2024-05-22: .the void speaks to our science and intuitioN
- Log: .the void speaks to our science and intuitioN
- Cast: Shari Loom, Yuliana Kafim
- Where: The Photon Power Labs
- Date: 2024-05-22
- Summary: Yuliana comes to show Shari her cool new jewellery as she's admiring the Muse Malu 3, and talks to her about their newfound determination to war with the Void. Both Shari and Yuliana know that realm -- so they're able to uncover new theories, talking together. Maybe this will all work out!
<Pose Tracker> Shari Loom has posed.
Shari Loom is still interning at the Photon Power Lab, though her hours are truncated now that she's started school. That means she gets here often enough by train anyway, and occasionally even brings someone along!
But not today. Today she's here alone, and today she's done a bunch of design work, and today she's walking over to the hangar, stepping inside from the passageway into the rest of the lab. She's dressed in black, her pink hair adding a pop of color. She's older than she was, when she was at the Silent Castle...
But the Silent Castle has gone on without her, it seems.
She's looking at the Muse Malu 3, and tilting her head, holding a tablet. "That's a lot of legs..."
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
Shari might not bring someone along, but Yuliana sure has.
She holds a life-sized green tiger plush in her arms as she ambles into the hangar; it doesn't drag on the ground purely because it's also cradled in her tentacles. They're surprisingly strong for being lithe little snakes! She's not in black, unlike how she dresses in the Castle; she's wearing a burnt-orange shirt advertising MESSIAR, a punk-rock sensation from the 80s, a pair of jeans and a matching denim vest. And, of course, a lovely purple scarf tied about her neck, for modesty's sake.
She also has some new chain bracelets. Isn't that nice?
"Forty-eight, to be exact!" Yuliana pipes up, from behind Shari. Or was it Sokrova who said that?! No, her head pops up from behind the stuffed tiger plush, chin resting on his soft skull. "It was too much to expect a pilot to control them all individually, so their operation is tied to AI algorithms. But they're really quite effective at getting over uneven ground, compared to upright leg parts."
<Pose Tracker> Shari Loom has posed.
"!"
Shari turns around in surprise, as Yuliana pipes up. She hadn't noticed her. And it's not just that it's Yuliana it's, "Ugh, Plushkrova is so cute," she sighs. "You spooked me, though."
She looks over Yuliana, thoughtfully. Punk band--Shari knows them--dennim, scarf... And--
"Pretty bracelets," she comments. "Those are new earrings, too."
Forty-eight, though... "Yeah, that's a good solution. If you can overcome that hurdle, it's a great form of locomotion. So you made this one, huh? ...It fits your style, I think."
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
"Heh heh heh..." Yuliana chuckles, tilting her head allowingly. "Do excuse me. I didn't mean to sneak up on you!" She's an assassin; it's something of a force of habit. She holds up Plyushokrova beside her, rubbing her cheek into his. "Isn't he just darling?" And big. He's still a life-sized tiger.
She smiles, brightly, when Shari compliments her new look. "Why, thank you!" But first she looks to the Muse Malu 3, and its many, many legs --
"I did," she confirms, still smiling. "Technically, it's the first design I made myself." Not that she'd ever blame Shari for poaching the final stages of Da Xukong's design from her. She would never blame Shari for that, even though it was definitely Shari who did that, all on her own. "The first two models were failures, but the third is stable. I'm told the controls can be a touch confusing, but that's really just a matter of pilot skill, don't you think?"
<Pose Tracker> Shari Loom has posed.
"Sure," Shari says of excusing her, because she's used to the particular way that Yuliana says things. But she is not so sure that Yuliana didn't mean to sneak up on her. ...It's fine. Right? It's fine.
"He is!"
The look she's curious about--she sees those gems--but the machien she's curious about too. "It's a good one! Looks like it's ideal for urban environments, right?" she asks. She hasn't actually looked over the full specs yet. She just can tell that kind of thing.
