2023-11-24: I Am That I Am
- Log: I Am That I Am
- Cast: Yuliana Kafim, Elisa Kafim
- Where: Symbolic Logic tattoo parlour, Stockholm
- Date: 2023-11-24
- Summary: Yuliana and Elisa have their names tattooed into each other's necks to symbolise their bonds, on the wake of their first anniversary. But during the painful procedure, Yuliana recalls a theory Leina had on Her origins -- and Elisa realises something vital when she hears it. They know who the Woman in the Void really is, now.
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
OST: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyBPmzejNrs The Bravery - Bad Sun
The Kafims are strikingly happy, and the first year of the rest of their lives completes today. Precisely one year prior, they were married -- and despite Lilith's murder attempt, it was a joyous day. Yuliana offered herself up as Elisa's bride, and Elisa took her in marriage. Discarding her Republic designation, Yuliana took her wife's name... and began her journey towards escape.
(Escaping into Elisa's arms.)
No wonder, today, they're underlining their devotion to each other in a new way. The tattoo parlour Yuliana eventually chose for them is Symbolic Logic, a lovely little place in Stockholm. It's clean, certified, and of good artistic repute... not that they're looking for artwork, as such. But Yuliana could not invite her wife into a disrespectful house; Elisa deserves only the best.
Only the best needles, though, are still needles. Even with the medication Elisa gave her before they arrived here, Yuliana's still a little nervous, so naturally she asks Elisa to go first. And after seeing her bravery...
"I cannot well leave you to endure this alone," Yuliana insists, as if to bolster herself. "Just... hold my hand, Elya." And it's well that Elisa does, because Yuliana's grip, all tightening with grunts of discomfort, would crush the bones of a lesser woman.
"Do you need me to stop?" The artist asks, all leant over Yuliana's chest. Her collarbone is bared; she has worn a plunging neckline, for this, and her scarf is in Elisa's care while he works. (So, too, is her green fold necklace.)
"No!" Yuliana snaps, glaring daggers up to him before she turns her head to look back to her wife. "I just... don't like needles."
"This would have been your idea, then?" He asks, glancing over to Elisa, before he returns his focus to crafting an artful italic 'i'. His name is Thomas Terrace, and he's been doing this for almost thirty years.
"Nnh-- it was mine!" Yuliana is clearly a little agitated, but perhaps it's understandable, under the circumstances. "It's our anniversary! We have to make a statement! I love my wife -- fuck!"
"Halfway done," Thomas assures her, as she grits her teeth and grasps Elisa's hand tightly.
She looks to Elisa, with those troubled endless eyes, and whines: "I can't look..."
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
Elisa of course goes first; she has a dressing over the tattoo more for Thomas's sensibilities than her own sake. No infection would grow in the flesh of Elisa Kafim.
"I will," Elisa promises Yuliana of her hand, and indeed she does. When he asks of stopping, Elisa is prepared to answer. But Yuliana does first.
"She is so brave," Elisa comments as to her wife's hatred of needles, and coming this way even so. "Be patient," she suggests, and it is unclear if she means him or her, but on the other hand, he's doing pretty well on the patience front actually. Elisa brings her other hand to curl down over Yuliana's and her own, comforting her.
"Then look at me," she says instead. "There is no need to watch. All will be well. And soon, we will share one more bond."
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
Inflammation does tend to require heat. But Yuliana is still warm, so surely it's well for Elisa to wear this dressing, just so she's not alone.
"Mm," she hums, when Elisa suggests patience. She is staying very still, with someone bent over her in the chair. If he were tattooing any lower, he might feel the way her heart is racing, being placed in such a familiar situation. The lights he needs to work, and how close he needs to get -- they're all just far too similar.
And as far as she's concerned, he's invading her privacy, as sure as if he were tattooing her hip.
But Elisa curls her hand over hers, and Yuliana smiles, briefly, before she grimaces again. She looks to her wife, head all turned to the side, and clutches tightly to her hand. "It's okay... right? It's -- okay?" She asks, with a sharp edge of anxiety, even though the medications Elisa gave her. (If she hadn't given her something -- how inconsolable would she be?) "All will be well," she repeats, she echoes her, with a deep breath in. "All-- all will be -- nnh..."
He's started another letter, and so Yuliana exclaims: "Fuck! Ugh -- is this what Leina meant? I forgot what she was saying -- back then -- but all this... this hurts, too..." Yuliana is rambling, clearly, but there's a certain hint of clarity in her haze of drugs and distress. Her eyes screw shut, for a flinching moment, and she focuses on the thought before it passes. "Is this how She began? Changing Herself -- just like this? Just like us..."
