2024-06-14: A Safe Place?! Sayaka Runs The World's Most Dangerous Woman's Shelter
- Log: A Safe Place?! Sayaka Runs The World's Most Dangerous Woman's Shelter
- Cast: Yuliana Kafim, Sayaka Yumi
- Where: The Photon Power Labs
- Date: 2024-06-14
- Summary: Dr. Kimura convinces Yuliana to scan one of her bracelets, revealing magical and technological tracking devices inside. Shaken by the revelation, she retreats from him, and tries -- unsuccessfully -- to reach out to her wife, instead. Sayaka finds her and draws her out of her shell instead, learning about her concerns over Luna's Mobile Dolls in the process. It's clear that Yuliana is trying, but she still loves her wife -- and it casts a shadow over her progress. (CW: Domestic abuse)
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
Yuliana asked her wife for another week.
Asked.
And she has volunteered freely that she still speaks to her wife, every night and every morning. A little extra questioning from Leina's ex, Shiro Kabuto, revealed something alarming about that combination --
She doesn't hang up between those calls. Apparently, the whole time she's been here, she's kept her phone active so that her wife can watch her sleep. ... with some encouragement on Shiro's behalf, Yuliana even told Dr. Kimura about that, though she feels it must have surely been obvious.
Of all the concerning things Dr. Kimura has to respond to, though, one weighs in his mind from his initial assessment -- a screening test and notes he made sure to forward to Sayaka's desk. (Yuliana signed the consent forms for her to be involved, so he's not compromising patient confidentiality.) During that assessment...
... Yuliana indicated her wife's stalking might extend to a tracking chip.
"I'd like to scan your bracelet," Dr. Kimura explains, to Yuliana, as she stands there awkwardly with an arm crossed across her SNAFU ZAKU band shirt. (And, of course, her usual denim. She quite likes denim, when the weather permits.) "Just to see what's inside."
"You're... not going to take it away?" Yuliana asks, all too anxious. "Even if... it was a gift," she says, softly. "My wife gave it to me... it's important to me."
"I'll give it right back," Dr. Kimura promises. "But if we don't check, we'll never know if it's just a bracelet or not."
"... okay," Yuliana says, looking down, as she unclasps her purple bracelet and slips it off her wrist. She cradles it in her hands, for a moment, entirely unsure whether she wants to know -- before, at length, she hands it over.
"Thank you," Dr Kimura says, as he sets it in the scanning bay. The scientist at the console -- Eiko Kano, a mousy woman with a blue bob, thick glasses, and no tolerance for the social side of science -- reads off a checklist, laden with obligation: "Any diamonds in the construction? Type of metal? Any fabrics or binding thread? Plastics?"
"No," Yuliana replies, "they're amethysts. Rose gold setting -- copper-gold alloy. No thread, and obviously there's no plastic," she adds, wrinkling her nose.
"Plastic melts," Eiko says, sounding deeply bored. "All right, scanning object..." She pauses, as she gets her readings, and then spins her screen around. "Yeah, right there," she points to a chip buried in the gold. "It's pretty well hidden. Solid work. But if you direct a reader at 63 degrees within 0.8cm of the site, you should be able to connect to it. I'm reading an unidentified energy signature, too... looks like a beacon."
"Oh," Yuliana says, as Dr. Kimura retrieves her bracelet, and she puts it back on.
When they go to the tech nerd who can read the data, only to find that it's transmitting biometric data back home -- her pulse and temperature, to be precise -- Yuliana's mood only sours further.
"Do you want us to take it?" Dr. Kimura asks, as he leads her out.
"No," Yuliana says. "She'd know... if she doesn't already. I don't know how I'll explain it, Doctor..."
"You don't have to justify taking your jewellery off for a few minutes," Dr. Kimura assures her. "I'm more concerned with your safety, right now. It must be very confronting."
"Just... leave me alone," Yuliana sulks, tucking herself up on a windowsill, arms and tentacles coiled around her legs.
"All right," he says, gently. "I'll be around if you need anything."
Yuliana takes a deep breath, as if to yell at him -- before she stops, and reminds herself he's trying to help. "Sure," she mutters, instead, leaning heavily against the window, fingers trailing loosely over her bracelet.
