2023-10-26: !even the mistress of our copper mountain cannot challenge our lovE
- Log: !even the mistress of our copper mountain cannot challenge our lovE
- Cast: Elisa Kafim, Yuliana Kafim
- Where: The Silent Castle, Kaffeklubben Island
- Date: 2023-10-26
- Summary: Elisa's been keeping Yuliana safe and protected in the Silent Castle, in the week since her attempted kidnapping. While tucking her away in bed to watch an adaption of The Stone Flower, Yuliana expresses she's ready to leave again, and Elisa promises to protect her in her outing. But Elisa is feeling jealous, after all this world's demands, and Yuliana offers her a new idea: marking themselves with tattoos so they'll always be reminded of each other. And as outrageous as marking Yuliana herself is, Elisa decides she'd like that; her sacred task is to protect Yuliana, but she feels possessive by her own rights, not just for the Woman in the Void. And Yuliana is the only one who can consider Elisa's feelings, with those feelings reserved for Yuliana herself. (CW: Some implied sexual suggestiveness at the end of this one, the lesbians are married, Harold.)
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
It is cold outside. Kaffeklubben Island is unforgiving, a wasteland of tundra.
But inside there is fire, and fur, and blankets, and it is warm. Not because of Elisa herself, of course; Elisa herself remains quite chilly for a person, her body temperature low enough that she should not live. And yet live she does.
She is in bed, with Yuliana, as they watch one of Yuliana's favorite old Soviet movies. It is many hours long. Elisa is at least vaguely aware of what's on it, even if she has mostly been watching Yuliana, rather than the movie. And there is so much in the way of furs and blankets.
All in all, a cozy evening... Safe from the outside world. Safe from kidnappings, and bad experiences, and all sorts of other dangers that exist even in places like Magallanica.
"So how are you feeling, my darling?" Elisa inquires, at a slow point in the movie. "Is it better?"
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
"Elya," Yuliana had exclaimed, when Elisa retrieved her from Magallanica, "Elya, they would take me again! They will make a sacrifice of me, Elya!" And there are so many times the world has tried to sacrifice Elisa's wife. The Institute's transgressions... the incident at Torrington... JOSH-A.
The world out there is cruel, and Yuliana has, by and large, been glued to her wife since then -- though she had a pleasant afternoon socialising with Wendy, recently, when Elisa was occupied. Of course Wendy was available, then. Did someone speak to her and ask her to be here at this moment? Who's to say.
But Winter, as they say, is coming. The sun has set, and twilight reigns; soon, all light shall perish. It will not come again for a season's time. Yuliana is still warm enough, when she remembers to take her medications -- which she does, happily enough, when reminded. Warm enough to heat the underside of those furs, if slowly, warring against Elisa's unnaturally cool skin.
She doesn't fear Elisa's cold. Rather, she tangles herself in it, legs and tentacles all wrapped about her; her head rests on Elisa's shoulder, tucked into her embrace, as she watches the film. It's an adaption of The Stone Flower, an ancient fantasy film; its ending was lost to time, and so modern adaptions engage in several different methods. Viktorov's production is Yuliana's favourite -- it ends with the stonecutter and his fiancee joining the mythical Mistress of the Copper Mountain in her realm to pursue their craft for eternity.
But Yuliana knows the film by heart; she is just as occupied nestling in against the place Elisa's heart should be. "Yes," she sighs, smiling as she lifts her head to look to her wife. "Oh, it was a horrible week... but I feel so much safer here, Elya. I've even thought, the last day or two, I could go out again... the congregation was meeting this evening, you know?"
She pauses, and frowns. "Though... with that poisoning attempt, and the disruptions to the other meeting, and now this... oh, Elya. You know, back then, Leyasha had to rescue me from their efforts? Leaving aside what those people from the Ra Mari II did, for me," she says, as if swallowing a frog, "if she hadn't talked sense into them, who knows what would have happened! Maybe I shouldn't," she says, her fingers curling in. "Maybe I shouldn't. Everyone wants to hurt me. It's not safe out there."
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
Elisa was most displeased at what nearly happened in Magallanica.
But she doesn't mind Yuliana sticking close to her, either. Or even talking to her dear friend Wendy. She has not, however, had Shari over to the castle much this week, for some reason.
Elisa allows herself to be tangled up in Yuliana, though for her part she is the one tangled upon rather than doing a lot of the tangling herself. She is watching, and indeed--she likes this one. The ending suits her.
"Good," Elisa says of Yuliana feeling better. "You are always safe here. No matter what." But she considers. The congregation meeting...
"Did she now?" Elisa asks. "Yes... They are not friends, but they did assist you. That bears remembering in some way." Elisa is thoughtful over it. But she moves on for the moment, "We must always be careful."