"So that's why it's '3'... Well, that'll happen." Not that failures of design happen to Shari. It's fine. "I haven't seen them up close, but I bet that's true. Confusing controls are a hazard of ambitious designs. It's cool."
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
"Bingo!" And Yuliana even says that in English instead of in Japanese, which doesn't necessarily break the vibe of the language that much. "You see the water cannon up top? These things are designed to get into streets and deal with the damage. Those missiles on its face are an charge delivery system -- you lodge them into electronics and they'll deliver energy into the system to keep them going. And you see those fangs? Foam guns. It hardens on exposure to the elements to keep up structural integrity."
So actually, the weird bugs with too many legs are search and rescue machines.
"I handed this model over to the PPL, since they'll serve better in Fujinomiya -- so you'll probably have the opportunity to take a look at one point or another." This model. Yuliana breezes right past that, as she shifts Plyushokrova to one arm in order to gesture to Shari. "But, you know, I was hoping to run into you!" Was she hunting her down is that why she was so sneaky?! Surely not. "Would you like to get something to eat?"
<Pose Tracker> Shari Loom has posed.
Bingo! Yeah, that doesn't break up the flow at all. Shari glances to the top when Yuliana points it out. "Huh! Yeah, that would make sense, and with that delivery system..." It's not what she would've expected Yuliana to develop. But that's a good thing, right? Shari smiles. "Nice work! That's really cool, Yuliana."
Search and rescue machines! Maybe Yuliana really is getting better.
"Oh, cool. Yeah, I'll definitely have a look then," Shari says. 'this model'. Sure, there's probably a 4. That's probably fine.
"Were you?" Shari wonders. She's a little dubious--there's a flicker of worry in her heart that doesn'ts how on her face--but she shakes it off by saying, "Sure, why not? I could eat. What's on your mind?"
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
"It is cool, isn't it?" Yuliana asks, and, yes, 'cool' is also in English. Nothing else in the sentence, just that one word.
It's not like four is a cursed number, or anything. Particularly not here!
Luckily, Yuliana can't see the doubt in Shari's heart, and so her eyes protect her. "Just a few little things," she assures her, as if she's not walking her into the lion's den.
BECAUSE --
IT'S THE TIGER'S DEN!
The tiger's den is also the mess hall. You can just tell it's a tiger's den because the seat beside Yuliana is occupied with Plyushokrova. (He gets his own seat. It conveniently means that Shari gets to sit at the other side of the table, just outside of Yuliana's reach.) There are canned drinks! And sandwiches! In an act of ultimate karma, Yuliana's turkey is a little dry.
Still pretty good, judging by the bite she takes out of it.
"You may have heard," she says, "but the reason I wasn't here a few weeks ago -- well, Kara almost fell through the ice, and when I saved him I'm afraid I fell in, instead. It was all quite frightening... thanks to Elya, I'm fine, of course. But when I was drowning, She was watching me, you know? Calling me to Her. She was with me, in the space between life and death, and did nothing to save me."
Yuliana sighs, deeply. "It made us realise... we had to go to war with Her, Sharochka. Well, when She found out, She didn't take it well..."
She holds out her arm, so that Shari can examine the bracelet there -- overlapping black chains, like a lattice, studded with emerald gems. "This is the Chthonic Lattice," she explains, "which grounds me to this reality. It's less encompassing than the Liminal Lattice, because it's only meant to ward me from liminal spaces for short periods. But ever since I began wearing it... I've not been summoned to Her audience."
In her dreams, that is.
<Pose Tracker> Shari Loom has posed.
Shari knows about the Four Curse but it's not like it would be cursed to Yuliana, right? Of course not.
Shari is protected... again. Into the Tiger's den!
It's super cute, too. Shari spells Plyushokrova right this time probably, and accepts a club sandwich of her own. It's pretty good!