He'll make all his reports promptly. Meanwhile, unsupervised, Yuliana slips her phone from her pocket again. She gazes to it, silently, for long moments. She should...
Her thumbs trace a message, instead.
> I miss you so so so so so so so so so so so so so much
> Nothing makes sesne right now
> I just know I love you
She clutches her phone as she watches it, sure that -- as always -- Elisa will reply promptly. But the minutes stretch on, and tears catch at the edge of her eyes as her breath and her pulse quicken.
It doesn't even occur to her, with what she now knows, how her wife can tell.
<Pose Tracker> Sayaka Yumi has posed.
BEFORE
The Photon Power Labs, even now that it has commenced its support of certain underground anti-NUNE operations, continues its role as a woman's shelter. Sayaka isn't, and perhaps shouldn't be, involved in every single aspect of Yuliana's recovery, of course... but when something directly finds its way to her desk, she gives it special attention.
And that screening report indicating that Yuliana believes Elisa might have a tracking chip on her is a concern. Not necessarily for the security of the Labs, but for Yuliana's own privacy and agency. Sayaka had filed that report under 'follow up ASAP', and gave Dr. Kimura and Eiko Kano time to do their work.
NOW
"...I see." Sayaka frowns, eyeing over the quick reports Dr. Kimura put together regarding the results of their tests on Yuliana's bracelet. "Frankly, I'm almost surprised she let you take a look at the bracelet at the first place." She sighs. "On the other hand, let's just say this doesn't exactly lend me to reconsider my previous beliefs about Dr. Kafim's intentions." She adds, gravely.
Yuliana seemed so insistent that Elisa changed her behaviour when Sayaka got the 'wrong impression' about Elisa's reaction to Yuliana's battery dying. Sayaka doesn't feel that trust was earned after all.
"How is she doing? Do you think it would help if I go see her?" She naturally waits for Dr. Kimura's response - he's the expert she's paying, and if he thinks her presence would make things worse she wouldn't. But assuming he approves of it, Sayaka approaches the windowsill Yuliana had coiled up by.
"Hey, Yuliana." Sayaka greets her, trying her best to sound casual - rather than the tone one must usually take after hearing someone's wife is stalking them. "Are you up to talk right now? Heard you had a difficult time today, so... just wanted to check in." She doesn't take a close look at Yuliana's phone, but perhaps Yuliana's intense gaze towards the screen tells her everything.
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
"It took... a long time to build some trust," Dr. Kimura sighs, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "But her case is quite severe, so I'll just celebrate that she did let us look." He gestures out, with a hand, as he frowns.
"I don't think I'm exaggerating," he says, gravely, "when I say that Elisa Kafim is one of our most pressing and dangerous enemies still active on the Earth Sphere." That qualification is important, of course -- there are plenty of threats, like Dr. Hell, who just aren't active right now -- but he remains deeply concerned, anyway. "But even leaving aside her danger to the world... she's certainly a danger to her wife. I fear the minute she realises she can't have Yuliana, she'll begin behaving just as the Empress did -- except that her violence will be in this world." He takes a deep breath, and sighs. "... but even before it reached that point, I think that Dr. Kafim would happily mutilate Yuliana's psyche to keep her confined. I've noticed in our sessions that she describes very similar premises -- being changed to suit her wife's needs -- with both Dr. Kafim and the Empress, though she doesn't seem to recognise the similarities. But while the Empress physically assaults her... Dr. Kafim is more subtle."
He taps the side of his head, demonstratively.
"... as for how she's doing... I think Yuliana is having a hard time coming to grips with how similar this world is to the vision she had in Goragon. She mentioned it -- how there was a world where she fled her wife and tried to get help -- as the world of 'Betrayal'. But it must have stayed in her mind... if she thought to check one of those details now."
He nods, at length. "I don't think I'll be able to reach her, right now," he says. "Even with the progress we've made -- I'm still a 'Doctor', in her eyes. You might have more luck, Director. She could certainly use the support."
Meanwhile --
OST: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQMz4JDbtmI Taylor Swift - The Tortured Poets Department
Everything running through Yuliana's head is Elisa, Elisa, Elisa. Each second an hour, each minute an aeon; she knows, she knows, she knows.
