2024-02-11: !you do not see as i seE
- Log: !you do not see as i seE
- Cast: Yuliana Kafim, Lavnadim Orlodhari
- Where: The Photon Power Labs
- Date: 2024-02-11 (ICly July 0098)
- Summary: Lahvi happens upon Yuliana, who invites him in to chat. She's confused about why she wants to talk to him, but he knows what he wants -- to hear what she thinks of her wife. They might be friends, but Yuliana has trouble believing that Eight would allow it... and Lahvi has words about Rena, too. Yuliana wants to explain things to Lahvi, but she can only go so far -- and when telling him one story of when she couldn't speak honestly doesn't go the way she hoped, she shuts down, and leaves Lahvi to hand her over to the professionals.
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
It's July, now, and Yuliana has returned to the Photon Power Labs for treatment. After preliminary tests, the scientists at the Labs are confident that their Photonic Neuromodulation Therapy is safe for Yuliana -- and so a course has begun in earnest. Thirty minutes, every morning...
So far, she's definitely gotten her energy back.
It's the afternoon, now, and Yuliana is entrenched in a different type of therapy -- art therapy. Upon her canvas she has laid down a backdrop of green; white fangs, tipped angry red, yawn wide open, and deep inside that black maw lies a single staring eye. She's used yellow to counterpoint the green, and the entire effect is deeply unsettling.
"... but it isn't made up, to me," she explains to Alectros Armet, the therapy technician facilitating the process. "It's what I See."
"Is it always so violent?" They wonder, as they scribble something down.
"Often," she says.
The door to the art room is open.
<Pose Tracker> Eight Orlodhari has posed.
Eight Orlodhari has her own reasons for visiting the PPL, but so too does her husband. Those reasons are classified for the moment, but rest assured, their friendly terms make that easier.
But there is always a bit of downtime, now and then, and Lavnadim is taking a walk around the facility with interest. He would be walking with Eight, but she's busy--which means he is alone when he walks past the art therapy room...
He walks in, actually, because the door is open. "A gallery?" he wonders, and then he spots Yuliana and therapist--
"Ah, excuse me," he says apologetically. Lavhi dips his head. "I was not aware that there was something to interrupt in here."
He makes to leave, after looking to Yuliana for a moment.
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
"Excuse you, that's my escape route," Yuliana sniffs, which explains why the door was open. But she turns to scowl at him, and --
Her eyes narrow, scar creasing down her left side, and two tentacles unwrap from where they were hidden by her chair to regard him just the same.
"Oh?" She asks, with the rising tone of a predator who's caught sight of a straggler. "You... you're Mr. Orlodhari, if I'm not mistaken? Stop. You'll come in." She gestures him inside, into the room with so many artworks already resting on the walls.
It's easy to tell which ones Yuliana painted. They're all very green, and quite confronting.
"Yuliana," Alectros asks, hearing that shift in her tone, "are you all right?"
"Dandy!" Yuliana replies, smiling to them. "I just want to meet this legendary fellow. Would you mind giving us a few minutes?"
"Hmm..." Alectros pauses, looking from Yuliana to Lavnadim, assessing -- both of them, really. They're aware of Yuliana's risk of mania following her hot-blooded treatment, and they do hear it, but it's not necessarily negative to see her reaching out to the people around her either. "All right," they decide, at length. "I'll just be outside."
<Pose Tracker> Eight Orlodhari has posed.
Tentacles! Lavnadim is the kind of man who does not startle easily; he regards them for a moment and then looks back to Yuliana's face. Her predator's tone does have an impact: it makes him seem almost more 'solid' than before, makes it easier to notice that he's standing straight.
"I am," he says. "I am willing."
He steps inside, looks around at the artworks. Yes, it's easy to tell. Violence...
Violence is in his heritage, isn't it? But not quite like this.
"It is well," he agrees, indicating his willingness to deal with a potentially manic Yuliana. To a professional, his demeanor is calm, stable; the hairs at the back of his neck are up a little, but it doesn't reflect in his face.
To a soldier, he has the way of a warrior about him.
And he steps the rest of the way inside. "This is not a form of art I often see," he comments first, and then turns to look fully at Yuliana.
"It has been some time, Mrs. Kafim. I will reiterate first my gratitude for your assistance, that day."