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
Yes.
Elisa can tell Yuliana's distress, attuned to her so well. She wouldn't have to be, but because she is she detects layers of it, subtleties well beyond someone more distant from her wife.
One could imagine why she didn't get a woman artist... and just as easily one could imagine why she never would.
Elisa smiles back, gently, and then she says, "It is." Yuliana echoes her. And then she says--
She says something strange. Elisa tilts her head, thoughtfully.
"Leina?" she wonders, and then does not wonder of Leina. "She? ...You wonder of how She began?" Elisa wonders in turn. Like them...
"What do you mean?"
The noise of the tattooing falls away from her, as she focuses only on the oracle that is her wife.
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
There were perfectly suitable parlours which Yuliana disqualified on gender. Kaiju Crush, for instance. Particularly with older artists -- it's just too much for her.
As for younger women artists... well, that's problematic for a different reason. Yuliana can't have another woman looking at her neck like that, right in front of her wife.
"Leina -- didn't she say it felt strange? -- strange that She has gender, preference... mmn!" Yuliana tenses, when the needle gun digs in again. "Nnn..!" Elisa may have a razor's focus, but Yuliana is still trapped in this chair, with all this painful input. She hums, fearful, through lips tightly pressed together.
But she blinks those endless eyes open again, finding Elisa's own jealous green. "She wondered if -- She was from here, mm -- originally, like, like, I don't know... did she mean that woman with Siti, that, Cypripedioidea...?"
She looks through Elisa, and wonders, "did Cypripedioidea... even come from Earth...?" Leina said she looked alien -- described her as a 'being' -- and her invitation...
"Ow!" She yelps, interrupting her distant attention.
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
Quite problematic indeed. No, Symbolic Logic was the ideal choice. And Thomas seems to know his work quite well.
He also appears to know not to comment on what he hears, whether because he's discreet or because he's busy. Either is fine, really. So Elisa listens to Yuliana, and indeed--she is so focused, now.
"It is all right," she says, able to maintain her other focus on Yuliana's well-being and calm. But those eyes open... "I suppose it is unusual," Elisa comments, with the air of someone who never considered that angle--until--
Elisa's eyes stay on Yuliana--and then widen, almost imperceptibly, as she wonders. "No," Elisa says, "She did not. But..."
But. But, but, but, but, but. Elisa stares through Yuliana for a moment, through the Gate, into the distance. Yuliana will recognize her departure immediately, but she does not stay gone very long. Instead, she returns--she returns with knowing.
"I..."
"You suggest..."
Elisa's eyes focus. "You suggest that She was once as us...?"
The world spins, but it is no discomfort. Elisa holds Yuliana's hand still in her own.
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
Thomas has heard all sorts of things in his time here. Marriage proposals, breakups, plots of crime and revenge. Something about going through a painful experience tends to make people honest. Whoever 'she' is -- and he doesn't capitalise the word, in his head, because he has no reason to -- it's evidently just a family matter.
Besides, he's also busy. Yuliana tensing up like this makes his life difficult, and he has to focus on getting everything lined up right. One doesn't remain a tattoo artist in one's fifties without having a bit of artistic pride.
Yuliana stills, though, under Elisa's stare. She swore insight to her wife; her whole self, too, is vehicle to this. (She knows the Gate. She is the Gate.)
"I wondered," Yuliana says, and her fingers slacken in Elisa's care. "This -- it reminds me -- of when I'm with Her. It hurts because I'm changing... ah!" Her hand twitches, clenching again, as Thomas works on just that sound. (And he's wise enough, still, not to comment.) "If it's -- if She was like this -- maybe it started like this," she takes a sharp breath in, and swallows. "Just like us."
With a thin smile, she adds: "M...maybe more like you than me... She's never complained about changing. And, and look at me, carrying -- mm! -- carrying on... oh, She'd just tell me to be strong..."
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
A family matter... Close enough.
Elisa appreciates his pride, of course. Just as she will appreciate it later, when she regards her own new tattoo. But these are matters for later. These are matters for now. These are matters for--
Yuliana wondered. "...Yes," she says. "it is indeed a change, and change can be painful. Together, we embark on this change, to make ourselves more belonging to one another still."
"To start..."
"Ahahahah..."