But there's News. "...I heard there was a problem, but not the details," she explains. A kid almost falling through is alarming--and then Yuliana falls in and that's not great either. "...Oh."
'She'.
"Uh."
War.
"Wow."
Shari is pretty surprised by this, obviously, but she's given a Thing to focus on, "So that's why... yeah, that particular configuration would dysregulate the harmonic..."
She trails off. "...Good," Shari says. "Good. Go to war. Take Her out. Do whatever you gotta do."
"I don't think you should be stuck with Her either, Yuliana. ...I found my own way to block her out. But it wouldn't work for you. Looks like Elisa found one for you. So if we're both free..."
Yuliana's still a murderous assassin, but--
"Then good."
Then Shari pauses in her fury. "Wait," she says. "...Does that... work? Can Elisa do that?"
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
Russian portmanteaus are tricky! Plyushokrova forgives all mispellings with infinite grace, much as the real Sokrova expects no one to spell his full name properly.
(It's Sokrovishche, because he's a treasure.)
Shari is quite flabbergasted, but, Yuliana reasons, it's quite flabbergasting. "Dysregulate the harmonic? Oh, I -- I suppose so," she says, because she didn't know.
She smiles, though -- a touch uneasy, but at least reassured by Shari's own convictions. "I know," she says, at length. "But you did try to make it work with me, Sharochka. I remember that you tried." She also remembers that her wife told her to avoid their niece, with a stab of guilt, but... now she has an everyday Lattice, she's protected, isn't she? Wasn't that the point of avoiding Shari?
Maybe -- probably it was -- she'll just tell Elisa later. It's fine.
It's fine.
"Elya said she made it for me," Yuliana says, the hand not holding her sandwich pulling back to press against the lattice-chains of that hand. "She was rather cold... so she must have used her Power. She's been working hard to find ways to protect me, even against Her, so... she must have found some way to use her knowledge to oppose Her. After all, we did..." But she falls silent; she shouldn't, she realises, talk about how Elisa figured out how to redirect the sacrificial energy from the Second-Generation engines to herself. "Well, we have been trying to get a little distance from some time," Yuliana executes a flawless recovery (according to Yuliana), "so it's no wonder she wouldn't have realised how to do it. After all, the principles here are the same ones which protect me from my body being warped while I pilot Emptear."
<Pose Tracker> Shari Loom has posed.
Awww. Shari appreciates that plush...
It is pretty flabbergasting. "Um--in other words, it prevents the Void energy from being shaped. It's like interference in a radio wave." Yuliana gets radio waves; Shari knows this. So she uses an example she knows!
"...I did," Shari says to Yuliana. "I tried. I wish it could've worked, but... It looks like it's fine now, anyway. I'm glad."
Elisa made it for her. "I see... Yes, direct manipulation of Void energy could definitely have this effect. And if anybody could figure out how to turn it back on the Empress, it's Elisa." They did... something. It's fine, Shari is nerding now.
"I see. Well, if she can do distance," Shari reasons of Elisa, "Then it's good that she wants to. I wasn't sure she... could, you know? But if there's a way she can separate herself... Well, hey." She's still afraid of Elisa, frankly. But maybe...
"Yeah. ...Will you need Emptear now, then?" she wonders. "Do you still need to open the way? ...I guess you would, if you want to fight her, huh?"
"..."
Shari hesitates. "...You can call me, if you do. I'll... give you some of my weapon designs, if you show me you have a path to get there."
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
"Interfering with the interference," Yuliana reflects, looking down at the bracelets. "How clever!"
Of course it was clever; Elisa made it.
But Shari evidently earned some points for trying, judging by the way she smiles to her, even if it went so badly. What can the points be redeemed for? That is a secret.
"I..." Yuliana pauses, uncertain, and polishes off her sandwich before she replies. "I think I will... still need her," and if she sounds a little reluctant about that, surely it's not a comment on Emptear. "Since if we can't reach Her, we can't destroy Her. But -- Elya will destroy Her, and then we'll be able to claim my birthright. Then I won't need to fear the Void any longer." Which means they're still planning on going, presumably. "We'll be safe there... since there's no way we can live peacefully here, any longer."