And then Sayaka greets her, and despite all that casual tone, her head still snaps up. "Oh," she says, her heart hammering in her chest, as she turns to look to her. "H--hello. I..."
She sighs, and Sayaka doesn't have to snoop a look at her phone, because she turns it to show her. "I tried to check in after... but I guess she's busy," and there's a high, whining quality to the word, like Yuliana is trying her level best not to cry. "So... sure, we can... we can talk."
She takes a moment to look back down to her phone, first, in case a message appeared when she wasn't looking at it.
"... Dr. Kimura came with me to check my bracelet," she explains, after that interlude. She holds out her arm so that Sayaka can see -- two bracelets, in fact. One is purple, with amethyst gems interlocked along her wrist; one is black and chain-latticed, emeralds studded along its length. That second bracelet has a neighbour on her left wrist, but the purple bracelet only appears on her right. "Not -- not the Chthonic Lattice, that one protects me from the Empress," she adds, as a tentacle lifts up to tap the amethysts. "This -- this one. ... it was a gift.
She sniffs, and gulps, and swallows. "They said it was chipped," she says. "S-so -- Elisa always knows where I am, and -- if I'm well. But I wasn't supposd to know that might be what it was... I should have just asked her. I just... thought it couldn't have been... not in this world. I should have asked her..."
<Pose Tracker> Sayaka Yumi has posed.
"It does give me hope," Sayaka starts. "That the work we're doing is to her benefit. That we really can help her." She brushes her hair back and crosses her arms.
"But when it comes to Elisa Kafim... I have to agree. We- the Photon Power Labs never truly had to face anyone like her before." Even Dr. Hell, while a menacing threat to the Earth Sphere, even recently... never had subtlety in his arsenal. Not even when he was playing the good citizen. "But even still, we need to keep doing what we can. I believe we can save her and the world, if it comes to it."
She nods seriously when Dr. Kimura explains Yuliana's mental state. "I see. It'd be hard to believe something like that wouldn't have an effect on her. Goragon was..." She shakes her head. Though it only represented possibility, it's not improbable that some of them reflected reality. And the idea of 'Betrayal'... "I'll use my best judgement, then. Thank you, Doctor." She straightens out her posture, and takes her leave.
---
Sayaka quickly takes a glance at the messages... nothing back from Elisa. Sayaka frowns. "What could she be busy with, I wonder." That's more of a rhetorical question, because well, what does Elisa do by herself in that Castle? "All right, then. Let's talk." She agrees. "Would you prefer to take a seat in the waiting room?"
Thanks to Kimura's report, Sayaka already knew of the broad strokes about Yuliana's bracelet, but she still listens carefully - it helps a lot to know Yuliana's own feelings about it. "A gift," She repeats, only likening it to a 'curse' instead in her head. "If I remember correctly, your wife surprises you with a lot of spur of the moment gifts. Do you remember... when you received this one?" Was it after they'd met in the diner, she wonders.
But it's clearly difficult for Yuliana to admit that Elisa had this particular bracelet microchipped. "That's what he told me." Sayaka nods. "But... you couldn't have known, Yuliana. Most people would... never think to ask that of someone they trust. And you trusted her." Sayaka points out, leaving out what Kimura told her about Goragon. Because in any healthy relationship, you wouldn't have to peer into another possibly to find out you're being tracked. "...You don't have to be okay with that." She adds, frowning. There's a sinking feeling. She has a basic idea of why Elisa is suddenly making herself unavailable now.
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
"Yuliana uses scorpion imagery... she's taken strength from the iconography of the betrayer, ever since she felt she betrayed the REA. But if you ask me," Dr. Kimura frowns, "Dr. Kafim is the spider -- unseen, laying in wait, and weaving a tapestry of manipulation."
He doesn't have a very high opinion of Yuliana's wife.
"But this is a good sign," he says. "It took a year and change... but she's finally trying to claim some safety for herself to talk about these things. It means she recognises we will keep her safe, here. It's a delicate time -- but I'm hopeful." Cautiously hopeful, but hopeful, nonetheless.
So long as Elisa doesn't act to bring Yuliana back under her control, then, maybe...
... but Elisa hasn't taken a single action, and Yuliana's still tearing up. "M--maybe the children," she makes the most charitable possible guess, when it comes to Sayaka seeing those messages. "Maybe she's busy with the children..."
