2024-06-30: !and we shall sunder the saber which carves sO
- Log: !and we shall sunder the saber which carves sO
- Cast: Yuliana Kafim, Elisa Kafim
- Where: The Silent Castle, Kaffeklubben Island
- Date: 2024-06-30 (ICly 0099-06-29)
- Summary: Yuliana and Elisa arrive home after the Dawn of Fold's latest operation, and discuss the Gaia Sabers' crimes and warriors.
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
In the cockpit of the Da Xukong 0, Yuliana types out an angry message on her phone:
> Whatever happened to humans shuold be killed by hum a ns??? That's not what I saw! Those drones are made to kill normal people! Dont you know about it???? Do something!!
... and when she doesn't immediately receive a reply-explanation-apology from Leina, she growls, and tucks it away again. She finishes directing her scorpion into its nest, and cracks her cockpit, jumping out onto the walkway set up to access it.
"Well," she huffs, stomping a foot, "that was a mess." But she turns, to the Queadlunn-Inanna, and smiles again. "But you were glorious, Elya," she says, extending a hand out. "It's so wonderful to see you stretching your legs!"
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
Elisa eventually returned to her unit, of course. And then she returns here, to its nest. The Quedlunn-Inanna is in terrible shape, frankly; it's been battered by a much more powerful unit. But Elisa is whole, as the cockpit opens and she disentangles herself.
She is Macronized of course. "I am glad that you think so," Elisa says.
"It was... enlightening," she says thoughtfully "Quite enlightening. I had a most interesting opponent."
A pause, and a frown. "But indeed. It was a 'mess'. I had not realized that they would go so far to achieve 'victory'..."
She steps free of her unit and looks to the walkway, from her incredible height. "Come. I shall arrange myself to a more convenient height."
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
"Was she?" Yuliana wonders, smiling. "She did seem interesting, from what I heard of her... perhaps you'll see her again, zhenushka." Not necessarily in battle. "Mine was... well," she sighs, recalling Soma's strange tone, "I've faced her before. But she's angrier, most of the time."
She shakes her head, scowling. "Bring a gun to kill a man, fine," she says, "or bring a machine to kill a man in another -- fine! But making machines to mow down men at their level... there are rules, Elya. We get into these war machines because it's polite -- it's why they saw me as a butcher, shooting men in their homes." Perhaps Elisa will be familiar with the taboo around handling death which informs why she uses that particular pejorative statement. Perhaps not. "But even when I did that -- I did that. You don't just -- you may as well strap a gun to a god-damn Haro!" And Yuliana, like Cassandra, often speaks truths which go unheeded... by herself, as much as any other.
The walkways set up to allow access to the Da Xukong aren't even half Elisa's height; she is larger than the wanzer, when she is writ large. "Yes," she agrees. "Let us go." When Elisa steps free of her Queadlunn-Inanna, Yuliana looks up to her, bends her legs --
-- and leaps up into her arms, trusting entirely that her wife will catch her.
(She could climb up, if she didn't, but of course she will.)
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
"Perhaps I shall," Elisa says. "She even said that it was nice that we fought together." Pause. "Though I believe she meant it as an insult." A pause. "I see. It is not a battle in which I would expect calm..."
But Yuliana scowls, and explains her issue. "I see..." Polite. She was a 'butcher'.
Yes, Elisa is familiar with that taboo. It makes sense, in the moment.
"And this is bad," she agrees. But before she can elaborate, Yuliana jumps--and of course Elisa catches her, cradling her there gently in her arms. "Hello, my Yuliana. Yes. I shall change... after we get out of the hangar."
She walks them free, at that, and begins to elaborate.
"It would seem against the 'rules' of warfare," she agrees. "...It does not afford the targets the chance to choose their own destiny. To fight back. This is the issue, yes? ...That it does not allow humans to show their 'strength'."
She legitimately has to work at understanding it, but, "It will be difficult to find countermeasures for such weaponry. But we shall find such. If this is unacceptable..."
"Then we simply need show them that when they use such weapons, we shall do worse to them."
