2023-12-23: .we shall embrace and instruct heR
- Log: .we shall embrace and instruct heR
- Cast: Elisa Kafim, Yuliana Kafim
- Where: The Silent Castle, Kaffeklubben Island
- Date: 2023-12-23
- Summary: Elisa wakes Yuliana after a difficult dream... and finds they've acquired a new tool, as she slept. They discuss Rena's potential -- and, more delicately, the Empress's conduct. Shouldn't things be easier on Yuliana?
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
It is Kaffeklubben Island, and the morning is dark.
Elisa Kafim, as usual, reclines in bed in the morning, thoughtfully watching her wife. She does not sleep anymore, as a rule, does not need it or wish for it. This has been true for quite some time.
But Yuliana does. Yuliana does, and she dreams, and Elisa sees this and intervenes eventually. Sometimes sooner than other times. This time...
"Yuliana," Elisa says, the name soft and flowing on her lips.
"My Yuliana. It is time to wake."
She reaches across, to touch her shoulder. It is time.
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
Curled beside her wife, Yuliana sleeps; Yuliana must still sleep, though she comes to dread it more and more, these days. It is a quiet dread, and not one she speaks so plainly.
But surely Elisa knows. She knows her wife.
She knows what it means, when Yuliana's brow knits, when she whimpers in her slumber, shifting uncomfortably even when she's in such a comfortable position. In another woman, it might have been a nightmare. In some sense, it might still be called a nightmare.
Yuliana feels Elisa's cool fingertips, beneath the furs; hears her, calling her back to her side. And so her face scrunches up all the mightier, before she rolls into her wife, latching tightly to the sleeve of her nightgown. If the seams pop away, it wouldn't be the first time, as her endless green eyes blink open and stare wide and manic.
"Trespasser!" She hisses accusation, lips curling up. "Infiltration of intimacy to infection! To act apart! To act upon another woman, when My claws descend! What sororal affection lies?! Dance for no one but Me!" Possessive to madness, that anger grips her, as she grips Elisa -- until she hitches a breath, "oh!", and sinks in against her wife.
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
Elisa knows.
Those eyes stare, and Elisa stares at her, unblinking. She hears the accusation. "Hmm..."
As always, she seeks meaning in this madness. Once, she did not. She knows better now. She waits, and listens, as Yuliana returns to herself--
"What happened?" Elisa asks softly. "My darling..."
She waits. She will hear. She will listen. For her wife's sake... and to understand.
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
"Uh," Yuliana murmurs, dazed, as she slumps against her wife. Her hand worms under Elisa's arm, to latch herself tightly to her, as her snakes and her legs curl about just the same. "Nn... Elya..."
It isn't easy -- but she blinks her eyes open, again, and looks up to her wife. "Elya," she says, again, softly. "Elya..."
Yes. She's awake, and her wife is here, and she is safe in her arms.
"Someone... someone came to the Void, Elya. That woman, Renalle... mm... Rena. She is Void-touched, now... someone like that... is our sister, Elya." For Yuliana's family is Elisa's family, and if Yuliana is connected to someone through the Void, Elisa is connected just the same.
"Oh..." She sighs, just as soft, as she sags against Elisa. "I'm so embarrassed, Elya. I don't want people to see me like that... she was terrified, zhenushka. Of me... and for me, I suppose." And why someone would be terrified for Yuliana, in that place...
... surely she doesn't need to tell Elisa why.
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
Elisa is strong. She is steady. She is there for Yuliana to cling to. And to talk to. She is there, to keep her safe.
Someone...
"To the Void?" Elisa wonders, and she hears of it. Rena... "Is that the woman who struck down my dragon?" Elisa asks, confirming. Their sister... For indeed, Elisa is now connected to her as well.
"It is all right," Elisa says, her mind beginning to spin up with possibilities. "I'm sure she was. She does not yet understand. But she will, in time. It is inevitable, now."
How can someone See, and not understand eventually? The very idea is absurd.
"This is... strange," she admits. "But it is all the more reason we must pursue our solutions. ...If many more find their way..."
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
"Yes," Yuliana murmurs, nosing at Elisa's neck, burying herself against her. "That's the one... she ruined your beautiful dragon!"
Yuliana thinks her dragon was beautiful, anyway.