Elisa cannot entirely contain her reaction, as she begins to understand. 'More like her', Yuliana says, and yes--yes.
"We are complementary, not identical, my darling. Your pain shows us the precious nature of our change. I endure, and that is well, but you endure despite far more difficulty, and that is all the more impressive. Yes... She would tell you to be strong..."
"But I tell you you are strong, my darling. Yes--"
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
"Zhenushka...?" Yuliana ventures, hearing emotion leap into her dear wife's voice. (And it does sound very emotional, to her, though Elisa's voice is still quite even. She is attuned to her wife's little cues and variations, just as Elisa knows her high peaks and tumbling valleys.) Her thumb traces the side of Elisa's fingers, as if to reassure her she is here.
She smiles, though, when Elisa assures her they're complementary. "Oh, you're so kind to me," she says, her cheeks warming with affection. "There's no end -- nnhh -- to my strength, if it's for you. And I'm for you..." Her fingers twitch, and clench, as Thomas finishes that last 'a' and sets about pressing a dressing down, right at the base of her neck.
"Don't remove that until it comes off," he instructs her, just as he did Elisa, "and when it does, wash it with unscented soap and water -- make sure your hands are clean. Pat it down, don't rub it dry. Don't pick at the scabs, and if it's itching, put some moisturiser on. All right?"
"A--all right," Yuliana says, pushing herself up off of the reclining chair he was working from. She keeps grasping Elisa's hand, all the better to support her. "May I wear my scarf again...?"
She's looking at Elisa when she asks, though, not Thomas. Behind Yuliana, the artist shrugs, as if to say, 'up to you'.
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
It is at least something like emotion. Elisa is here, though, and so she notices Yuliana's reassurance. She is here, and so she sees that smile. She is affectionate. "You are, and I for you," Elisa answers fondly. Then, there is the dressing. The instructions she will remember quite clearly, of course.
"I will ensure that these instructions are followed," Elisa says to Thomas, and then smiles. "You may," she tells Yuliana, because Thomas is not the one she was asking, but Thomas did helpfully supply that it wasn't going to be harmful. That 'emotion' in Elisa remains, though--an interest, a keen fascination, an...
It's hard to say what. But she has more energy, still.
"I will double your payment, Mr. Terrace, for your expert gentleness with my wife. We thank you. I believe..."
"Yes, I believe we shall return. For now, my darling..."
"Let us go. I wish to speak on what you have brought up to me, in private."
She will even shake Thomas's hand, and if hers is cold, he's wise enough not to comment on it.
And so, Elisa leads Yuliana out, down the alley, and to the dockside. The chill air is bracing--or Elisa assumes it must be so for Yuliana. For her it is simply cold, an interesting sensation against her skin but otherwise not of concern. The lingering pain of the tattoo site is also interesting. She finds that she 'feels' each of these things more in the moment than she has in other moments. It has been some time...
Or ever?
"We will go back in time, my Yuliana. But I do not wish to subject you to the Chill just yet." The Void's chill, that is. The teleportation. Perhaps they'll take a boat back. Perhaps they'll just go back soon after all.
"...But you are right," she says. "Cypripedioidea was not of Earth. But Our Empress..."
"Yes, She once was, I think. No, I am sure of it. I understand, now, what has teased at the edges of my awareness for so long. ...I know Her, as surely as you."
The water is cold, and dark. There are ships in the distance. But no one else is at this place directly, passing on the other side of the area instead.
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
Of course Elisa will see to the instructions, Yuliana thinks; she's so dutiful.
"Thank you, madam," Thomas says to Elisa, with a nod. "Happy anniversary." He shakes her hand, and does not, indeed, remark on the chill -- particularly in light of Yuliana's lukewarm palm, when she shakes his hand, in turn. (After Elisa, naturally.)
... though he will wonder if some strange fey creature came to his shop, tonight, in the small dark hours before he sleeps. How fortunate his policy is not to ask questions.
Yuliana isn't terribly concerned with him, though. She slips on her necklace and her scarf, all covered up appropriately, and grasps Elisa's arm as they leave. She insisted on keeping her cloak on during the procedure, and it's well that she has it, because it's a cold night in Stockholm. The bracing winds from the waters do make her shiver -- and she draws closer to her wife, though Elisa has no warmth to give her.
"You're so thoughtful," she murmurs, leaning against Elisa's side. She does find the Chill... unsettling. She's always been a little strange, coming out of Elisa's portals.
