2023-12-14: .and so we welcome even transgression to our philosophY
- Log: .and so we welcome even transgression to our philosophY
- Cast: Yuliana Kafim, Elisa Kafim, Teletha Testarossa
- Where: The Silent Castle, Kaffeklubben Island
- Date: 2023-12-14
- Summary: Yuliana and Elisa's ice skating date is interrupted -- by the Tuatha de Danaan approaching Kaffeklubben Island. Teletha disembarks, and has a conversation with the two of them about their intentions for the world and the North Pole, amongst other things. Elisa extends her hospitality, which means that Yuliana minds her manners. But isn't it a little sad that children are helming submarines?
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
OST: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znaLpAKzujA Alla Pugacheva - Superman
The Silent Castle stretches out from Kaffeklubben Island, the first time in untold eras it has known human habitation. It is a fortification hewn from stone and magic, massive in scope; it consumes the majority of the island in its walls, including some areas which have been artificially built out and levelled to combat the rising tides. It's not hard to judge why this island wasn't competitive real estate: at this time of the year, it is plunged into eternal night, and it's currently sitting at a cool -26 degrees Celcius. (That's -14.8 degrees Fahrenheit... if you live in Britannia.) Even with the threat of global warming, ice still frequents this place, stretching across the water in thick, jagged sheets. (And here, far enough from the North Pole for mercy, the ice is not green. Small mercies.) One iceberg, in particular, is of note -- dull red and inert, the massive hunk of erstwhile Psychoframe which Yuliana took from Denver still rests, in the ocean.
In its shadow is the dock which extends out into the icy water; their Salamis Kai is docked, there, and the Shandor's characteristic icebreaker makes perfect sense seeing it at rest. Out past that dock are the gates to the Castle, large enough to allow mobile suits to traverse through; there is, of course, a smaller gate installed there, for human passage. And, to the other side of that massive inert Psychoframe iceberg... magically-smoothed and reinforced ice, here on the water.
Yuliana loves ice skating, did you know?
They're outside their gates, today, twirling across the ice in emerald skates. It's a romantic date! Yuliana's all rugged up in furs, from her cap to the cloak covering her warm black robes; slits cut to either side of her ushanka's earflaps let her frills stretch out, to either side of her head. (Those boneless tentacles, joined by webbing between them, can consume something as large as their Castle in her Silent aura when they're fully extended.) Even with Yuliana's hands in gloves, they still perfectly fit Elisa's -- and the snakelike tentacles which extend out from under her cloak are a perfect match for coiling about Elisa's midsection, too. They're really quite good, but that should come as no surprise -- Elisa was an Olympian athlete, in her youth.
And Yuliana looks so happy, losing herself in Elisa's eyes as her wife spins her about.
... does she really keep threatening reality itself?
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
Ah, the romance. Elisa Kafim twirls her wife once more, the hood down on her heavy black robes. Her hair is in a ponytail, and it becomes easy in that way to see the strange fringe at her ears, as if multiple filaments extend from the edges. Elisa does wear gloves, but she is not particularly imperiled by the cold.
She even smiles.
Yes, clearly this is innocence personified.
<Pose Tracker> Teletha Testarossa has posed.
The Tuatha de Dannan did not have to be subtle when it wanted to. Coasting across the waterline in an almost brazen declaration of where the submarine was, cracking and pushing through the ice towards Kaffeklubben Island. Loud, deep-seated snaps and crackles of ice being broken in the Toy Box's wake, The black blot of the seas pushing towards the island, moving in, the long, slow languid turn of a submarine with bright lights, flashing its presence without the pretense of hiding...
...And merely docking nearby, mere feet from the Psychoframe iceberg. It stays inert for a moment, an internal rumbling before the top of the submarine opened; A hatch, with a person climbing out of a ladder, turning around, speaking for a few moments to the people inside. There's finger movements, gestures of coordination, and a sweeping arm motion towards the ice-field. A few moments of animation before closing that hatch.
Said person adjusted their orange jacket, a bright silhouette of a teenager girl glancing over every so often. Earmuffs, hood, well-dressed for the elements like any human would in this sort of weather. With a shiver to adjust herself to the temperatures, she set off on the walk, off the submarine proper, onto ice, and onto the iceberg proper, close to the reinforced ice. There's a few small stumbles to gain and regain her footing, but she never tried straying her gaze.