"She was confused," Yuliana sighs, "since she was a Newtype, and she came to that place. I had to tell her... it's not disqualifying. I... I was that way, too, before I became one with the Void." It's harder to admit, in the waking world, and her lips twist in malaise. "I told her it would take longer, for her... since she has no Orchid Cells to rely on, and she'd been living in transgression for so long. She'll just have to be patient..."
Yuliana frowns, fingers of her trapped hand curling at Elisa's collar. "... she wanted to know more about the family," she recalls, slowly. "And... she was worried I was in pain."
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
"A transgression," Elisa agrees, with a wrinkle of her nose. It was a good dragon.
"...Yes," Elisa says, recognizing the big step that Yuliana is taking by admitting that. It never especially bothered her, but she knows it bothers Yuliana. "Yes... it rather would. Patience..."
Hm.
"That is well," Elisa says. "Through her new communion, she has earned the path to wisdom. We must allow her to walk it." A pause. "...And you are in pain. The Empress does not understand this, or sees pain as a gift. I understand this point of view, of course... But you are yet quite mortal. It is not your way. We must find her kindness, or else draw you closer to me instead."
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
It's a mercy, perhaps, that Elisa doesn't point out the unfairness of Yuliana admitting she's a Newtype herself after her years of cruelty. It certainly bothers her, but... there's only so much she can ignore reality, it seems, before she has to acknowledge it.
Which is useful information to tuck away somewhere. Even Yuliana's self-delusion has limits.
"Mm..." Yuliana hums, nodding against Elisa's skin. "The Empress... did allow me to say it hurt, at least. Though She was quite agitated when I shared the difficulties I've had, with our disagreements..." Elisa's disagreements, after all, are Yuliana's as well. "... I don't like it when people see that. They don't understand... She's just very sensitive. I won't say it isn't frightening, but... it's embarrassing when people see something so private."
She'd rather interpersonal frustrations be kept behind closed doors.
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
What cares Elisa of unfairness? Yuliana is as she is. ...But it's useful information potentially, yes. Important knowledge of Elisa's wife.
The Empress... allowed it. Hmmm. "Yes, She would not be pleased at that," Elisa agrees. But what they see... "Yes," Elisa agrees. "I understand. You do not wish to share such things."
"They are yours, not to be lent out like a book."
This is the problem with Newtypes, after all.
"They do not understand. ...Do you think this 'Rena' will return? I am surprised that She allowed her to stay."
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
"Precisely!" Yuliana pouts, still sore over being seen in such a vulnerable state. "Everyone always gets the wrong idea..."
The wrong idea... about how harmful the Empress really is, to Yuliana. But doesn't Yuliana recognise those ideas?
But she heaves a deep sigh, settling against her wife. "... She wished to carve her up, shape her into a more useful form," Yuliana shares, with regret. "It was I who bid Her stay Her hand... so I could speak with her. She was... reluctant to release me to talk with someone else, but... I managed to convince Her to be patient."
Yuliana bites her lip, lightly, her fang dimpling at the pink flesh. "Rena said she opened a door to our world... a door drawn to my own presence. In the end, I danced a hole in the realm and tossed her through, and told her not to open such a thing again... but She wasn't pleased, Elya. She was angry I went over Her heads to release Rena... when I said I just wanted to speak with her. She was terribly angry with her, you see, for she was the one who I used to help close the Gate... and I deprived Her of the chance to punish her."
And perhaps that's why Yuliana's talking about them getting the wrong idea.
She's just got done appeasing her wife.
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
"They do, I am sure."
The wrong idea. Elisa of course has her own opinions about the wrong idea. But she keeps them to herself, for now. Instead she strokes down Yuliana's arm and listens to her. As she shares...
"I see... So She did this for you."
A door... "That she would have such power now..."
A very interesting development.
"Well, that is less important for now. That She was angry, I see. Yes... Just as I instead must be reluctantly grateful to her for her assistance towards you. Yes, we shall have to inquire as to her future intentions."
The wrong idea, was it?
"She must learn, as I have, of your need for some independence."
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
"She is generous," Yuliana murmurs, when Elisa recognises all that the Empress allowed her.
"Rena did say... she did not bid the door to open. Even so, that it appeared... she may develop the skills to cross through realms, in time." Yuliana pauses, lightly, before she adds: "I would never have even considered... having control over such a thing. Even if she did not choose the open door... she could have ignored it."
Imagine having that kind of power!
