2024-03-31: .let us reflect on our dawning allieS
- Log: .let us reflect on our dawning allieS
- Cast: Yuliana Kafim, Elisa Kafim
- Where: The Silent Castle, Kaffeklubben Island
- Date: 2024-03-31
- Summary: Yuliana and Elisa discuss their allies in the Dawn of Fold -- and Elisa's connections to BioNet -- while watching a gymnastics competition.
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
The Silent Castle's cinema, in the West Wing, is notable -- though not egregiously so -- for having electricity. Where do they get their power from? Don't worry about that. The important thing is that the grand screen placed over one wall may be observed by any number of comfortable couches and seats. In the best seat of all, of course...
... Yuliana has, naturally, draped over her wife. Legs slung over her lap, a bowl of popcorn rests precariously between them in a lovely black bowl, the same shade as her robes. She feeds her wife popcorn as well as herself, of course; Elisa does tend to forget food is an option, left to herself.
And today, they're not watching an ancient film. Today, they're watching... a gymnastics competition, televised to the world, signal hijacked by Parminder despite them not paying any of the requisite fees.
"Oh, look at that!" Yuliana exclaims, at one particularly adroit act of balancing. "Elyula~ do you suppose she'll make it to the finals?" Her saccharine lilt matches with her slow, relaxed heartrate and breathing; she's entirely comfortable, here, with her wife.
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
Some things are best left unknown.
...Not so this competition! Elisa is sitting with her wife Yuliana (her wife), in black robes as per usual. She has mostly forgotten the popcorn except when Yuliana brings it up, or when she gets an impulse to feed some to Yuliana.
But otherwise.
No fees needed. Sure, Elisa could afford them. But that's not the point.
"Hmmmm," Elisa says. "She didn't lose her step at her landing." She looks interested. "She might just, if she can continue that way. But she doesn't seem entirely confident... We'll have to see."
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
Yuliana is completely Elisa's wife. She not only liked it enough to put a ring on it, but also write her name on it, and that's plainly obvious now Yuliana isn't wearing a modesty scarf inside her own home.
She is, naturally, as delighted to be fed popcorn as she is to pop it into her wife's mouth.
(Parminder thinks it's funnier if they steal cable.)
"Hoooh?" Yuliana asks, rubbing her cheek against Elisa's cheek, and the real miracle here is that she's managing to pay the competition any attention when her wife is right there. "Is it really all about confidence, out there? She sure seems strong enough... but she might lose her nerve, huh?" Yuliana is of course delighted to be close to her wife, but that doesn't mean she's not wrapped up in the competition, either.
It's Elisa's interest! Elisa has interests now! Of course Yuliana wants to support them.
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
Elisa just needs to remind the world of that sometimes. It's very important.
"Not entirely," Elisa says, leaning into Yuliana, "But it is part of it. Doubt will ruin your routines as surely as weakness. Hesitation, looking instead of trusting... These things are the bane of the competitor."
Elisa does have interests! Apparently! Though...
"Hm. But it will be a bit before we return to her next performance," she reflects. "...And talk of nerve reminds me."
"It reminds me of our new potential allies. I wonder, will they show 'nerve'?"
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
Very important. Yuliana's skin, at least, is warm; she's keeping up with all her medications, evidently. "You're right, of course... I wonder if she'll overcome it!"
(If she thinks of herself in considering that contestant, well, Yuliana's always been a little self-centred.)
"Mmm...?" Yuliana prompts her wife, reaching up to trail her fingers across Elisa's cheek as she turns to face her.
Immediately, she puffs up her own cheeks. "That Angelo's already getting on mine!" She huffs, before she pouts. "Ehhh, but it's not like everyone's that untrustworthy... we like Milly, after all, and Sally Po did good work when we were in the military together. That Naji seemed like a reasonable guy, too, and I got a good feeling from that trio... even if Zero was really quite disgustingly Awakened. You know, sure, with some people, it's fine, but that man--!" Grumpy grump grump.
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
Elisa's isn't, except where proximity to Yuliana and the warmth of the room has given her heat. Elisa, though, smiles when Yuliana muses. "I am certain that she will," Elisa assures Yuliana.
(It's fine.)
But, Elisa turns her head towards Yuliana--and says, "Yes. He was quite irksome, wasn't he? But you held yourself back. Not for his sake, of course. But for the sake of what could be. Yes... I do not know that they will be a match for our older friends, but perhaps 'friends' some of them could be."
A pause. "Zero was..." Hm. "I think of him as often as his name demands."
Pause. "But I do think that it will be interesting to see this mission come together."
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
And Yuliana is assured.
"Yes... of course I'd heed your counsel, zhenushka. If you'd ask me to stay my hand, I wouldn't just reach down his throat and grab his spine and rip it out! -- even if I quite wanted to," Yuliana sniffs, with a pout. "That Angelo... he had better keep a respectful tongue in his head around us! Did you hear what he said, my darling? He called us lunatic cultist filth! That's some nerve!"
She thinks zero more of Zero, naturally, just like her wife.
"Haa," she sighs, instead. "Yes, there are challenges, there are challenges... but if these people can accept us, it would be good for us to have friends, Elya. People can be very unreasonable... I was worried the only people who might still offer us support would be BioNet, you know? And it's good you have your connections, of course, but... dealing with them directly... I don't feel safe around them. Those people just see me as a test subject..."
She frowns, lightly, glancing down to the popcorn bowl. "If this is where we will find support, I'll endure a wretched fool like Angelo."
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
"I would," Elisa says. "For now. Perhaps eventually we can show him the error of his thoughts." She strokes Yuliana's hand, then, that same hand that isn't going to be ripping out any spines today. "His ignorance is I suppose understandable. He would not wish to see Truth that would expose the lies on which he has lived. ..But it matters not."
"I agree," Elisa says. "You are wise. ...As I said at the meeting, I can protect us, and what is ours. But to extend our reach requires additional resources. To continue my development requires contact with others."
A pause. "A few within BioNet are interesting. Dear Julia, for instance. But I consider my association there one of necessity. By identifying such people, and suborning them to our purpose, we keep you safer. And sometimes their expertise can be useful. Remember that I was introduced to them by our old Mr. Kerib."
Sniff. "But I do not imagine you to like them. I hardly do."
A pause, as she looks at Yuliana again. "...Yes," she says. "We shall endure."
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
Not today, certainly. Not when it's busy being pet. No, all of Yuliana's threat and danger melts into warmth and affection, feeling Elisa's fingertips, with a fond and foolish smile. "He doesn't matter that much," she agrees, easily.
She nuzzles her face against Elisa's again, one set of frills trapped between them, the other fanning out slowly behind her ears. "Oh, Elya," she sighs, "I know you'll protect us... you always have. I always feel safest beside you. Of course, you're right..."
She turns her hand upwards, to slip her fingers in between Elisa's, curling them in. "Julia's a lovely woman, it's true. It's just... most of them... but of course you'd protect me this way, too, wouldn't you? And you'd know how best to make use of them... it's not as if they have no talents."
Yuliana's eyes are endlessly green, and there is no end to her affection, gazing into her wife's own jealous greens. "We shall endure," she promises, once and once again.