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
"It just shows how little she knows that she would insult you," Yuliana sniffs, offended on her wife's behalf, "but if she pleases you, there's no reason not to seek her out again." What Flay wants really doesn't come into it. "As for that Soma," she adds, conflicted, "I'm sure I'll meet her again, whether I seek her out or not."
It is bad. But what's good is being in her wife's great arms, and Yuliana nestles in, as Elisa carries her out. "Hi," she smiles, foolishly. It's freezing out there, of course, but her pilot suit insulates her -- and the hooded cloak she's put on protects her head, even without her helmet.
"Yeah," Yuliana nods, all tucked away in the crook of Elisa's arm. One leg bends, resting against her forearm, as the other extends out; her tentacles coil backwards, to curl around Elisa's arm and steady herself. "You can't show your strength if you're outmatched that badly. Don't get me wrong, I don't object to an unfair fight... but even by those standards, those automatons are going too far. I don't accept it!" That's a different statement to it being unacceptable; perhaps it's more honest.
"We'll make them pay," she agrees. "And I already warned Leyasha what they were doing -- so I'm sure she'll give them trouble from the inside, too. Even if she doesn't agree with what we're doing, I'm sure she'll see reason on this." Surely she'd listen to her! Why would Leina not listen to her? "... but we can't just wait for her slow progress, either," Yuliana sighs, head lolling back against her wife's arm so she can better look up to her. "We have to punish them, Elya. First it was their Mobile Doll development, and now this... that Delling is a damn hypocrite! He says men should kill men, but apparently it's fine for a machine to kill a man if the man's not in the machine?! Damnit!"
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
"She recognized my name," Elisa adds. "She nearly destroyed my armor. But the events of the battle seem to have given her pause." She considers. Yes, maybe she will seek her out again. But not today. For now, Elisa walks out of the hangar into the square, where she listens. "I see. So it is not that it is unfair, it is the degree to which it is unfair. It is true that those humans had little chance. I saw the corpse of the mission commander... He seemed to have barely done any damage to the drones."
She says it like any other mild observation.
"Then we shall not accept it," she says of Yuliana's standards. It may be more honest; it certainly is more specific.
"I see... Yes, perhaps she will. But how much 'power' does she have, to influence them? You are right. We cannot wait."
She looks down at Yuliana's face. "I agree. He understands little. But he is not in charge of these... Gaia Sabers."
"They seem quite serious in their efforts to impose order. We will have to consider our approach more carefully."
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
"That Flay was strong," Yuliana agrees, without much concern. (Her wife was never in real danger.) "Perhaps we ought to upgrade your armour after all..." Is she just proposing that so she has another machine to work on? Surely not. "As for mine, our old friends and I destroyed her Institute, years ago. The Republic must still be messing with her brain... but looking at her pisses me off," she sighs, frustrated. "It's like a mirror."
Yes, she wants to punish Soma for having what she sees as a better path through the REA than she did -- but it's not as simple as just being angry at her. If she were just angry, surely she could have killed her, by now. No... there's part of Yuliana that wants something better for her fellow REA labrat, too.
It's just frequently dwarfed by the rage. "Tch, and who does that Soma think she is, telling me that I have to accept my past? Of course I've accepted it! What more is there to accept?!" Yes, just like that.
Yuliana grumbles, grasping at Elisa's arm with her own. "But -- yeah," she says, finally. "It's that unfair, is what it is. Hardiker was more holes than human," she remembers his name, at least. She frowns, clearly bothered by the memory. "Poor bastard... he didn't have a chance. Tch, but not even someone like me would have one, against something like that." And that might bring the unfairness more into context.
It's more personal, from where she's sitting, even if she's higher than the typical human eye-level.
Her lips curl, as she adds, on Leina, "... I guess she's not a commander or anything... ugh, it's probably unfair to expect her to change everything. Lucky the girl's got us on the outside, isn't it?" She blows air out through one too many teeth, scornfully. "Ch-- you'd think Delling were in charge of everything, the way he talks. But I suppose he's not. Well, that's fine... Leyasha would probably take it personally if we went after her boss like that. Those Gaia Sabers, though..." Her endless eyes narrow. "We can't leave them be," she condemns them, and the anger is still there, in her throat.