Yuliana always says that Elisa is good with the children, and they certainly seemed happy enough, when Sayaka visited. But imagining Elisa pushing a swing with a reptilian expression...
"... okay," she says, remarkably pliable, when Sayaka suggests going to the waiting room instead. She unfolds herself from the windowsill, and, thankfully, slips her phone into her pocket. She's easily led to the waiting room, where she takes a seat, ankles crossing over each other and tentacles curling about her knees.
"She's so thoughtful, isn't she?" Yuliana smiles, though it's a touch thin, under the circumstances. Her fingers trace over the bracelet, feeling those violet stones beneath her fingertips. "This was a Valentine's gift... I was so happy she remembered the date, Yaka. Everyone had just rescued me from the Institute, so -- well, she was worried about me working on weapons on my own, so she asked me to stop for a while, she had me give Da Xukong's plans to Shari so she could finish them up -- that's why I had to ask her, if I could take my tools and make something. So I guess it wasn't really a surprise..." Her shoulders sink, a little, not quite able to place why that seems a bittersweet story. "But she was so happy, when I gave it to her. Even animated! She even," her hand lifts to veil her lips, "she even kissed me, she didn't do that of her own volition very much back then, you know. I was so happy..."
Her hand lifts, to tuck her bangs behind an ear. "But she'd gotten me things, too. A tonic to help me with my hair -- and this beautiful bracelet," she adds, looking sidelong to it. "I was so happy. I said I'd wear it always, and she said it was complete, now I was wearing it. We like wearing jewellery... so the world knows we're bound together. And she said I looked so lovely... it was beautiful on me. Perfect on me."
She so wants to be perfect.
"She must have wanted to keep me safe," Yuliana sighs, her hands dropping to her lap. "Dr. Devi almost gave me a fate worse than death... all because I left while my Elisa was busy. Of course she'd be worried about me... I just wish I hadn't brought her so much stress. I feel terribly about it... like I violated her trust, you know, by, by letting you all see how far she had to go. I could have just asked her! I just..." She looks down, frowning. "She was upset by what the fake Elisa did in that world," she says. "I didn't want to... make her more upset. So I just thought, it must have been that world... but I didn't trust her enough, and I looked at it, and now I know, and now I have to tell her how I know." And it's hard, when she can't just apologise right away, isn't it?
<Pose Tracker> Sayaka Yumi has posed.
Sayaka nods gravely, hearing Dr. Kimura's metaphor. She doesn't have a very high opinion of Yuliana's wife, either. "That's true enough. Back then, I was surprised and relieved that she accepted our offer at all. I hope she knows how much progress she's made." It's always best to treat such delicate situations with cautious optimism, Sayaka thinks.
The children... the mental image of Elisa pushing a swing is indeed quite bleak in Sayaka's mind. It's not out of the realm of possibility, but knowing everything she does about Elisa's usual behaviour... Sayaka doesn't think this silent treatment could be anything except another deliberate abusive tactic.
She can't exactly tell Yuliana that in her current state, though, can she? "...Maybe she is." She answers, quietly. "Maybe try to take your mind off it for a bit, keep your thoughts focused on something calming while you walk? Just like you practiced." She suggests that, but... convincing Yuliana to think about anything but Elisa feels like a tall order.
And by the time they sit, the conversation indeed turns back to Elisa. "Yes, she certainly puts a great amount of thought into her actions." Sayaka replies, as to Elisa's 'thoughtfulness', her own smile just a little thinner than usual. She listens, as Yuliana talks about exchanging gifts with Elisa, the entire context and story behind them.
It might seem like a strange story ordinarily, but as an 'Oldtype', Sayaka tends to pay close attention to body language. She notices the shoulders sag. "Back then, huh?" Of course, Elisa never really struck her as the physically affectionate type, so the fact that it changed feels pretty notable. She's still not sure what to make of the story up to now, though.
Sayaka remains silent, when Yuliana recounts the wording surrounding the bracelet. Perfection, being complete with it, being bound together... knowing what that bracelet really is, how is that anything but a red flag? "It is a beautiful bracelet," Sayaka agrees. "But..."