She is very wanted. Dead or alive wanted.
She smiles, though, to Shari. "Thank you, plemyannitsa. It must be strange for you to think your weapons could be turned against Her, mustn't it...? Even so, I appreciate you would. It is... frightening, I know." She folds her hands on the desk, looking down at her wedding ring.
"... I'm scared, too," she admits, quietly. "The Empress spoke to me... and told me never to forget I was the Gate through which she reaches this world. She said I would die for Her... She said I was Hers. She decided Elya was too prideful, so She'd just, consume her..." She shuts her eyes, as her fingers tighten. "... and She made me choke her, Sharochka. With my own hands!"
Which means her destruction of Shari's technology wasn't just a one-off fluke.
<Pose Tracker> Shari Loom has posed.
Points...
Reluctance. That's probably good? 'Her birthright'. Shari hears that, too. "...Yeah," Shari says. "The Void is bigger than the Empress. If you can figure out how to survive in it, I guess you'd be safe."
She is very wanted.
But, her weapons... Yes. Very strange. Shari glances to the side. "...Yeah," she says instead. It is frightening, at least. "It is."
But Yuliana... Hm. That's--
"...So that's what happened, when..."
She nods. "I see. I'm sorry. I'm glad Elisa's making sure that's not going to happen, again. Hurting someone you care about, even when they end up OK, is... Something I don't like to think about that much."
"Well, good for you, Yuliana. You know? I know it's scary, but... It gets easier. You stay scared for a while."
"...And then you get mad."
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
"I am sure we will be safe," Yuliana says, "for Cypripedioidea embraced my foremother, ages past. I am connected to the Void... and I chose Elya to be my wife, so is she joined." Marriage brings one into the family, after all; it, too, is an ancient rite.
She takes a breath, and reaches for her can of sweet tea, taking a long sip. "Elya says I needn't worry for her safety," Yuliana says, "but I do. Even when she can't be harmed... she is changed. The Empress said She'd take something I loved, and... it was Elya's spontaneous affection, you see. It isn't easy for her... she had to learn how. When she has to use her Power, she..."
Yuliana shakes her head. "She got better," she cuts herself off. "But it was frightening, not only for that, but because -- if anyone could kill my wife, it is my Wife. I fear for her. I fear... I will send her to her death, for me. I'm the one... who said we should go to war. I made the call..." And there's something she's not saying, in the way that she says it, but it doesn't sound strange to her.
"... I can't imagine being angry at Her, Sharochka. But... maybe. Maybe I ought to be. I didn't ask for any of this... I never asked Her to orchestrate my life, just because She saw me. All these things which just, happen to me... I caused none of it!" And there's a tension to the exclamation, at least, even if it isn't quite anger. In familiar refrain: "It's not fair."
<Pose Tracker> Shari Loom has posed.
"...Huh," Shari says. She knows that name. It calls to the edges of her mind...
"Right," she says. "Good, then."
It's a little too out-of-reach, just now.
But Elisa, "Mm. Yeah. I've seen that," Shari says, "And it adds up with what I know, too. So, the Void basically... 'will' can be opposed to 'emotion', in the Void. It's how the mind control works, too. It aligns 'wills'."
A pause. "That would be scary, though. If my..." Pause. "...Well, I used to get a little weird, when I heard Her too much. And the guy I'm with didn't leave me over it."
She pauses. She made the call. Is that true? Probably, on some level. But maybe not. "...Yeah, though. If anybody could, it's... Her." She capitalizes again, mostly for emphasis, but it's getting so much easier not to, now she's the enemy for everyone.
"It's not fair," Shari agrees. She had some of the same feelings. Still has some of them. "...Think about it, OK? However you feel, you'll get there."