But it's not important, right now, and Yuliana nuzzles her cheek into Elisa's shoulder. "Elya... she said, as well, she didn't wish for me to die. It's difficult to believe, with all the frustrations I've vented upon her, but... I suppose she isn't lying about that."
She sighs, tilting her head to gaze up to her wife, with a worried frown. "The Empress has little interest in learning," she says, and not without frustration. "She demands. She always has, Elya. It's..." Her teeth grit, and she swallows down the difficulties, instead picking up with: "Of course, I'm fortunate to be loved by God. I'm grateful to Her for all She has done... I'm just a difficult woman. That's all..."
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
She did not bid the door to open, but could have ignored it. "I see..." Such paths, being walkable by the many. It is another path towards their goal. There are a number of ways for it to benefit them. But in the moment...
She can see that Yuliana finds a different issue.
Elisa holds Yuliana still. "Did she, now? Then she is on the path." She is vaguely aware that there are many frustrations Yuliana could have vented on her, but keeping track of which human is which is often beyond Elisa, just as it is Her.
But... "Interest or no," Elisa says. "She may demand, but I, too, can Demand."
"Of course," Elisa says. "We are grateful. But you, you are not simply difficult. You are glorious. Remember that."
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
Yuliana does an awful lot of things to an awful lot of humans. Who has the time to keep track, really? Not even Yuliana keeps perfect track of everyone she's hurt, and Yuliana, conversely, is very good at remembering people's names.
She smiles, relieved, when Elisa insists on her own Demands. "Oh, Elya... I don't know what I'd do without you. You're so brave... I've never been able to stand up to Her, the way you do. I just frighten too easily..."
Yuliana tilts her head up, to press her lips to Elisa's cheek, before she sinks back into their pillows. "Glorious... yes, of course. I'm special. I always have been. I'm God's own bride, and yours, as well. No... more importantly. For if it weren't for you, I couldn't bear it..." And it is good, isn't it, that Elisa helps Yuliana to cope with these pressures?
It's good.
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
This name, though--this name, Elisa will remember. 'Rena'... short for 'Renalle.'
"It is who I am," Elisa says, or perhaps decides. "I could be no less. Not when you are counting on me. Not when I am who I am."
"...I love you, my darling."
She is special. "We shall see what you must bear. We shall make these things better for you. And then, in time... Together."
"That is all that matters."
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
"I love you too, zhenushka," the one promise Yuliana could never break, even as an oathbreaker. Her love is too strong to be sundered. It endures, eternal as the Void.
She sighs, "oh," and her smile is the warmest thing in their bed. (A difficult title to win, considering just how warm the furs they sleep under are. Surely Elisa would never let her wife freeze, in slumber.) "Yes... it will be better. I know you will make it so. We've always faced it together, Elya. Even something like this... we can even do something like this."
If she's particularly oblique, when she references something which may displease the Empress... at least she's found some way to voice it.
Thoughtfully, she reflects: "Rena was my enemy... but she may be of use to you, having seen such an embarrassing display. I got the feeling she was not... enamoured of the Empress's treatment of me, you see. She may put aside her grievances... I don't know. It's difficult to believe, but..."
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
Always.
Elisa is certainly not warm as a rule, but in this she is loving, at least. They will face it together. And if Yuliana can only say it obliquely, she can still say it. "Indeed, we can. We will."
But as Yuliana reflects...
"Yes," Elisa says, "She may well be. I imagine that she was not; she would not understand the ways of the Void regardless. Yet."
"No, we shall find her. We shall... instruct her. And we shall see what comes of it."
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
"Haha... it's difficult," Yuliana laughs, smiling to her wife, "to imagine her as anything more than a scratching post... but I can't argue with destiny, I suppose. If I'd known Rena would become this important, I'd have thought twice before taking everything out on her..."
Wait, is THAT the lesson?!
Apparently that's the lesson.
(And an impossible lesson, at that, because when has Yuliana ever thought twice about anything.)
"Maybe... it wouldn't be so bad. It wouldn't be so bad if she wanted to help..." Because, of course, the world owes her this consideration. Even the people she's hurt the most --
-- should really just be worried about her.
But isn't it a nice thing to say?
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
"It hardly matters. Things are as they are." Elisa waves her free hand vaguely. "She will learn, in time."
It's fine.
But if she wanted to help... "I'm sure she will," Elisa says. "Yes. It will be..."
"Good."
All should come to Yuliana, in the end.