Locked onto the ballet of wife and wife, the sharp gaze watching as she settled into the vaguely unfamiliar sensation of internal silence. The slow breaths in, out, in, gloved hands tapping at her ear every so often.
A soft mutter. "So this is what they feel...I can see how it could drive a person mad." Interesting...Another few taps of her ear, humming, plugging, testing her hearing just to make sure.
...A grotesque sort of hell, indeed.
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
"Elyula~" Yuliana lilts, sultry, playful, and saccharine sweet. "Kiss m--"
Tragically, their romantic date is interrupted by that brazen approach, Yuliana's frills twitching as she turns to face the sound of crunching ice. "What on Earth!" She exclaims, lifting a hand to shield her eyes against the harsh light of the Toy Box. Of course she draws in closer to her wife, as she watches the submarine approach; if they mean to make war, the safest place for her is beside her wife, out here and exposed as she is.
(She's an apt warrior, but she can't take on an entire submersible with her bare hands. She does have some limits.)
"Wait, are they... docking...?" She asks, as she peers at their activity. It's suggestion enough that they're not here to unload their missiles, anyway.
"Someone's coming out... hahaha!" Yuliana has to laugh, seeing something so unusual. "Perhaps they want to chat," she proposes, and the strange approach has clearly caught her interest. "Shall we go and see, Elya?"
Tugging at her wife's hand, Yuliana skates closer to the inert Psychoframe that girl has climbed out beside.
"My, my," she calls out, across the ice, as she gets within speaking distance. "The Toy Box has come to visit! And who might you be, hmm...?" Though Elisa can surely feel her fingers tighten around hers, and the way her upper lip lifts in her smile, as much as her lower. No: now, with the benefit of that fringe relay, she may even realise just how incensed Yuliana is growing, eyes falling on her. That girl... that girl...!!!
She doesn't have to kill them all, but she still has to choke down her initial reaction -- and her smile might look a little like the jaws of a wolf, in the process.
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
Elisa is about to kiss Yuliana. When a submarine approaches. She didn't notice it coming until the loud sounds of it broke into her awareness, and 'brazen' is indeed the word she thinks of. Elisa turns, frowning.
She is similarly prepared for trouble as Yuliana; she can't actually do much against a submarine on foot, without access to the armaments in the castle, but it doesn't stop her standing imperiously until she sees...
An orange jacket. A figure moving to talk.
"So they do," Elisa answers Yuliana, thoughtfully. "Yes, let us do this."
Then, she approaches with Yuliana, slightly after, but she stands slightly ahead of her when she comes to a stopl. The Toy Box...
"Ah, yes. I remember your people's assistance before," she recalls.
She feels it, from Yuliana. One of Them...
Could this have to do with Shari?
"Good day," Elisa says, regardless of the dark, "And welcome to Kaffeklubben island. I am Elisa Kafim, and this is my wife Yuliana."
"With whom do we have the pleasure of speaking today?"
She can handle this part, for Yuliana. She doesn't intervene beyond socially, though.
<Pose Tracker> Teletha Testarossa has posed.
At a closer glance, she's mildly thankful for the sudden realization that no, her eyesight was not tricking her. The smallest flick to take in those tentacles, those frills, and the other's fringe. No true expression of surprise, but there's the instinctual tenseness of strangers, especially in the dead of night. The submarine is doing what it can for light, and Tessa trusts in her own vision enough.
"Good day to you as well. I hope I didn't interrupt anything important this afternoon." A polite bow. Best not to touch the person who's had a reputation against Newtypes. "I'm only paying a visit to the leaders of the Silent Calling. If we intended to attempt hostilities, I beliieve we'd be at each other's throats already."
A clearing of her own throat. "Teletha Testarossa. Seeing as your wife has already met me various times in battle, I don't believe I can hide myself behind an alias for long." Indeed, the omnisphere around her is a wound; a festering, paradoxical tear in reality that bleeds and swallows in equal measure. "Captain of the Toy Box. I trust that you have the capacity to not kill an enemy in peacetime?"
The sunken, black-ringed eyes of an eternally stressed Captain peer forth, refusing to break her gaze. Looking over Yuliana, arching an eyebrow. "Considering your current state, I can assume you recovered from your injuries." A flick back to Elisa. "I didn't come here to fight. I hope that much is obvious."