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
Alectros steps out, and there are seats to sit on, if Lahvi cares to. Many are in front of art supplies; it's that kind of room.
"As you should," Yuliana responds to his gratitude, quite proudful. She sees his warrior-bearing, of course, the straightening of his spine; she sees it, and gestures to one of those chairs. "Sit down. You really go by Lahvi, don't you?" Of course she knows about his nickname; Eight isn't the only one who keeps intelligence on her enemies.
"This isn't normal art," she explains, glancing aside to it. "It's therapeutic art. I'm in treatment." And she puts her brush down to turn to Lahvi, instead. "There are things my Elisa cannot do for me, in our Castle, and so have I come."
<Pose Tracker> Eight Orlodhari has posed.
"Very well." Lavhi moves to take a seat, and inclines his head at her question. "I do. 'Lavnadim' is acceptable if you prefer more formality."
Lavhi has read up on Yuliana, particularly after the matter in October.
"I see," he says. "Art therapy... It is a way of expressing difficulties one cannot put into words," he reflects. "Looking at these, I imagine there would be trouble with 'words'. They are... visceral."
Things her Elisa cannot do...
"I see. Then it is good that you are receiving the treatment you require."
He considers, and then, "It is difficult to engage in such therapy. I respect your attempt."
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
"There's no need for that," Yuliana assures him, on the matter of formality.
She pauses, though, glancing back to the painting on the easel. "... you're right," she says, softly. "It's... difficult to put to words. The imagery which Newtypes elicit, when She stares through the holes they tear... and when I sleep, at times." She shakes her head, and adds: "Less often, now."
Yuliana takes a breath, and says: "Well, at least you know to do that much. Respect it, I mean. There are plenty who don't... they'd sooner execute me." She did turn the North Pole green. People are very angry about that for some unreasonable reason.
<Pose Tracker> Eight Orlodhari has posed.
Lavhi accepts this informality, though rightly it is true that Lavhi is how he is known to his friends. Given that day... It is good enough.
"To see such things is surely unsettling," he opines. "I would not know. I am blind to such things. It is the ground under my feet and the machinery I operate that I understand best."
Less often. So the treatment is working.
"I have little to say of the opinions of others," he answers to that. "I am not arbiter of who must live and who must die. But I am aware of such therapies, and the will it takes to endure them."
"Through my wife, and through my sister, who administers them."
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
Yuliana does tend to transgress informality this way.
"It would be better," she says, "if this world were more like yours." And will the world to come be so practical? Certainly it is not a place for Newtypes to reign.
Perhaps there's a good reason why Yuliana might envy his steady nature, though.
"But you haven't seen it," she says, spreading a hand. "You met Eight when she was already better, isn't that right?" How she would know about that -- "It must be easy to see when it's over." And if she's bitter, well --
She's not entirely mad at him.
<Pose Tracker> Eight Orlodhari has posed.
"It does not affect me what others see," Lavhi answers simply. His feelings on the matter are closed, even if Yuliana had that hated capability.
"That is not so," he answers in turn, shifting his posture and stance more towards Yuliana, more towards engagement. "It is not a binary state; 'better', and not better. There are matters with which she still must struggle. She continues to employ the lessons she has learned on an ongoing basis, as well."
"If I did not know these sides of her, I would not have asked her to marry me."
"No, it is certainly not 'over'. Though it is true I think that the structure of military life aided her."
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
"And that is why your sight is better," Yuliana explains, "for it is contained within yourself." Unlike --
Well, there are two ways to take that, and a single eye stares balefully at Lavhi from over Yuliana's shoulders.
"Hmph," she folds her arms. "You want to say she still has it so bad? I don't see her therapists weighing up whether they're going to come back to a crime scene." Yuliana raises her voice, turning her head to yell out the door: "STILL NOT STABBING HIM WITH THE PALETTE KNIFE, MORON!"
(Alectros wisely chooses not to engage with that.)
"They're garbage weapons, anyway," Yuliana grumbles, looking back to Lahvi. "Sure, they're technically pointed, but the metal's too thin to actually penetrate anything effectively, and the sides are too blunt to slash someone. I can't believe someone had the gall to call that thing a knife."
Yuliana huffs, again, fingers drumming at her arms. "Bully for her, though," she adds, sour, "it's nice that the Federation wasn't torturing everyone in its ranks, I guess. But the only way military life helped me was by making sure I wasn't ever too worried about getting help."