"You weren't the one who violated her trust, you know." She concludes, very directly. "What happened wasn't your fault, and I don't think... you should be made to feel like it was." She frowns, too. "Because maintaining trust shouldn't come from a device like that. It shouldn't have those conditions." And while she doesn't want to be harsh towards Yuliana, she can't just leave that unsaid. "You've put in so much emotional labour towards understanding your wife. So it's not unfair to think she should do the same."
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
"Mm," Yuliana hums. "It's the children, surely, or -- or maybe she's following up on those Luna routes," before she realises she may have said too much, eyes widening briefly, and falls quiet.
She was just trying to invent reasons why her wife wouldn't reply to her.
She does try to calm herself down -- and Sayaka can hear the way she tries to count out her breathing, out longer than in, to get herself to a healthier place -- but her mind keeps coming back to Elisa.
Back then, Sayaka asks, and she nods, smiling. She seems to think it's better, now.
"But... G-Hound captured me because I ran off to respond to that Macross-class Asciel stole like an idiot," she protests, when Sayaka says it's not her fault. "The only reason she had to go so far was -- was because I'm so troublesome. I could be kidnapped at any time... they do try, you know! Even on Magallanica -- that Eight had to intervene! And she was quite pregnant at the time, you know, she -- she actually went into labour over the shock, I suppose, but of course I got her to the hospital. I'm not a monster." She pouts, somehow sullen about the insistence, a little uncomfortable to put it out there like that.
Elisa's always encouraged her about how she doesn't have to be human, after all.
"But my Elisa... she tries to understand me, too," Yuliana insists, and in all her denials, she hasn't directly touched Elisa's conditional trust. "Like, I said -- I was bothered she wasn't a very physical person. She was always happy to embrace me if I hugged her, but... you know, she... I remember she'd always touch me when she was being convincing," and the fact that she says she remembers it that way might come into sharp relief as she adds, "I think." She can never quite be sure, after all the mind games -- that is -- when she's an unstable woman.
"And she understood how I didn't want to associate with BioNet, even though, well, there aren't really that many people who'll associate with us these days... so she helped me to accept the people who did want to be friends, so I wouldn't have to turn to BioNet. Even though it would have been easier for her, you know? She does..." But Yuliana falls quiet, and shakes her head. "Excuse me," she says, quietly.
There are still some things she shouldn't tell them, and the company Elisa keeps is amongst those things.
<Pose Tracker> Sayaka Yumi has posed.
"Luna routes?" Sayaka squints - wondering what kind of business the Kafims could possibly have in space. Right now, though, she's more immediately concerned for Yuliana's well-being so she's pretty quick to move on from that curiosity.
The way Yuliana smiles about their change in intimacy isn't necessarily a bad thing, even if it's likely something to interrogate considering Elisa's other abuse - but Sayaka isn't really in a position to tag it when Yuliana moves on so quickly.
"That still doesn't make it your fault," Sayaka reinforces, even as Yuliana invokes G-Hound's capture of her. Because while Yuliana is certainly responsible for many crimes, blaming her for people trying to capture her and bring her to places where she'd be tortured or experimented on again is just... victim blaming.
"It sounds like Eight had to go through quite the trouble. But you and her children both turned out to be safe, and that's the important part, isn't it?" Sayaka manages smiles. Been a while since she's really spoken to Eight - she does make a mental note about that, but continues to focus on Yuliana.
Elisa does try to understand her, Yuliana claims - but she invokes that physicality again... the idea that it's only when she wants to be convincing is also a red flag to Sayaka - but she can tell coming to that conclusion is making Yuliana uncomfortable. "Have you ever talked about this with Dr. Kimura, or one of the other specialists?" She follows up, instead. "It's fine if you haven't, of course." She still offers her an out...
Sayaka can currently understand Yuliana's wish not to associate with BioNet, given her history. It's much less surprising that Elisa just has those ties, though... "Does she still work with BioNet? Has she told you anything about that?" She asks. "It's just that, well... they're BioNet."
But she does squint when Yuliana begins talking about friends, or other associates, if she extrapolates. "I assume you don't mean your visits here." Sayaka folds her arms on her lap. "Whoever those friends of yours are, I'm not going to ask you to disclose them, unless it turns out to be relevant to your recovery." She tells her, gently. Maybe she's just internally thinking 'thank God it isn't BioNet', but since it was Elisa who arranged it... she's still a bit skeptical.