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
So brazen.
Elisa is, of course, much better at the niceities than Yuliana, and her taking over to make those introductions give Yuliana a moment to take a deep breath and close her teeth up again. "There is nothing more important than a date with my wife," Yuliana sniffs, haughtily, before she remembers her smile again: "... but we'll excuse the interruption." Because Elisa is interested, too. She nods to the younger girl, and her free hand sweeps out, grandly, into the dark; the low light shed by the Castle's windows is comfortable, for her eyes. (If anything, the Toy Box is too bright.) "Be welcome at our hearth," she invites her, grandly. "I assure you that we are not in the business of slaying our guests."
Well, aside from -- that never happened, so it doesn't count!!
Just how she could assure her of that escapes her, though, because she's too busy focusing on said guest. Really, is there such a thing as focusing too intently on someone? "Teletha, is it? It is so nice to meet you personally, after... passing by each other so long." That's a nice way to describe their meetings. Yuliana's a nice woman. Definitely.
"Yes," she adds, leaning closer to her wife for a moment -- and it's in that moment that Tessa will get her best clue that she's been smiling too much, because her smile grows more warm and genuine to speak of her wife. "My Elisa worked tirelessly to restore my body, and I'm quite well, now." She hasn't bothered hiding the tentacle coiled around Elisa's waist; Teletha's already seen them, so there's no need for her to disguise her existence.
She adds, inclining her head: "If you don't mind me saying... you're quite young to be Captaining a whole submersible, aren't you, dear? You must be very talented."
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
A little tension is natural, especially if one knows Elisa or Yuliana's reputations. This is not a problem. But Tessa bows politely, and indicates her intentions.
"Indeed," Elisa agrees of hostilities. Elisa regardless reaches towards Tessa--with a thermos. "This is cocoa. It will warm you. And in taking it, you partake of our hospitality. That is my guarantee of your safety, from assault mental and physical."
She was going to share it with her wife... But this is a reasonable purpose to sacrifice it. It will ensure safety from both of them.
Teletha Testarossa... Elisa does not sense the omnisphere as Yuliana does; she does not sense that wound. But she senses that Yuliana senses it, as well as Elisa is able, and so she is thoughtful.
"I have seen that regardless of your youth you are quite good at what you do. Thus do I ask in turn..."
"You are not here to fight. What does bring you to our home?"
<Pose Tracker> Teletha Testarossa has posed.
"Ah, did I actually interrupt?" A glance over. Well, yes, two woman skating across the ice was typically a date activity. The slow nod of understanding, looking away for a few moments. "...I see. I'm sorry to have interrupted that." ...It still hurts when she thought about it. He's still out there. She's still out there.
The small tweak in Yuliana's smile only brings forth an internal sigh. It doesn't take a tactician to understand the dynamics at play, the intrusion of someone on someone's special date. "Yes. I've heard the REA is still searching for you...Or should I posit, knowing where you are, but letting you sit out here." It didn't take a genius to figure out routes.
"...We've had stranger things in these times, no? Amuro Ray fell into the Gundam when he was a year younger. So did Koji Kabuto, if memory serves." Very talented. Very. If only. "People have been sending out child soldiers for decades now." A derision of the world at large.
"It's a pleasure." The words are said without practiced malice, accepting that thermos after a pause. Unscrewing the top, taking a sniff of the obvious coca...And taking a sip. Ah, to feel warmth after such cold... "Thank you." The verbal promise is noted. Not taken for granted, but...It's a started.
"I'm here to ask about your intent at the North Pole. What is your endgame?" Something that may have been elaborated in the teachings of the Silent Calling, but...She wasn't one to properly elucidate herself on cults, however helpful their work was. "A personal thanks for the ice, so far as we've ascertained, but I'm asking directly after certain...events are forcing my hand."
There's a scowl directed at nowhere, a flash of hatred pointedly not directed towards them.
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
"You are forgiven," Yuliana allows, grandly, on the matter of their date. Perhaps it's no wonder -- because Elisa has offered her sustenance, and extended their hospitality, and small crimes may be overlooked under the circumstances.
(She'd be lying if she denied making a specific mental note not to leap out and assault Tessa upon hearing Elisa's guarantee, though.)