Leina... Yes. Still...
"But the congregation is important to you," Elisa says. "I know what we shall do. We shall both go, tonight. I will accompany you. Then you will be safe."
"Much as I'd like to keep you all to myself..."
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
Yuliana has ever been the one to draw closer to Elisa.
"With you," she echoes, when Elisa affirms her safety, and her smile still is warm. And on the Ra Mari II, she smiles: "You have such a long memory, zhenushka. I know you will weigh everything." Will she? Yuliana is both far more and far less just than her wife; she is capricious and impulsive, and as like to remember slights as she is to allow concessions.
Yuliana smiles, reaching up to cup Elisa's cheek, even as her own flush at her last trailing sentence. "You will appear, again?" She asks, and her fondness is unveiled. "You are so good to me, boyevaya podruga," she praises the woman by her side for all her challenges, and her words are glowing, too. "I am so much safer by your side. It's so much easier." And it all makes so much sense.
"Haha..." Yuliana laughs, as she lifts herself, fractionally, to press her lips to Elisa's. She remains close, as she reminds her, "you know I am yours, my darling. All yours! It does not matter if I travel, if I see another, for my heart always is with you. Who could value me more than I am, in your eyes?" She gazes to her, all lost in them, green on green on green. "Perhaps I shall get a tattoo, so it is abundantly clear. Would you like that?"
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
Elisa smiles, as well. "I will," she agrees. Whether Yuliana does or not, Elisa has a long memory indeed, and she will consider all transgressions and boons in her decrees. ...When it's important, anyway.
Elisa looks to Yuliana as she cups her cheek, leaning into her wife's hand. "Yes," she agrees. "I am glad, to help you feel such. I promised, after all." And she always keeps her promises.
But, after Yuliana kisses her, Elisa considers the matter. "And mine with you. No matter where you go, I am with you." But the thought of a tattoo... Of course, it is an arrogance in its way. And yet....
"Yes," Elisa says. "I would like that. We should match, in this way. Much as we do in our rings. Then I can look upon it in the mirror when you are not here, and know."
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
"I'm so glad," Yuliana smiles. She is glad Elisa is with her, always. She is glad that Elisa values her promises to her so highly.
And she is glad that Elisa agrees, eyes shining as she does. Is it arrogance? She does not think this way, though she knows she is a sacred being. She is Elisa's sacred being, first, and her fingers stroke Elisa's cheek with gentle care. "Wonderful!" She says, head tilting obligingly, as she considers what Elisa sees in the mirror. "Perhaps," she goes on, contemplative, as her hand slips down her jaw to trail down her neck, and press, by its base, against her collarbone, "here..."
(It's a intimate position, in her personal view of her body; while Yuliana has grown accustomed to showing her hair, she still, habitually, covers her neck from stranger's eyes. While her skin is exposed to her wife, she is exposed to her wife; her scarves are for public life, not her bed.)
"I would be so happy to see this," she's still smiling, glowing in her affection. "Always I wish to grow closer to you, as well, zhenushka. You are my peace and my sanctuary. Sometimes I feel I shall drain all the love from existence, just to fulfill the depths of my feelings for you!" Can she do that? Could she do that? Let us pray it is metaphor, in the way of their romance.
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
And she does.
Elisa wonders of it briefly, but she feels possessive in the moment. Why not? The collarbone, meanwhile... "Yes," she says, "That is a fine thought. Concealed when you require secrecy, but visible to me. Close to the heart, as well... "
Elisa knows that; she is not so inclined to cover herself as Yuliana, but she understands and respects her wife's preferences on that front. She knows there is a sacred bond there; that she sees that which others do not.
She likes that.
"And I you," she says. Her peace, her sanctuary... Elisa smiles to hear this, and the next. "I will accept all that you would give. I feel myself that I spare all my feeling for you, thinking not to waste it on the unworthy."
Maybe it's metaphor.
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
And Yuliana loves Elisa's possessiveness as much as the rest of her; gladly she feeds it, feeds her, and only to her does she offer herself so freely. Were Elisa to ask sacrifice of Yuliana -- and Elisa, alone -- surely she would give it. But Elisa, singular amongst multitudes, would never sacrifice Yuliana, would never hurt a hair on her lovely head. This Yuliana knows, her comfort and her strength.
Her smile widens, when Elisa notes that it would always be visible to her. "As you are close to mine," she assures her, fingers splaying across the top of Elisa's chest. "But here, this is visible in a mirror, always." Perhaps a makeup mirror might need to be tilted down, but that's fine. Yuliana knows that Elisa has never shied from expending effort, for her wife. And Yuliana would expend every effort, for Elisa.
