoes her, tenderly.
Her tender heart has always been more given to doubt than her wife's; sensitive, reactive, and aching. She hears the coolness in Elisa's emphasis, and her gaze returns to the Elisa of here and now, away from that woman in the past and her impossible feats. She orients to her, and she listens.
"Yes," she echoes the woman who fights alongside her against all life's challenges, again. "Boyevaya podruga, I stand with you. Really... really, I'm glad. I was afraid we would have to... give it up," she settles on, delicately. "I would give Her anything She wished -- I can do nothing but! -- but, I still care for my homes, Elya. And my heart ached to think of yours..."
She smiles, a hand reaching up to cradle Elisa's finger. "But of course you are right, zhenushka," she bends about her wife, and warmly, "we do these places a great honour. Won't it be well?"
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
She says it. It must be so.
Elisa seems to have little doubt in this. The woman of the past fades into the background of the moment, that shining woman no match for the giant of darkness who holds Yuliana now.
"No," Elisa says. "...It is natural, that your heart might wonder. You are so kind, after all."
"But a sacrifice must have weight to have meaning. ...And the weight of a 'hero' returning to her home is significant."
"But they hold nothing else for my future, there. I am beyond them, now. And in this way, I do a kindness to them, to allow them a chance to follow me."
She is distant, speaking of it. But of course she is right.
"Yes. All will be well..."
"All."
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
And she so loves her giant, in darkness, cradling her so close. Yuliana is safe, here, in the palm of Elisa's hand.
And she is held here, by her fingers and her words, as Elisa repeats again the weight of a sacrifice. "Yes," she breathes, but quietly.
"Yes..."
Elisa is distant, now, and she hears it; it is Yuliana's doubt, she is sure, which pushed her to such chill. But of course she is right, and Yuliana presses her lips to her fingertip, laying a loving kiss upon it. "All will be well," she echoes her.
"Yes... yes, where we've come is not where we shall be. We must put away the things of our youth... and take everyone into our future. It is kind to give them this path forward... when we've moved so far beyond them."
She smiles, looking up to her wife, dwarfed by her shadow and her logic.
"You're always so clever, zhenushka... I don't know what I'd do without you."
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
Thinking back on those times is something Elisa is doing now. They feel distant, and so, she is distant now, distant from Yuliana because she is distant from this time and place. But that kiss on her fingertip brings her back to the moment, for now.
"To put away the things of our youth," she repeats. "Yes, it is just so. Our youth... Those times, all that time ago, when I was staying at hotels, traveling from place to place, then the Olympic Village of the times..."
She looks down to Yuliana. "...They would understand nothing of who I am now. They would understand nothing, of what I must do."
"But you? You need never find out what you would do without me."
"I am with you, always."