Yuliana sighs, shaking her head, her frill fanning out in the process. (The Toy Box might note, if it's currently recording data, the slight ebb and gain of the limits of her aura as her frill lowers and raises. It's too subtle for Teletha to feel at ground zero, but if their instruments are calibrated...) "Many know our location, by now," she says, with deep regret. "Including the REA. They would like nothing more than to retrieve me... but I hope you don't trust in their declarations about bringing me to justice." She pauses, and glances aside. "... no, were they to secure me again, I'd be going straight to their nearest lab." But she shakes her head, and smiles again, as she looks up to her wife. "But they must let me sit out here, for if they were to assault the Castle, my wife would ensure my protection."
Which explains why no one's come a-knocking weapons hot, even though it's hard to miss a structure as large as this.
She frowns, though -- and the distaste on her face doesn't look particularly theatric, even in the harsh lighting spilling out from the Toy Box. "Of course it's common," she says, "but it's still a shame to see children clambering for war at younger and younger ages. Let alone those without such excitement..." Yuliana sighs, with a hapless shrug. "... still, you are quite talented," she allows, after a moment.
At least Tessa drinks the cocoa. "It's good, isn't it?" Yuliana asks, smiling. "I'm very fond of it! It can be so hard to secure supplies, this far North... but don't you think cocoa is a vital part of any winter's evening?" It's the middle of the afternoon. Yuliana is, apparently, a little confused on the time.
But her generous efforts towards putting forward a friendly face are adjourned, as she considers Tessa's point. "Mm..." Yuliana hums, glancing to her wife. Perhaps she's considering just letting her explain -- but given certain conversations they've recently had, she looks back to Tessa, herself. "We wished to open a portal to the Void," she explains, plainly, "so as to bring the Void to this world, and usher this reality into a new age of peace and equality. We wish to do nothing less than save humanity, Teletha. But..." She pauses, delicately, lifting a hand to her wife's shoulder. "... there were certain... unforeseen consequences, in the Opening. It was proving to be too violent a transition... for myself, and for the world. For this reason, I had to lock the Gate away again."
She looks away, turning to Elisa. "Unfortunately, because the ritual took place at the North Pole, the extrareality scarring was too great to unwind... but it shan't spread out any further under its own power. Leave it alone, and it shall be of no danger to you... all right?" ... and if that question feels a little vulnerable, perhaps it's the way she's tucked herself against Elisa, in saying it.
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
"Yes," Elisa says--yes, she interrupted, and yes, she's forgiven. It is a matter that is done with, as far as she's concerned. For the REA...
"Here, at the seat of my power," Elisa says, "It would be foolish to assault us. And so they do not, so long as they remember that." Yuliana is correct about them, of course. But...
"True," Elisa says. "I prefer to employ adults. But I will not deny you the place you have earned, Colonel Testarossa."
"You are welcome." It is a promise; Elisa takes those seriously. But their endgame...?
Elisa looks to Yuliana. She considers the way her wife explains...
"Yes. I believe that the Void is the future of man. That as surely as the Information Age or the meeting of the Zentradi, that it will propel man into new evolution. ...However, it is for nothing if humanity cannot survive the transition."
"We have chosen not to pursue this goal, for now, in favor of considering other methods, other options. I will not open the way if it costs me my wife."
"...The ice is a source of power," Elisa says. "Cathedra has foolishly cordoned it off, but if you wish to use the ice, you are welcome to it. Otherwise, it is inert; it will not spread."
<Pose Tracker> Teletha Testarossa has posed.
Small crimes are a slippery slope, so Tessa's internal conscience muttered. Sipping at that cocoa, basking in the contrast between sub-zero temperatures and the warmth of anything above the melting point. It's a strange feeling, silence. The numbness of nothing, the feeling of nothing crawling into her mind and making more doors. Of course, the TDD-1 is recording. Documenting. It'll analyze later, its ulterior motive absolutely plain.
"Not in the slightest. It is in my experience that if the REA could take action, they'd do it before an announcement declaring the hunt and subsequent death of you." It pays to be frank at times like these, even if one's guard has to be kept up for completely normal reasons of 'visiting someone at their house'. "...In other words, you are under house arrest with temporary excursions." A perverted inversion of the situation. Still, that...in of itself, was a vital piece of information.
"Clamoring for war? It's not any of our faults. The adults in the room decided this was the best course of action, and we were merely swept up in it." Another sip. Warmth to wet the throat. "Even if we could cease all war, there's no stopgap to start another set."