<Pose Tracker> Eight Orlodhari has posed.
"I disagree. To me it is no better or worse. It merely is."
But hmph. Lavhi shakes his head. "No, but if you believe that the state is simply between 'better' and 'not better' then you are doing your own recovery a disservice, and I do not wish to see this." A pause. "You are correct of course. But you could make a serviceable weapon of the table there. Or a chair. Your skill in battle is not the question."
He wants to paint, now.
But, "No, it was not. Bright Noa did his best for the people under his command. Unfortunately however, he only had so much power. And so we had to defect."
A pause. "Your experience is not right. It should not have happened in this way. That it will not for others is one of the reasons we fight."
"...You do not like my wife," he says.
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
And Yuliana sighs. "You don't know how good you've got it..."
... maybe she's a little jealous of normal people, these days.
But Yuliana frowns, when Lahvi insists he's trying to help her. "Is that really it?" She wonders, frowning. "Mmh... I guess. Sure. Fine, it's not boolean." Both of them know that a boolean function is some combination of true or false, of course. They're engineers!
She pauses, lightly, and adds: "Actually, the paint brushes would make for a decent impalement." Not that she's thinking of stabbing him; she's just always inventorying her environment for weapons.
Which has a lot to do with her military experience, really.
"It's not that easy to fight it," she adds, darkly. But she doesn't linger on it, because --
"Ha! What gave it away?" Yuliana asks, as her lips lift up over her teeth in a gesture of scorn which fouls her grin. (She has one too many teeth, there on the right. Eight punched it out, and then it got better, but she'd already gotten a fang of a prosthetic.) "You're damn right I don't like her. She's a preachy little so-and-so, but she'd sooner pull the ladder up behind her than acknowledge that maybe I need a hand. I'd lie to your face, but you don't seem like the type," she waves a hand, "so that's the way it is."
<Pose Tracker> Eight Orlodhari has posed.
Maybe she is. Lavhi will not argue to the end of it. Instead, he has something else to argue. "That is satisfactory," he says of her agreement.
But the paint brushes! "Hm. Yes, that is true."
He doesn't sound particularly worried about it. For whatever reason; there are many it could be.
"No, it is not," Lavhi says. She doesn't linger, but he makes a point of answering that first. "We are lucky that she was in a position to oppose the Federation, and that I and my team were able to salvage a new ship that would become a help to our efforts."
Lavhi remembers when Eight came back from punching that tooth out.
"It is true though. I am not that 'type'. I do not wish for false assurances."
"I simply wanted to hear it from your own lips. I categorically disagree with your understanding of her, you understand. But the truth is not affected by the telling of it; only our perception of that same."
That is to say...
"You are entitled to your opinion. But you could do far worse for an example to draw upon."
"But we will not convince each other of that with words, I think. Instead, I wish you to tell me of your wife, if we are to converse."
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
"Ah, yes, your massive boat. Yes, now you can explode a building of labrats, too," Yuliana says, and there's a kind of weary cynicism to the way she responds to the Ra Mari II's salvaging. "Salut!" And is she celebrating his health, or invoking honour unto him as a military woman ought?
She doesn't offer a translation.
"Normally, that would piss me off," Yuliana says, raising her brow, "but in this situation, I'd respect you less if you agreed with me that easily. That's your wife! Even if she's a pain in my ass, it's still your job to stand by her."
Beat: "But Eight doesn't want me to draw on her," Yuliana sniffs, haughtily. "And why would I come begging for scraps at her table? I have more self-respect than that." If Eight wants to reject Yuliana, Yuliana can reject Eight harder. She wrote the book on it!
She lifts a hand, brushing her bangs from her face. "Anyway," she brushes past it, brusquely, "I suppose this is a trap, but I don't much care to avoid it. At least one of you is asking, finally, instead of just quailing about how awful she must be. Which is a total misunderstanding," she adds, scowling. "And very inconsiderate, at that! Why is it that when I dissociate I'm a victim, and when she does it she's an unfathomable and untouchable monster! Honestly!" Yuliana throws up her hands, before she finally drops them back to her lap.
Lahvi may note the way her fingers go to her wedding ring, at once, fiddling it about her her finger.