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
"She was. And yes, we should." No, she was in no real danger, but it was a chance to measure Flay's strength. "Let's. I would love to see what you could do with it, my darling. Your sensibilities are so... violent." She smiles. "It affords me an interesting chance to better understand mortals. By using mortal methods, I can understand 'strength' and 'weakness' from a new perspective. ...It is useful."
A pause, as for Soma. "I see... Yes, I see indeed. Well, you should decide what you wish to do there, and I shall support you."
"I do not understand her," Elisa admits of Soma. "What can she mean? This I do not know. But I know that you have overcome your past. You have triumphed over it."
But Elisa finally reaches the end of the stables and comes to a stop. "...Yes," Elisa agrees. "That troubles me." The man, she could take or leave; he was adequate at his job, until the end. But Yuliana... "Perhaps that is why they do it. But we cannot allow it to continue."
Elisa finally sets Yuliana down, moving to one knee to gently set her groundward. "Lucky her," she agrees. "I concur. They will come for us, sooner or later. And they have gone after people we have placed under our protection..."
"They must be destroyed. But it will not be easy. It will be a long-term matter. Even with my Power, I cannot simply unmake their weaponry."
"We will need to rely on our new allies, for help..."
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
"Wonderful," Yuliana smiles, when Elisa agrees to her upgrade. "I'm sure you'll like what I do... and it's good for you to fight as we do, sometimes, boyevaya podruga." Her combat friend...! "And you fight so well! Isn't it fun?" She's quite enthused by the question; she's still someone who is energised by bloodshed, evidently.
She sighs, though, when she thinks of Soma. "Yeah... I'm sure I'll figure out something." Probably not in advance, though. She's just not that sort of woman. "But I have, haven't I? I'm free. I don't get her!"
What they can get, at least, is that Yuliana is the one between them vulnerable to bullets. "This cannot continue," she agrees, as she scoots down to the edge of Elisa's arm so that she can slip safely to the ground. She reaches up to pat her, before she goes to lean against the wall, in wait.
"I'd love to just run in there, guns blazing," she sighs, folding her arms. "But you're right, Elya... we won't get anywhere without a plan. I'm counting on you." She sighs, looking up. "And I guess we're both counting on our new friends, huh...?"
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
"I am sure as well," she says. Combat friend!! Elisa smiles back. "It is," she agrees, and while she is not particularly demonstrative about it just now, she does have a pleased expression on her face. "I have more data to gather. More understanding to develop. ...And it's something we can do together, as wife and wife."
But Soma... Elisa will think on that, too. "You have," she says. "You are free of them, for good."
Elisa focuses, and--without need for a Micronization chamber--shrinks herself. She uses the power of the Void to do it, glowing green until she is the size of an ordinary woman once again, getting around the mechanism by use of magic.
"Indeed. I would enjoy simply approaching and destroying them... But it is not practical."
"I shall plan. And I think I have a first step in mind."
A nod, then. "We are. ...It shall be well. I have... What is the phrase?"
"A 'good feeling' about what we shall do next..."
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
Yuliana is pleased, too. "I'd love that," she smiles. "It's a wonderful new kind of date..!" Wreaking suffering and pain is a date? Well, why shouldn't it be?
She's free of them, she assures herself, as she nods. And then, Elisa focuses --
And Yuliana uncoils herself to clap and clap, brightening again. Her tentacles come together; her palms do, too. "Marvellous!" She praises her wife, as she strides towards her again. "You're magnificent, Elya! You don't even need a Chamber to change!" Never mind how Elisa got that Power; Yuliana praises it, anyway.
She comes to her wife, draping over her, wiping a fleck of green from her cheek and clasping her hand to it so she can kiss her other cheek. "All will be well," she agrees, as Elisa declares this to be the way. "I'm in your hands, zhenushka... let's tear them down completely."
Revenge is really kind of romantic, don't you think?