A small, hesitant smile. "...But I think it'll be good. It'll be good for everybody. Even Elisa."
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
Hasn't Yuliana mentioned Cypripedioidea?
Surely she has.
"Ah... is that so?" She asks, on Shari's theories of the Void's will, fingers playing at the ring on her finger. Fortunately, the onyx is set fast into the rose gold, with keen attention paid to the force it might come under. (Elisa's wife does have a terrible habit of punching things. Sometimes, those things are people.) She laughs, but the sound is thin. "Then I wonder how She took me? There are few women more emotional than I."
She tilts her head, and fortunately, too, she's keeping her frills folded behind her ears. Just why that keeps her aura in check is a concept she's never explained, but it at least means the other end of the table is safe. For now! "You've found a man, have you?" She asks, because of course that's what she heard. "Does he treat you well?" And of course, that's what she asks.
"It can be strange," she sympathises, anyway. "Beside Her. It can get very strange." And it's even genuine sympathy, because Shari shares her experiences. "But it will be well... to be... free of it," and this, she says more slowly. "All will be well."
And of course, that's how she says it.
<Pose Tracker> Shari Loom has posed.
Surely.
"That's true," Shari says. "...But opposed things can hurt each other sometimes, too. Like how Elisa's powers mess with Photon Power sometimes."
But, Yuliana has picked up what Shari put down--what she suspected Yuliana might've figured out already anyway, but that's not the point. "Yep," Shari answers. Of course that's what she asks, but, "He does! He's a great cook, too. Things are good in... pretty much every department, when it comes to him. The biggest problem we have is that I'm a blanket thief." She laughs a little.
But, strange... Very strange. "Yes," Shari answers. "It will."
"It'll be really good, for all of us." She considers. "...If you can really do it, maybe for the Callers who want to go, too."
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
"Haa... Elya does try to avoid visiting too much." Surely Elisa's Power interfering with Photon Power is the reason she doesn't attend therapy with her wife. Surely it's that. "It really just demonstrates who really cares about me... you know, she told me she wasn't brainwashing me. She's worried about what I want, about my will. She knows I've got my own wishes." She scowls, looking down at her ring. "The Empress... doesn't care what I want. She just -- tells me. She just tells me."
(Tell me, Yuliana --)
She shakes her head, and smiles again. "But I'm pleased you've found someone," she says, and, surprisingly, even seems a little surprised about it. Did she really not spy on her after she left? "And I'm glad he's a fine cook. You know --" -- is the way Yuliana usually begins her helpful relationship hints, but today she's apparently feeling thoughtful, before she laughs, and waves a hand. "Never mind," she assures her. "I'm sure you'll figure it all out."
She's remembered that Shari is easily embarrassed! It must be her birthday.
"It will be... safer, I think," she says, at length, reaching for her canned tea again. "Yaka and Koyan do belabour that point, you know, that the Empress would not make a fair ruler. Maybe... maybe it's so. But if She is gone, the halls will empty again. We can... make our life, there." She pauses, looking down to the can. "It was more full of life, once. Or... more full of wills. But they are gone, now. Perhaps She killed them, or... I don't know."
<Pose Tracker> Shari Loom has posed.
That could be it! It definitely could be! Yuliana say something very awkward though, and Shari opens her mouth and closes it. "Wow," she says. "That came up?" Pause. It's much, much easier to focus on the Empress. "...Yeah," she says. "She doesn't care what you want. But Elisa chased what you wanted all the time!"
Shari is not going to be the one to let slip that that's a highly specific statement on Elisa's part.
Yuliana does sound surprised. She probably wouldn't care enough to sound surprised if she wasn't. So Shari smiles back--and hesitates, when Yuliana almost gives a 'hint'--
Oh. "...Yeah, I thought the cook thing would be something you'd approve of," Shari answers. "...Thanks. I think we will."
Safer... Yes. They do 'belabor' that point, don't they? "Full of..." Hm.