"You know," she says, more quietly, as she looks down at the rich gems set into that ring, "my Elisa was the first one to ever help me. Even long before I knew it was her... when the Empress would fill the emptiness of those isolation tanks, after the world fell away. They are one and the same," she adds, in vague explanation, "Elisa a piece of the Empress Herself, returned to Earth to aid me. And when she found me -- it took so long for her to gain my trust, when the Republic had trained me so well not to give it. At times I was even cruel to her," she adds, sorrow clouding her gaze, "all to protect them. But she infiltrated the Institute and demanded they stop torturing me -- and she killed the Lieutenant-Colonel for ordering me into a suicide mission -- and she even brainwashed the Major to be more considerate, though he somehow broke free of the compulsion." Which means someone can break out of their own means... but that's not a detail she lingers on.
"And when they decided I was of no more use to them as a living woman, my Elisa descended on them and destroyed them, down to the last man... even though, when I woke, I attacked her for the crime of rescuing me!" And Yuliana is quite upset, recounting that, all her tension carried in her shoulders. "I couldn't help it... but she stayed with me for months, getting those commands out of my head, so -- so they could never control me again. She made a Castle to protect me... she's always protected me. She just wants me to be safe, and -- and not torn apart, like I am here. She's always supported me... she's always helped me figure things out. Even now, she would defy her very own Self to safeguard me... there's no one more diligent or considerate than her."
<Pose Tracker> Eight Orlodhari has posed.
"My condolences," Lavhi says, because clearly that means that Yuliana has been obligated to do exactly that with a 'building of labrats'.
He does not inquire as to her meaning.
"That is correct," Lavhi says. "If I did not intend to do so, I should not have made my promise. ...Be that as it may, I still believe as I do."
"I will not speak for Eight," Lavhi says. One might imagine that there is a 'but' there. But there isn't! That's it.
Instead, he shakes his head at the note of being a trap... and then listens. He listens, noticing the way she fiddles with her wedding ring; he has not touched his, though notably, he hasn't done any fidgeting at all. He is sitting quite still.
And listen he does.
"You have been through much with her beside you," he comments at length. "I do not begrudge a woman dissociating. The mind has trouble coping with much. It would not itself make her anything more than that."
"...But it is clear that she has seen you through much. I will not pretend to comprehend what it is like to be married to a being I would consider divine," he says, and does he consider the Empress divine or does he simply believe Yuliana does? It's hard to say.
He does notice that the Major broke out, though.
"To forgive you even for attacking her... Yes, this shows a great depth."
A pause. "I will not issue judgment on your wife, or your love for her."
"...I ask not to trap you, but because I believe that the best way to get to know someone is to ask them to speak of someone or something they love."
"From your words, I understand how much she has done for you. So I thank you for your candor."
"...Since you wished to speak to me, do you have any questions for me in turn?"
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
"I don't need your pity," Yuliana shoots back -- which isn't exactly what condolences are, but it says a lot that she'd think so.
She doesn't push him into speaking for his wife, anyway. (And it says a lot to her that he wouldn't.)
"No one believes me," Yuliana grumbles, "when I tell them how wonderful she is. If it wasn't for her, I'd be worse than dead! Everyone gets so hung up on the magic. Who cares if it has a cost? I hate it when they talk about her like she's some kind of terrifying inhuman monster... even if she isn't human, she's not a monster! What kind of monster would hold me and bring me back from the Void just so I wouldn't have to be torn apart so terribly?! She spends so much time making it make sense! She works so hard! People say the most awful things... it's not fair!"
(Or, put another way, Elisa is actually good because she helped Yuliana, never mind anyone else.)
She's so worked up about it, she's even teary, but she rubs at her eyes and sniffles to get a hold of herself. "At least you're not here to judge her... I'm grateful for that." Snif.
"Oh," she sighs, shoulders sinking, "I don't know. I don't know if I want to tear you down or... or explain, or... or maybe I just recognised you, I don't know. You know, it's funny -- I hardly care for Eight, but I could always understand why she might fall for someone like you. In some ways, you remind me of my wife, too... I suppose you keep her steady, just as my Elisa makes sure I don't waver." She looks down at her hands, clasped over each other, and she is vulnerable in the asking: "I wonder... do you hate me?"
<Pose Tracker> Eight Orlodhari has posed.