But. It was good cocoa. "For any time of day." A crooked eyebrow, glancing over at Elisa; Evening? Afternoon? She triple-checked the hours and current time, with the only explanation in her head (that discounted the supernatural) being recent jetlag. "I can't imagine the logistics and costs of moving things, to direct them to a place like this..." Nearly piping up with a suggestion before shutting her mouth. Calm. You're here for a reason.
There's silence in the air as she listens to Yuliana's explanation. "Then, the flowers..." Obvious. All obvious, all too obvious. "I can see the reasoning. I...don't know how humanity will take it, considering the current furor over Newtypes to the point of trying to make their own..." It's a thought. "I only wonder what else will come before your next attempt."
A cold wind blows.
"So you did choose each other over forcing everyone...That's oddly reassuring." Another sip. "I don't believe in forcing myself along a path that will leave me isolated. If the Void purports to change that, then I don't think we can reach an accord." ...Another sip.
"But. The scarring on the North Pole is enough to leave you two on notice. The effects are obvious enough, and with Second Impact devastating the South Pole, we need everything we can get, even if..." Her gaze flicks down, hunched shoulders for warmth as she makes her case brazenly known: Yuliana's ribs. "Even if it didn't deserve unnecessary suffering. We won't try to reverse it, nor do we have the resources for it."
"...Saving humanity, huh. There's people out there who want nothing more than their own version of saving humanity." Dr. Hell comes to the mind for a moment. A man conquering the world...For what? Hubris? Char Aznable. Why did he toss Axis down? People with their own brands of 'saving' humanity, directing it in their own ways...Yet, she's smiling. "I can't put my force in any particular basket. We're all trying our best, aren't we?"
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
And the Tuatha de Danaan is welcome to watch. They're guests, after all...
"Those are their methods," Yuliana confirms, of the REA. "I myself used to be one of their hands, arranging quiet deaths in people's homes. Accidents by the window," surely she's heard of Zaftran Window Disease, "sudden heart attacks, food poisoning gone wrong... and without any need to clash on the battlefield." She sighs, as she tilts her head, and concludes: "... but, yes, you could say that. My wife and I have decided it is... for the best that I do not leave the safety of the Silent Castle overmuch." Well, Elisa made the decision, but Yuliana agrees with her.
"Certainly," she adds, on the topic of children at war, spreading her hand with a sympathetic nod. "You will excuse me. It's not your fault, of course, that the world makes it an option." Still -- a Colonel! Can she even drink, yet?!
(Not that Yuliana can drink either, but she could, if she didn't have all these medications to take.)
"My Elisa handles the upkeep of the Castle, through her staff," Yuliana adds, pride entering her voice. "She makes sure we're never in need of vital goods!" The 'isn't she so talented' part of the statement is implicit in her tone.
And the future of man... isn't Elisa such a lovely orator? Yuliana smiles, and more genuinely, listening to what she adds to her explanation. She believes in the world her wife seeks to build, even if her own motivations are less... spiteful, than they were.
"The flowers were to assist us in gathering power from our heartlands," Yuliana explains, generously. "For the countries which raised us have meaning we could offer to the Void, and a greater reach throughout this world." Those root systems did originate from the flowers, after all. Her nose crinkles, though, as Teletha connects their sacred goal to Newtypes. "And in making their own, they commit atrocity upon atrocity! How is that preferable?!" She snaps, anger entering her voice --
-- but she calms herself, with a deep breath, fingers curling about her wife's hand. "It is not isolation," she says, "but a truer version of connection, that you may reach out to others without their gaze upon your heart, with no fear of violation. Do you not weary of your innermost secrets being torn from you by anyone with the power to pierce through your psyche? Is it not exhausting, to have eyes constantly upon your back?" And if there's anything in her line of questioning which could apply to Yuliana herself...
She shivers, but surely it's just the cold.
"... in any case," she says, grasping Elisa's hand tightly, "I had no desire to remind the world of -- Second Impact." Her other hand crosses her chest, as if to hide it from Tessa's scrutiny. "But it would be... difficult for us to address the current state of the North Pole, with both NERV and Cathedra now securing the site. I did try my best, but at the time, I was... dying, you understand. My Elisa was barely able to assist me with setting Emptear down and releasing me from the cockpit, so injured was I. Had I tried anything else before I left... I doubt I would be here, even with her remarkable talents."