But Elisa speaks of the Empress, and Yuliana looks up to her, reaching up with now-gloved fingers to cup her wife's cheek. "Elya... what is unveiled to you...?" She asks, concern gentling her words. "Ever since I spoke of Her, you've been strange... what happened?"
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
BGM Change: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2EIeUlvHAiM Florence + The Machine - Cosmic Love
Perhaps some strange fey creature did. But he pleased her, and so his shop will be blessed again today.
But Elisa holds Yuliana close, as she walks. There is so much that she is certain of, in the moment. The warmth that Yuliana has...
"I do what I can," Elisa says of being thoughtful. "I swore to you that I would be so, did I not? That I would think of your needs..."
She comes to a stop, as Yuliana cups her cheek, and places her gloved hand over her wife's, against her face. She smiles, down at her, thoughtful. "Of course. I did not wish to say it in front of our good artist... But to you, I will reveal what I have understood."
"I believe that She came from Earth," Elisa says. "I believe that this possibility you mentioned Leina to have ventured--Yes. It is the case."
"Forgive me my strangeness, my Yuliana. But I know now that destiny has taken a stronger hand with the two of us than even I realized."
"For She sent me to this world, as well. ...I am still trying to remember--to understand--but..."
"But I know it, in my bones. We are linked. Some part of Her exists incarnate in me."
"I am She, if only a part, only a piece. I have loved you longer than I have known this modern world. I have loved you longer than I can even know."
"For you are the reason I came to this world, Yuliana."
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
"You did," Yuliana assures her. "You've always kept your oaths." And if she's particularly fey about it all -- Yuliana doesn't mind. She is favoured.
And Yuliana feels her fingers, pressing against hers, all kept between Elisa's cheek and her palm. She believes, she is certain... she begs forgiveness, and Yuliana's own head cants, bangs tumbling across her scarred cheek. Destiny's hand --
Yuliana's hand jerks, with her gasp, as Elisa relates the truth she's learned. Her eyes widen in shock, and her jaw does not quite remember to close, as she looks up to her wife and listens. "Then -- then --"
It's so much, all at once. She leans into her wife, afraid that perhaps she will collapse -- she leans into God; and all her fears of belonging to two women, they're as nothing, aren't they? Then, when she sleeps, when she wakes...
She shakes her head, and tries to focus on one piece of the facts, some oasis of sense in it all. "Then -- when She saw me -- you're saying She fell in love, Elya, She -- carved Herself from Herself, to fit in here? Seeing me cry out, and She could not reach me... so... She sent, you?"
Her fingers tremble. "But how can this be?" She asks, her voice small. "You -- you've parents -- a childhood -- a shining career, Elya. A place you've grown. We took it, we claimed it... how can She have sent you, when you were here? I don't understand. I don't understand," Yuliana repeats, as her throat chokes up.
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
She has. She will. And yet, there is more...
Elisa notices the shock, and it is much, all at once. Perhaps it would be 'wise' to keep this to herself, to avoid the strain...
But no. She will not, not this. She must share it with her wife.
"That is what I believe to be the case," Elisa tells Yuliana, as of course her wife puts it so poetically. "That I loved you before I was born into this world. It must be so."
But how?
"...I am not sure," Elisa says. "Perhaps it awakened in me only in time. Or perhaps She does not perceive the passage of time as we do. Without me, how can She make sense of the mortal realm?"
"It is not so hard to believe that She exists outside our 'time'," Elisa says. "...That I once did. But I know it, now. I understand, why She is so uncomprehending of mortal frailties."
"Because I have not yet returned to Her to explain this world. She has been apart from it for so long that She cannot remember what it was like. ...I am how She remembers."
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
"She does... struggle to comprehend," Yuliana frowns, reluctant to criticise the Woman in the Void. (Elisa.) "She doesn't realise, or, She disregards..."
Yuliana trails off, and her brow knits, as her hand drops to grasp at the front of Elisa's dress. "But, that means..." It is not always easy, to be favoured.
Her head turns, with the front of her body, to look out at those dark waters instead of to her wife. "Elya, you're saying... you are She... but how can I accept that? She -- She unmakes me, Elya, alters me to suit Her whims, and it hurts, and -- and then I wake up, and, and you comfort me, but you're saying that you were hurting me in the first place? I don't know, I... I don't like that!" And she is strained, certainly, struggling with her hurt and comfort coming from the same woman.