It does say a lot. Lavhi doesn't argue that, either. Instead, he listens to Yuliana's grumbling this time. He has heard only reports of the dreaded Elisa Kafim, so far. But he has no stories of his own to share, save for seeing Ra Shalom and similar works.
Those are enough in their way, though.
"I am not," he reiterates. It does not matter, to his mind, what he thinks of Elisa. It is important what Yuliana does, in this moment.
But... Hmmm.
"I appreciate that," he decides on saying. "I would prefer not to be torn down. I will accept explanations."
But someone like him... and reminding her of her wife?
"We help each other," he says of Eight. "Perhaps I steady her at times. She also reminds me of what it is to dream beyond the next project."
But the question? Hmm.
"No," Lavhi says. "I do not hate you."
"...I suppose you will be wanting elaboration," he says after a moment. "You have hurt people dear to me. You have also aided my wife and children in a difficult moment."
"There is no 'scale', there is no 'balance' to these things. It is not a thing one can simply tally up."
"...But I do not hate you. That is not the person I wish to be."
"I will meet you on the battlefield, should it be necessary one day, with my wits and with my ship that I will make as strong as I am able. And should it never prove necessary..."
"Then that is well. Perhaps in time you would call me friend, if not my wife. Perhaps not."
"But I do wish your recovery well."
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
"It's kind of a reflex..." Yuliana mumbles out something which might be an excuse of an apology, when Lahvi expresses that he'd rather not be torn down. It is, at least, an explanation.
"... so you're just like us, huh," Yuliana says, wearily. "Though that's not what I remind my Elisa of, exactly..."
Even so, it's a similarity.
Gross.
But Lahvi insists he doesn't hate her, and even explains why, and Yuliana's head tilts to listen to him even as she can't quite bring herself to look him in the eye. "Those people will never make friends with me," she says, sadly. "Not even now Rena is my very own sister. I don't see... how you could do it, in that environment."
Yuliana frowns, fingers lacing together. "... but I don't really hate you either, you know. You seem like a decent enough guy... I guess I believe you want me to be able to recover from all this. Maybe we could get along... but it wouldn't work out, would it?" She sighs, shaking her head. "Eight wouldn't approve... so of course you'd have to give it up. That's just the decent thing to do, when you're married... I get it."
<Pose Tracker> Eight Orlodhari has posed.
A reflex. Yes, Eight mentioned that Anita had pointed that out about Yuliana.
"Oh?" he wonders. Whether or not he would say they're the same (he absolutely would not) he is curious what Yuliana reminds Elisa of.
Still...
"Perhaps not," he says. He will not speak for the others, after all.
But, "I appreciate this. ...But no, that is not so. It is rare that Eight and I disagree on the character of a person, but it can happen. If you continued on this path, and were able to set aside your differences with Eight... Then we would see."
"I do not control who she considers friend, and the same with her for me. ...Though if you could not set aside those differences, it is true that I could not tolerate such a thing in a friend."
It's an important distinction--to him, anyway.
"But do not mistake me; I believe I am in agreement with my wife on the moral dimension of this matter. I wish you well, in part because I wish to be a man who believes in the possibility of turning from dark paths. Who believes in recovery."
"But you must be treating Rena as a sister, rather than the way that you have treated her in the past, for me to support you. She is not with me as Eight is, but I consider her a friend nevertheless. And while I am always willing to make new friends..."
"Well. I am sure you would be protective of yours, as well, in such a position. So please consider this in your future action."
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
"It's this world I call her back to," Yuliana explains, "for she is frequently disconnected from it all. Where my Elisa is celestial, I am chthonic... that's the way it is."
She frowns, though, as Lahvi goes on to talk about disagreeing with his wife. It bothers her. "Aren't you saying the same thing?" She asks, a touch sharply. "If you can't tolerate it because she can't tolerate me, that's still..."
She doesn't make the distinction, but she does trail off, frowning deeply.
"Hmph," she grumbles, glaring down at her hands. "I threw Rena from the Empress's court when She wished to carve her to ribbons -- what more do you want from me? Hell, when she deigned to give me the time of day, I went out of my way to explain -- even though she never bothered to ask me! Sure, okay, I maybe kind of dug out her dirt and blackmailed her a little that one time -- but I already said I was hurting the wrong person there! It's not as if I could have come out and said it at the time! That's the only way I could express myself!" Having admitted that maybe she wasn't completely 100% justified in hurting Rena specifically, Yuliana is, perhaps, slightly sensitive over being judged (held accountable) for it.