"That's interesting," she says. "But I guess people live all sorts of places. ...The Void's real big, though. Real, real big. So maybe they're still out there somewhere."
"...Or maybe..." She stares into space for a moment. ...No, that would be crazy.
"Anyway, I dunno. I just know about the science parts."
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
"Mm," Yuliana hums affirmation, with a nod. "... Elya's always cared about what I want. She asks all the time, you know... what I want to do. I was just paranoid, after we set to open the Gate, and the Empress did as She pleased with me, you know -- you know? I'm sure I spoke of it." She did. Just before Shari left. "Leyasha said..." Yuliana sighs. "It was terribly unfair of me," she says, instead. "Judging my wife just because of her origins. I suppose I am prone to doing things like that... on occasion."
Damn, maybe therapy really is helping her. Next she'll be saying she shouldn't judge Spacenoids by their bases of origin.
(Oh, let's not get crazy.)
"One of you must appreciate food," Yuliana agrees, "or else your dinners shall be quite uneventful!" Not that she'd say Elisa doesn't appreciate food. It's just that Yuliana is usually the one to make specific requests.
And remind her wife to eat.
"... I've run through the black for seven days and seven nights," Yuliana says, "and all I found were the dust of bones. It is where Her garden grows, now. I..." She trails off, and shakes her head. "I know little of the science," she admits, instead. "I know Elya is writing about it, but I've not much to offer. I... sense it... and all my languages are insufficient to speak of what I've Seen. But how would you say it, Sharochka?" She asks, looking to her. "The science of it all."
<Pose Tracker> Shari Loom has posed.
She asks... Maybe that's even true. Shari remembers Elisa being very concerned with it. She just also remembers that one time...
"Yeah," Shari answers, "You did." But Leina--hmm. What did Leina say?
"It happens," Shari says noncommittally.
It might work!
"Yes," Shari says. "And oh, I definitely appreciate it! I'm just happy to let him do the cooking," she says. Elisa... Well. Shari prefers not to think of Elisa and food in the same sentence.
Yuliana... has only found it. "I see... So probably not just hiding..."
Elisa is writing about it. That's interesting. "Huh, yeah?" she asks. But the question for her... Hm.
"Well," she says, "With the science I don't... have to really describe the nature of the reality--like, the things you see. That's more art than science, I guess. I'm not a poet or something, or a sculptor, or any of those things."
"...What I can say is that it's a place of energy and will. It's like the heart of a star, only, sort of the opposite. It's called the 'Void', but it's not empty of energy--just... matter, I guess. At least, matter as we know it. I had a friend who suspected it might be kind of like dark matter..."
She trails off. "Anyway, the point is. It's a dimension where will is everything. The energy of the void unifies, not divides. It's just, what does it unify you with? That's what you gotta watch out for. A strong enough will could probably shape it. That's probably where the Empress's 'garden' comes from."
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
Yuliana doesn't get into what Leina said, but she did say that Leina said something. Questions for later!
Elisa and food in the same sentence is totally normal, and is of course half of why Yuliana smiles to Shari, when she speaks of her boyfriends' talents. Of course she's thinking of what she ought to feed her, next. (Hopefully not people? Hopefully not people. Again. Aside from the people she's already fed her.) "So," she asks, conversationally, "what's his name?" Oh no.
"Yes," Yuliana says, still smiling. "She's working terribly hard... I've never really been one for papers, that way. Perhaps if I'd gone to university... as it is, I prefer schematics and wrenches. Far less stressful." It's hard to read something as dense as Elisa's papers; it's easy for her to get mixed up or lose her place. It's frustrating. She's always hated paperwork.
(Apparently it's something to do with her brain. Even though she's so good at words, she's not good at words. It's really unfair, she thinks.)
She tilts her head, though, as Shari shares her own scientific perspective. "Dark matter... is that what She's made of, now? And Her children? I wonder." Her finger taps, against the can. "Unification..."