"I just hope they've been a good support network for you." She concludes, because while the Photon Power Labs should serve that role too - a 'support network' isn't usually one solitary individual or group - and she is aware there are individuals connected through the Silent Calling relying on that network, too.
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
The trouble, Yuliana thinks, Yuliana focuses on. But, "My Elisa would have been very upset if I were captured," is what she says. "Stupid of them to try, knowing that... but I suppose they have some plan they think will work. Even aside from how NUNE says they want me executed... I understand I'm a high-value subject, given how I am. Many people... would be happy to make me disappear."
Into another laboratory.
She shakes her head, when Sayaka asks if she's talked about that closeness with Noburu. "It's private," she says, fingers veiling her lips. "It would be immodest to discuss something like that with other people... besides, when I told her it bothered me, she realised, she resolved to do better. And she has. She's just... not human, so... it just means our relationship is a little more complicated." Is it really because Elisa isn't human?
(The best lies are built out of truth, and certainly it is true that Elisa doesn't think the way humans do.)
But Sayaka's already figured out -- or did she already tell her? -- how Elisa associates with those people in BioNet, and Yuliana sighs. "I prefer not to hear too much about it," she excuses it, vaguely. "But I know she keeps those contacts to make sure that no one associated with them gets the idea to meddle with me -- since -- well, it's like I said." Surely the scientists of BioNet are the most eager to get their hands and scalpels on Yuliana. Elisa is just protecting her wife!
"And... it's not so much that it's a support network," Yuliana sighs. "Not... not like it is here. But I know how unpopular we are... so I didn't wish to ask you to jeopardise your reputation by standing with us publically. It's not that I don't appreciate it... but they say I should think of other people more, and that's how it made sense to me." In her own way, she is trying, even if that's gotten her a group of mystery friends who may or may not be terrible for her. Her hands lace together, in her lap. "But I don't think you'd yell at me for it," she adds, quietly. "I did think about that. But it's -- you know -- NUNE is prototyping new Mobile Dolls, up on Luna. They don't even need pilots, so they'd be able to... it's normal people that will suffer, if no one even tries to get in the way."
She heaves another sigh, gaze darting away. "Sorry, Yaka," she apologises, in just the way her wife wouldn't want her to. "I'm about to say something underhanded... well, I can at least tell you that plainly. If you could distract Leina next Friday... I just think it would be better if she had to take care of something down here. But if I said that, she'd immediately be suspicious... so..."
She trails off, hands squeezing each other nervously.
<Pose Tracker> Sayaka Yumi has posed.
"No, that absolutely cannot happen." Sayaka agrees, that Yuliana can't fall into their hands. "No matter what NUNE says... between us, I don't believe in anything but the worst possible outcome from them." Sayaka frowns.
She does nod, concisely when Yuliana confirms she hasn't talked to the Photon Power Labs' people about her intimate life with Elisa. Sayaka might confide some of her own worries after talking with Yuliana today to them, but she doesn't want to put Yuliana even more on the spot right now. "No worries. I'm not exactly eager to kiss and tell everything I do with Koji, either..." She characteristically looks away when she says that. "But I sincerely hope she makes good on that resolve of hers."
Sayaka was already ideologically opposed to BioNet, of course - but now, BioNet is one of Satellicon's many bitter enemies. She can't share that much with Yuliana, and while Elisa may ally with them to protect them from experimenting on her... Sayaka has little faith that doesn't just mean she's claiming her for her own.
"I appreciate your concern, really. I'm very much aware that there are many underground movements currently, solely opposed to the NUNE government." There's just a hint of a smile. "Movements that I can't say I publicly condone by any means." If Yuliana is involved with any of those, it isn't one of the ones Sayaka's been in contact with, so it's still a point of concern.
"But ever since the OCU made its great split, I've been paying attention to NUNE's activity. And... that's concerning to hear." She means the Mobile Dolls. "I heard they sent them out for a test flight in Tsutsujidai a couple years back. They started protecting the kaiju and attacking the defenders. And now they're putting these things into production...?" She dislikes Yuliana's definition of 'normal people' but she can sympathize with what she's saying. "No, it won't end well."