She closes her eyes -- and they're strange, seen face-to-face like this, without pupils to mar her green gaze -- as she adds: "And I suppose notice like that has no room to consider the potential the site now has," a shade wounded.
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
Elisa shares nothing she is not willing to see watched, recorded. These are things she has said before. And the TDD-1 may notice her cold internal temperature, the fact that her breath does not mist.
House arrest. Elisa's lips curl slightly at that, but, "Yes. For now."
She doesn't delve into the matter of child soldiers. It's not really as much a passion point for her as for either of them, she imagines. And for any time of day, well... it's fine.
This is not about that.
"The costs are considerable," Elisa admits, but Yuliana calls her talented by implication, and she smiles under her wife's praise.
"I also wonder what else will come," Elisa says, and gently places a hand on Yuliana's arm in her rage, along with the one at her hand.
"The Void provides the opportunity for isolation but does not require it," Elisa adds. "Much as in this world, one can go off to hermit in the wilderness, if one can find it... there is wilderness in the Void."
The scarring. "I am aware, certainly, of the contentiousness of our deeds. I will protect my wife as is necessary. Whether or not we can reach an accord... We can certainly speak, in this way."
They are all trying in their own ways...
"There is one difference, of course, one that you should recall. ...The 'God of Possibility' that many so reference is but a metaphor."
"I am not a metaphor." She smiles. Elisa continues to have the correct number of teeth.
"...But we are all indeed trying our best. May we all continue to do what we can, for the world. The competition of ideas is how advancement is achieved, after all. I do not begrudge those who believe differently."
"But I do hope that one day our basket looks... appealing, at least."
<Pose Tracker> Teletha Testarossa has posed.
Indeed, the Tuatha de Dannan is watching. Recording. Analyzing. Observing. It could not stop itself; An instrument of might had to be paranoid for everything, down to the flow of water around it, and the way those lights blinked in pre-determined code.
The obvious history of Yuliana is ascertained: REA. "A good policy, considering the...controversy surrounding your actions." Putting it extremely mildly. Extremely so.
"If the world bent so easily to the whims of a single person, we'd have a power struggle between so many rulers instead." A giggle at that; The thought of child soldiers had so long ingrained in her own mind that thinking about a world without one...It was a pipe dream, considering the circumstances. Underage Colonels should not drink. Don't ask her to.
"Oh?" A curious eye, though the Tuatha de Dannan was beginning to blink. Not much time, too little time to ascertain exactly how supply routes worked towards this lonely island. "Steady paychecks make more people agreeable." A matter of fact when dealing with transportation. Give a steady cashflow, and things will move where they should.
A sip of the cocoa. It's nearly empty. Connections in her head, thoughts in her mind. Even in the deafening silence, Tessa refused to stop thinking, to put pieces together. An offer to the Void...Mmh. Bad. Distasteful. Implications of something more. The small tripups mean everything. Try as she stands stoically against Yuliana's sudden triade (A mental note is added.), that fear slowly subsumes. "...I'm not about to justify Cyber-Newtype labs." No, there are worse fates out there than being in one.
Innermost secrets torn, ones flickering through her head right now. To have eyes of people on your back, the constant weight of command and unearned trust, to manage something much larger than yourself. She does not answer the question. The psyche, after all, is personal.
"Then, it's better to have retreated. Consider that a free consultation on tactics from a Colonel." She might as well charge for 'obvious facts'. "You have your wife. As much as the world protests..." A tap of the thermos's edge against her chin. "...They cannot deny your love." A teenager admiring people in love. Ah, is this jealousy? Pining? "Please treasure it when you still have the chance." The voice weighs with regret.
A deep breath in. A release that fills her front with mist. "The God of Possibility is dead, both metaphorically and literally. The Banshee Norn may have been deployed, but after Gryps-2...I highly doubt such a thing will happen again so recently." There's a crooked brow at Elisa's words: To not be a metaphor. "...To be a God on this planet when so many have declared themselves to be...Being a deity is a dangerous job. I wonder if that can be insured?" An absentminded wonderment. Ah, teeangers.