<Pose Tracker> Eight Orlodhari has posed.
"Ah," Lavhi answers, and considers that. He knows that he anchors Eight in the world sometimes too... but it feels different; it's not that she has a problem connecting to the world in the first place. "I see," he says.
That sharp ask gets a shake of his head. "For example, there is a man who many years ago did harm to Eight; while she was more forgiving, I am not. But we have not seen him in some time regardless. In this way we do not share opinions on all people."
But... Hmmm.
"That you are explaining matters to her and protecting her from your Empress is a good start. Where that goes next is up to the two of you."
He pauses. "Was it?" The only way she could express herself, that is. "Hm."
"Regardless. If I were to concern myself only with the past, I would not be speaking with you now. We are considering the future. And it is into that future I will place my wishes. Consider..." He contemplates how best to say it.
"Consider next time eschewing aggression towards her verbally. That would be a good direction."
"In any case, I have found this conversation enlightening. I hope it has been so for you as well. Do you wish me to call back your therapist?"
"I am conscious that I have interrupted your routine. This was inconsiderate of me, even if you have since welcomed me."
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
"I really don't see how that works," Yuliana scowls, "but perhaps you're just not as close as my wife and I. You are sharing." Is polymory really to blame for Lahvi and Eight having different opinions on people?
Apparently.
And she frowns, and says: "You wouldn't understand. Getting out from Torrington... they sent me there to die. Then this -- woman comes up to me in the street and tells me not to overdo it, right after I walk out of the lab, as if I could -- of course I destroyed her!" Yuliana cries, hand curling to a fist and slamming out at the easel. It clatters and falls; the eye stares up at the heavens, balefully. She stares at the mess, and then she looks away. "So I wasn't really mad at her, whatever, fine... but back then, it really felt like she was mocking me. There's no way I could have told her what they did, so I just had to put on a smile and... I just wanted to be the one in control."
And being the one in control means hurting someone else, apparently.
(Instead of being hurt.)
She hugs her arms back to herself, and insists, sullen: "I'm doing my best." Is it really that hard not to attack Rena? (Well, not just Rena.) "Whatever, it's... I guess. Sure. Whatever. Do what you want."
If it feels like an open wound, of course she's going to have a bad reaction to it.
<Pose Tracker> Eight Orlodhari has posed.
Lavhi watches Yuliana at that scowl, at that 'perhaps'. He continues to watch for a few moments. He does not answer it.
"I see," he answers when she explains; she wanted to be in control, it would seem. That is how she exerted it.
Eight would say something like 'it's unfortunate that you were in that position'. Lavhi does not. Instead, he watches her a little longer.
"I see." Pause. "So that is why."
He hadn't even considered that particular event; he was more thinking of the last time they met, the time Eight mentioned that Yuliana hurried them out of the room...
"I believe you," Lavnadim says simply to Yuliana doing her best. He is quiet for a moment after that, and then stands, looking down at her painting.
"I am glad that you do not see these things so often as you once did. It must be very distressing."
Then he turns. "Take care, Yuliana Kafim."
Then, he raises his voice, "Excuse me, sir. I have taken up enough of your time." He starts to walk out, to talk to Alectros. "Mr. Armet..."
Lavhi believes her, though. The fact that that makes him a bit melancholy is something he does not feel the need to share with her.
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
Yuliana might criticise him for having a short memory, except that she can't intrude on his thoughts.
"Mm," she hums, instead, noncommittally. When she is wounded in whatever mysterious way she feels she was, she shuts down; she withdraws. She stops talking, and this is its own data point, really. "... take care," she offers him that pleasantry, at least. And this: "All my best to the children."
She at least didn't drag them into it.
Alectros is already standing, when Lahvi walks out. "Mx," they correct him, briefly, before they relate quietly to him: "It's all right. I heard. Thank you for removing yourself from the situation when you did. Give her a rest for today..." They're professional enough not to criticise him; he's clearly doing his best with the information he has.
They head back on in, though, and it takes a long time for her to tell them why she's upset.
... because it's still hard for her to admit that the only voice she had back then was the language of violence... because sometimes, she still feels like she can't come out and say it... because she couldn't even tell him that if Elisa didn't approve of him, she'd have to shun him at once.