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
Elisa is more willing, now. Elisa says, "She does not realize, I think."
It means...
"...If I knew Her mind," Elisa says, "I would be able to understand, and explain it to you. As it is, I can only guess. I am She, but only a part of Her. I do not know all of Her motives or Her means."
"It is perhaps more accurate to say that I come from Her. I believe... I believe that She changes you in order to make you safe. And perhaps because She does not understand how painful it can be. After all, if my reaction to change is Hers... Then of course She would not see it as so awful."
It's difficult to remember to capitalize, now. Elisa sets her jaw, and considers. ...No, if this is true....
"Yes. She sent me here to understand you better. And to guard you, from this world and from Her own overzealousness. She cannot comprehend the mortal realm, but I..."
"I have avoided it so, even as you've tried to get me to remember this world. And you were right, were you not? That I must understand it. That I must 'dwell' here."
"My darling. If we can return to Her..."
"Then I will bring my knowledge with me, and there will be no need for such pain."
"And when She hurts you, I understand now. I am not meant simply to help you to endure--I am meant to help you to thrive."
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
And Yuliana feels miserable, knowing that she knows Her mind, Her heart, Her wishes. Putting Elisa in that position...
"Yeah..." She cedes, her shoulders sinking. "That's... that's what She wants, but..."
(it's not right,)
But Elisa says again that she must protect Yuliana, and even knowing Her own feelings on keeping Yuliana safe, it's still a tempting explanation. She was right...
Listening to Elisa, Yuliana's frown deepens; she swallows, audibly. But she can't turn away from her wife. She turns back to Elisa, looking up to her, fingers curled in at her shoulder. "Elya..." She says, and there's still clear affection in her voice, even with these shattering revelations.
Of course she is hers; it aches at her neck. How can she turn from her, when she is her wife? Even if she is part of, even if she comes from...
Of course, She was her first ally, too. She has always been with her.
Of course she smiles, tremulous. "Forgive me," she says, "it's just overwhelming, that's all. But... but that is how we will stop this pain? If you're able to meet... can you make Her understand? Is that... how it won't hurt, when we bring the Void here?"
Yuliana takes a breath, and presses herself to her wife, and surely Elisa will feel the way her heart is pounding in her chest. Her dress may be thick against the cold, but it's not thick enough to hide her.
"But why... why couldn't you do that before?" She asks, laying her head against Elisa's shoulder, one of hers turned outwards to relieve the pressure on her neck. "Why did I have to simply endure it...?"
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
Elisa hears the affection there. Of course. It would not go. But even so...
"It is one way," Elisa says. "Of course. If I am a part of Her, then surely she will see my wisdom, when She is presented with my evidence. I am a woman of logic and reason; surely this is no coincidence."
Yuliana presses herself, and she feels her heart beat...
"...Because," Elisa says. "I foolishly thought that I was meant simply to follow orders. I did not realize that this, too, is my duty to lead."
"I am sorry, my darling. I do not know, yet, how I can relieve this pain... But I know now that I can adopt measures I never thought possible."
"If I am She, then I too must decide what is best. ...I will be able to tell Her exactly how humanity is to adapt. Yes..."
"I have taken too passive a role. You need me more than this. Yes?"
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
"Surely," Yuliana agrees, when Elisa speaks to her logic and her reason. "It's like you said... we're complementary, aren't we?" She has always occupied a place of high emotion, high sensation; as much as she hates to admit it, she may well be closer to Newtypes than men.
But Elisa calls herself a fool, and Yuliana shuts her eyes, nuzzling her cheek into Elisa's shoulder. Her cloak curls around Elisa's hips, as the tentacles hidden inside it curl about her midsection, too. She is sorry, and they are words with weight, from someone who flinches from them.
She tilts her head against Elisa's shoulder so she can look up to her wife, weight sunk against her. "Yes," she murmurs, and her need is all carried in her gentled expression and the way she reaches upwards to play her fingers against her hair. "I'd be lost without you, Elya. Sometimes... it's almost felt like too much, getting closer to Her. It was only a few years ago when I only saw Her in the, the tanks, or when I was around the Awakened... I knew She adored me, but it's been hard to sleep, knowing She's waiting. I've really relied on you..." And it won't be a surprise to Elisa -- she's said as much in her diary.
How nice that she'll also say it to her directly.