"... I'm told Siti Dian received the power to unify her people, and bargain her home's safety from war. Leyasha saw it... somehow, through some transgression." And Shari heard some of this, herself, when Leina and Shari were trying to get through to her. "She thinks... the Republic wished to claim that unification for themselves. But I was.... defective," Yuliana spits out, her eyes closing. "I brought the Void to this world, but I would not call my aura unifying. Except, perhaps, that it is the ultimate equaliser."
Equality, unification... they're basically the same, aren't they?
<Pose Tracker> Shari Loom has posed.
Half! The other half is... Hopefully not people. Shari is aware that Elisa eats people, though not usually in the conventional way. But the question... Shari debates it for a moment before, "Gerardo." No last name, but, "I've picked up Spanish because of him. His accent is really hot."
But Elisa is working hard... Hmm. "Well, I like schematics and wrenches too," Shari says.
"Maybe," Shari says of dark matter. "Not so sure."
Unify her people... Shari considers that. "It's possible," she says of the Republic. "But you're not defective, that's the thing. You do exude Void energy, constantly. It's not your fault that they were too stupid to know how to use it."
A pause. Equalizer... "Maybe," Shari says. "...But I think there's a reason Elisa's so much stronger when she's with you. She can 'unify' people just fine."
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
Oh, Elisa never ate their flesh. Yuliana's not about to judge her wife for strange eating habits, though. Instead of elaborating on where that Chinese recon team went, though, or even asking for a last name, she exclaims: "Te felicito!" Which, tellingly, offers her Yuliana's congratulations specifically. "I'm so pleased to see you picking another language up, plemyannitsa. It's good for you!" Now if only she'd pick up more Zaftran! Yuliana mixes it into her speech enough, she really ought to be more proficient by now.
(Elisa just magically knew what she was saying, one day. She hasn't examined it.)
She has to laugh, though, when Shari calls the Republic stupid. "They rather were, weren't they?" She asks, and it is at least progress that she can say that. She tilts her head, though, when Shari brings up her wife again. "... Elya does say we're stronger together," she says, thoughtfully. "And the scrying orb does lend her power... when I pour myself into it. Perhaps it's the case... that Elya is meant to unify them, through me."
She looks down at her wedding ring, again. "I'm told Siti was approached by Cypripedioidea, in ancient times. I wonder... if that being acted through her, when she accepted her offer."
If it wasn't Siti doing the uniting, then...
... wouldn't that match up to Yuliana and her wife?
<Pose Tracker> Shari Loom has posed.
Yuliana's in particular. That's more special!
"Thanks," Shari says. "And I guess it is, huh?" She could pick up more Zaftran.
That's a full sentence on its own, though.
Shari is in dangerous territory, but a teenager will always be able to call something stupid. "They were," Shari reiterates. But then Yuliana considers what Elisa says, and the scrying orb, and...
It's something that occurs to Shari, too.
"...That would fit the facts," Shari agrees. "Someone to bring in the energy, and then someone to 'color' that energy with will. It makes sense. The same person probably couldn't do both in our world..."
Shari considers it a little more. "Well, could be." She picks up her sandwich. "And if you guys make sure it's not the Empress imposing her will instead..."
"Then that could really work out!"
Sure, Elisa's scary. Sure, she's a part of the Empress. But Elisa didn't technically torture her, herself...
Maybe it'll work out.
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
"It is!" Yuliana will always support her niece picking up useful habits. She's a very responsible adult.
Well, she's still supporting Shari in this, anyway. And since she's a teenager, she does, in fact, get to call things stupid. That's normal youth talk!
"Then we really must be stronger together," Yuliana reflects, smiling fondly. "I can help her..." Which is fine, right? It's probably fine? "If we're together, we'll even be able to overturn the Empress's will." It's fine!
"It will," she assures Shari, smiling. "It will work out. All will be well."
It's fine.