"Elyula~!" Yuliana lilts, saccharine-sweet and delighted, when Elisa speaks of worthiness. She tilts her head forward to capture Elisa's lips again, and there she lingers, for a loving moment, her fingers slipping around to curl at her neck. When she must take a breath -- for she, at least, must still draw breath -- she rests her forehead against Elisa's, with a slow blink before her eyes open, all consumed with hers.
"Your feelings are so precious to me," she sighs, overcome by her affection. "And so important... this is the greatest gift. Oh, zhenushka, I wish to give everything to you. I know no greater fulfilment than being in your arms, under your fingertips... destiny clings to me, but my darling, I chose you. I wish always to be with you, to be yours! My heart sings for it! Were I taken from you, my heart would cry for a thousand years, loud enough that all the heavens and hells would never sleep again!" It must be metaphor.
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
Elisa could certainly achieve some of her goals more quickly if she asked such a thing of Yuliana--but she would never. What goals have meaning, without her darling wife? She would never harm Yuliana.
She considers. Visible in the mirror... yes. She would expend such trivial effort easily, for Yuliana. She would do much more.
Then, she smiles again, leaning into her kiss with Yuliana to linger there. She need not pull back--but she does, when Yuliana does, to look into her wife's eyes, green and endless as they are.
"My Yuliana..." She closes her eyes for a moment, like a nod that doesn't require her to break the contact they have for now. She opens them again. "And I you. Were you taken from me, I would move heaven and Earth to recover you. Nothing could stop me. Nothing would stop me. All things would tremble until you returned to my arms."
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
Here -- here, alone in all this wretched world -- she is safe. It is not a characteristic of the Castle; it is a characteristic of its other Mistress.
It is Elisa who keeps Yuliana safe.
And it is Yuliana's breath which warms those bare few millimetres between them, once she presses her forehead to Elisa's, instead. Those endless green eyes shine, when Elisa calls her hers, and her cheeks are still flush with affection when that slow blink concludes.
"No," Yuliana smiles, "not even nothing would stop you, would it, zhenushka? Your love is without limit... this world is a fool, to think you uncaring. They don't understand you as I do... they do not see you, Elya. I do." She purrs, and gazes into her eyes, even at such a confrontingly short distance. It is too close to focus. But then, it's not so different to a blindfold lovingly covering her eyes, is it? In this way, Elisa is her whole world. In this, she would willingly drown.
"And you have worked so hard to see me..."
She sighs, all affection. "Oh, Elya. You are so strong! I love this about you, too... that you'd tear all worlds apart. Before I met you, I could not fathom that someone would go so far, for me! Sometimes I even struggled with it... but that's not your fault, zhenushka. It is theirs, for making it so difficult for me. Really," she smiles, stroking at the side of Elisa's neck, "I'm so relieved to know you would not rest until we were together again. I know you'd never give up, Elya. No matter who took me!" It's not just the REA who are interested in a specimen like Yuliana, of course.
None of them appreciate her like her wife does.
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
To keep Yuliana safe is Elisa's greatest task. ...And sometimes it is a task. But she would never begrudge it.
Not even nothing would stop her. Is that how it is...? Yes. Yes, perhaps it is. "Yes. Not even that." Pause. "They do not understand. But if I am to be fair, I suppose they do not have the opportunity to understand. I would never share our intimate moments with them. And so they see only what I must do in the world."
"You said it yourself to me," she says with a smile. "You have strength, as well, my darling." 'I'll kill you if you leave', along those lines. It was very sweet. "But remember always. This is where I would go for you; I would go farther than any can imagine."
There are many who would want her.
"You may always rely upon that."
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
And it is a task only Elisa could accomplish, in all her might.
"I can't stand it when they say such cruel things about you," Yuliana sighs. "They do not know how gently you touch me, how attentively you listen to me, how many long hours you devote to me. You are wonderful, my darling!" And her eyes shine as stars as she insists on all Elisa's shining qualities, though the world would insist she's a terrifying witch.
Yuliana bathes in the jealous green of Elisa's gaze, pressed against her, and as ever is she receptive to her words. "I do," she says, her smile widening. "Oh, Elya, you're so reliable. I'm so lucky to have a wife who will go so far for my sake! If ever I'm lost, always will I be thinking you are coming for me, sputnica zhizni." She names Elisa the companion she's chosen for life, always standing with her. "I know that you will come to me. I know you will tear anything apart to reach me."
She lifts her forehead from Elisa's -- but only so she can kiss her wife again, and she is an invitation. "Now," she purrs, gaze lidding in her affection, "before the evening comes, won't you..."
Yuliana is the one to entangle herself around Elisa, draping over her, latching to her; Yuliana is the one to remind her of the physical world they exist in, for now, however reluctantly. And if they are a little late to meet their people --
Elisa is more important than anything else.