"But... I can't really blame you," she sighs, her endless eyes veiled by her lashes. "I ceded to Her wishes without protest, just the same... She is... so forceful, Elya. I could do nothing but obey Her..." Here she laughs, though the sound is a little thin. "You know, I -- I worried, sometimes -- I am loved by God, but I'm married! I swore to you, not to... you know, I know it was different, but I felt so helpless. I guess... I guess that is relieving, isn't it...? If you come from Her, I've not been pressed into unfaithfulness..."
Her fingers drop slightly, the woolen weave trailing along Elisa's pointed ear, instead. "But, Elya... it's you I need. You... you embrace me, and it doesn't hurt. I need your help... you, the part of Her who came here, to know my world."
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
Complementary... Yes, she said it, and now Yuliana returns it to her. It is different, somehow. She does not comment on any similarities to others--only what she is saying, now. What they are finding.
She holds up Yuliana with her might, holds her there in place so that she will not fall. And the things she says....
"I see..." Elisa inclines her head. "I need you," she says. "...I understand the difficulty. I do. I have seen some of it."
But she can't blame her, she says, and Elisa wonders of that. Instead she says, "Hmm... Yes. You are as faithful as ever. Moreso. More faithful than any wife has ever been."
"You shall have it," Elisa says of her help. "And more. It is you to whom I promised. Perhaps She sent me... Perhaps, one day, we will be one again."
"But if so, I am the part of Her that loves you most. And this I will protect fiercely. You, I will protect fiercely."
"And we shall see this world..."
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
And so they find each other, all echoes and reflections. Yuliana weaves herself tightly against Elisa, but she's not the only one, entangled. They both need the other.
She knows Elisa will not let her fall; there is no one she trusts more than her, and her weight sinks in against her, with no reservation but to keep the pressure from her neck.
Yuliana smiles when Elisa praises her faithfulness, and she is so pleased, cheeks warm with her affection. "Elya," she murmurs, lovingly, fingers playing at Elisa's ear.
She frowns, briefly, when Elisa speaks of becoming one with herself -- Herself? She worries for her wife, whether she would survive returning to Her. But... perhaps Yuliana simply needs to adjust to the idea... that they were one, once.
She is reassured, at least, by Elisa's promise, what she will ensure in this world and the next. "... thank you," she sighs, draped in her arms. "I feel safe with you, Elya... I know you'll protect me. Your love is true, and truly deep... I'm so happy I'm yours, sputnica zhizni." She names her her life's companion, the one person who will always be with her.
"Oh, there is so much of this world to see..." She lowers her hand to Elisa's shoulder to straighten herself -- but only so she can kiss her wife properly. "And I am proud of you, zhenushka. I saw you were willing to touch that man. You did wonderfully!"
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
Echoes and reflections... Elisa too needs Yuliana, and perhaps she has not often enough said this. Perhaps she allows Yuliana to do the touching more often than is necessary. Perhaps she should look into this world more...
"Ah, Yuliana..."
She is careful of that pressure, of course. Her own pain is as nothing, but Yuliana's is always at the forefront of her mind.
So she spots the frown, and she smiles. Then, that promise she makes... the thanks she is given. "I will," Elisa says. "I promised once, and will promise again and again. You are mine, and I belong with you."
The world... Yes. Yuliana kisses her, and Elisa wraps arms about her wife, lingering until it is done.
"I did," she says. "He did good work. And now, perhaps, I will investigate this world more... Understand it better."
"Tomorrow is tomorrow, but today is today."
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
"And I with you," Yuliana assures her, her smile glowing in the light of Elisa's promises, Elisa's possessiveness, Elisa's positioning. "My darling... I'm so glad."
And she is glad to linger, there, tangled in her wife's lips, though she at least must breathe again. She heaves a great sigh when she parts, and she does not go far, gazing up into Elisa's eyes. Love is a thing she can express with more than her words, though certainly she also says: "Oh, zhenushka, I love you so. There are many fine things to find here... and you can share them with me!" Perhaps it's not only Yuliana, who can return home and share her stories with her wife.
(Aside, of course, from going out together. They go on dates often! Marriage was only the start of their romance.)
"Really," she purrs, looking up to her wife, "I'm so happy you're with me, today, Elya. Had you not come here... I would still be lost. I'm sure only someone who had been with me so long could have saved me... and I might never have reached you, if you'd not reached out for me."
Yuliana smiles, all warmth despite the chill. "I'm so glad... you need me, too. We belong together... we complete each other. And when we go back together, you can make sure She understands... I know I'll be all right, then. Because you'll be with me..."