"...I'll merely keep the thought in my back pocket. Consider it payment for intruding upon your outing." A tip back, sipping the last bits of cocoa. Unique in its own way, but fitting for a freezing climate. Closing the lid, setting it down on the ground. "As much as I'd love to pick over your thoughts, duty and schedules are beginning to call again."
"Yuliana Kafim. Elisa Kafim. Thank you for your time today. If a man named Leonard comes by, please make sure to punch him in the face." A slow bow as that instinctual flash of hatred rose up again at a person far, far away from here, before turning around and walking off.
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
Yuliana, at least, has body heat which her furs are protecting. Why, she has specific medication to make sure of that!
... she's coming up on needing her next dose, though, so she may still measure to the TDD-1 as alarmingly cool, even if she still has enough warmth to sustain life.
'House arrest'... it's a little shameful to put it that way, isn't it...? Still, Yuliana appreciates her wife's distaste for the whole concept. It's really an unkind way to say it!
Yuliana's own smile, at Tessa's giggle, is... uneasy. As much as her emotions are pulled ten ways (and eight to violence) by the girl, she doesn't enjoy the idea of putting children to war. But... she doesn't snap at her, for it.
She would certainly be angry, if Teletha cited worse fates than the Institute, but -- she keeps her silence, and Yuliana cannot violate her sanctum to claw the thoughts from her.
"The Void has countless opportunities," she adds, smiling, soothed by her wife's hand laid upon her. It may look possessive -- and perhaps it is -- but the gentling of her expression is real. She's glad for Elisa's support.
And she smiles, still, to hear Elisa declare she'll protect her, leaning in against her wife. "We are still pleased to speak with you," she says, generously, and she must be using the general you -- because it's certainly a strain to speak with Teletha.
"I assure you," she adds, in complete confidence, "our love shall never be taken from us. There is no power in this world which could tear me from my Elisa's side. She will keep me safe... and I will never leave her."
Yuliana has one too many teeth -- a fang, on her right side, opposite that prominent scar down her face. Still, she smiles, her tentacles curling about her wife as if in indication. "For I am the bride of God," she says, serene, "and so does she stand before you. She is real, and present, and undying... isn't she beautiful?"
Yuliana, shatterer of reality itself, sighs with lovesick affection. "None could threaten her," she murmurs, gripped by her wife and her admiration for her.
"Indeed," she agrees with her wife, smiling. "I do hope you will not give up on this world, either. If it's for humanity's sake, I welcome your efforts, even if you may see fit to go against our own methods... but perhaps you'll see it our way, one day, mm?"
Her gaze lids, as she draws closer to Elisa. "You are welcome," she says, minding all her manners. "Run along, now... I'm sure you're very busy. But do call again, should you care to visit..." And Elisa may get the sensation that she's weighing up whether she could reach out and snatch her from between the teeth of her own submarine, for a moment, before she reminds herself of those manners. "... we would be remiss were we not to open our house to a young lady with a desire to speak."
And she's -- certainly leaning on Elisa, by the end of that, which may speak to Elisa's skills in balance. (They are still in their skates.) "Zhenushka," she murmurs, speaking of her wife fondly as Teletha leaves, "I grow weary. Shall we go inside...?"
If nothing else, it is time for her medicine.
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
Elisa finds that sunlight is a very useful thing. Perhaps that is why she is so opposed to the blockade of the new ice at the North Pole...
"True," Elisa says of the world's whims. But then, "Steady paychecks do indeed. The most sensitive of tasks can be made so much simpler with the application of the proper funds, can't they? ...There are many ways to motivate."
Nobody wants to justify Cyber-Newtype labs. Right? ...Well, almost nobody. Not Elisa, anyway.
"Indeed," Elisa says as well at her retreat. "Sometimes, one must do what is necessary, even when it is unpleasant. A lesson you know, I think."
And Elisa squeezes Yuliana's hand at that assurance. It is... appreciated, in the moment.
"I have enjoyed this conversation," Elisa says truthfully. Then, that possibility... well. "Heh heh. There is insurance," Elisa says, "From my greater Self. ...But no bank would underwrite my life insurance, I am sure."
"Of course. Duty must call. Mine, as well, calls." She holds onto Yuliana's hand, in that moment where she considers it. SHe does not need to hold her back, as it happens.
Her duty, of course? To Yuliana.
"Yes, let us go. Be well... Colonel Teletha Testarossa." She begins to lead her wife off.