"Afraid I won't be able to pull one over her that easily. She's too sharp for that." Sayaka smiles, her tone wry. "But I do wonder how Cathedra will respond to this. Don't Mobile Dolls go against their whole philosophy of war being fought with hands on the triggers?" She shakes her head - and leaves her thought there, too.
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
"I can't believe in them," Yuliana scowls. "I know... Leina's keeping Cathedra in check, and I won't say they haven't done good things, but... the Republic is part of NUNE, now. They still say we were a rogue cell, you know... they've disclaimed any responsibility for making me. They say it's my fault... how could I trust them?" The potential of NUNE is something many people have given room to show -- but Yuliana can't look past the REA, woven in through them.
It's hard to blame her for that.
She nods, though, when Sayaka is sympathetic to her reticience over her private life -- of course, she thinks, she'd understand. "It's okay," she assures her. "She has." It assures Yuliana, anyway, who smiles as she says it.
(Of course Elisa has claimed Yuliana for her own, from her gold and gems to the name etched into her throat. The thing is -- Yuliana wouldn't say it like it was a bad thing. You can take the woman out of the REA, but it's harder to take the REA out of the woman. Isn't possessiveness the strongest expression of love?)
She nods, remarkably understandably, when Sayaka excuses her lack of public support. She's thinking about Sayaka's situation. (Please clap.) "They want to develop a new model, or so I hear," Yuliana frowns. "Apparently, they're strongarming the Operation Meteor people into working on the prototypes... but I shouldn't speak too much on it," she adds, a touch apologetically, shaking her head.
"Well, I guess you're right... I just didn't want for her to get involved," Yuliana looks down at her hands, her shoulders sinking. "As soon as she hears I've made friends like that, she's going to lecture me... I'm afraid she'll even blame my wife for using it as an excuse to call me back. Since I couldn't... I can't much tell her why I have to go back home. She'll think Elisa did it on purpose, you know, goading me to fight, distracting me from stuff here... but I don't agree with those things. I want to stop it. I know I'm, um, working on stuff here, but... I shouldn't just think of myself," she says, again, and it's nice that she's trying to absorb Dr. Kimura's efforts to increase her empathy...
... but doesn't it kind of seem like she's employing them in a convenient way for her wife?
<Pose Tracker> Sayaka Yumi has posed.
"I'm comfortable working with Cathedra to the extent they require, and I do appreciate Leina's efforts helping them shut down the Newtype Labs..." Sayaka nods. "But it's the REA and Britannia. Despite their promises, it's not easy to trust them." She's quick to invoke the belligerent against Japan, too, of course. "I've had to work with, and eventually fight the Titans. And at this point, it's hard to say whether they'll become a second coming."
"The Operation Meteor team.." The name isn't that meaningful to Sayaka, really, but she recalls they made waves for a similar cause to the mysterious Celestial Being a few years back. Which Yuliana and Elisa definitely weren't members of. "I see. Well, it's okay. I think you've said enough." Sayaka assures Yuliana, but frowns.
"I have to admit, I'm skeptical too, though." Sayaka sighs. "Leina usually has pretty good reasons for lecturing people, doesn't she? And she's a good judge of character, too." But Yuliana did provide her the date, so is there really anything stopping Sayaka from finding out how these friends of Yuliana operate? "So I get what you're saying. But I don't think it's going to be easy to stop Leina from finding out and involving herself. She's... your friend for a reason."
"When it comes to the decision to fight, I'm just going to reiterate the same thing I told you when you sortied against Asciel." Sayaka says, her tone serious. "When you're here, at the Photon Power Labs, it's to heal. And that should be your first priority." She can tell that Dr. Kimura's efforts have been effective, that Yuliana is at least trying to take them to heart.
"Otherwise, as long as the decision to fight is your own, it's not my authority to stop you." Sayaka shakes her head. "So if you really think this fight is worth putting your life on the line, so be it. But I hope you'll do your utmost to be careful out there, too." She pauses. "We were just talking about how many people in NUNE want you worse than dead."
"But," Sayaka adds, really not wanting to leave her statement on such a bitter moment. "You're still here at the Labs, and so I can fully focus on your healing all I want." She smiles. "Lunch?"