2024-09-01: .my power is yourS
- Log: .my power is yourS
- Cast: Yuliana Kafim, Elisa Kafim
- Where: The Silent Castle, Kaffeklubben Island
- Date: 2024-09-01
- Summary: The 'Shandor' makes its way home, and Elisa shows Yuliana that her fears are for naught -- Wendy is still whole. When she falls to slumber, she sleeps for days... and Yuliana rests with her, offering her the Power she needs to wake again. They've gained a new enemy with the new dawn: the Coordinators who dropped Junius Seven. (CW: Violence, implied sexual content)
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
Yuliana cracks her cockpit for a second time, and this time she vaults out onto the walkway and stalks away from Da Xukong 0, her machine beaten and yet unbroken. Her feet slam on the metal stairs, and where the edge of her heel catches on the precipice, she just keeps ramming it down. Thud, thud, THUD.
Don't call her broken.
Boris approaches her, still dressed in his own pilot's suit -- they kept ready, in here. "Capt--" he starts,
and Yuliana's teeth GRIND,
and she WHEELS around, planting a foot on the hard ground of the hangar,
and swings her fist DIRECTLY into his face.
"IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN YOU!" She screams, as he goes crashing to the ground, entire body-lengths away. If he were a Natural, he might not have gotten up. But he's a Cyber-Newtype, just like her, so he just lies there dazed for a moment before he brings his hand up to his mouth and rubs the blood from his bitten cheek away.
She stands over him, visibly trembling, gripped by the horror of what happened to Wendy -- and after a moment, a new horror crosses over her eyes, as Jadgit rushes to him and she realises what she's done. She looks from Boris to her fist, knuckles bloodied, and a stricken expression grasps her.
Without a word, she turns and runs from the hangar.
She throws herself into the bed in her crew quarters, and screams and wails, lying on her belly as her legs kick angrily against the bedframe. It creaks protest, and then it breaks -- the Salamis Kai was built for normal humans, and even the Kyo's refit still uses its base design in places like this. The frame bends down the middle to accommodate her legs; somehow, bent and tilted, it stays standing. More bruises blossom across her shins, where they slammed directly down over the metal bars; they match the ones across her chest, where the roll cage and seatbelts dug too harshly into her flesh.
"It's not fair it's not fair it's not FAIR!" She screams, losing herself to her tantrum, as the Salamis Kyo drives back home. So lost is she in her anger, she doesn't even notice when they stop.
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
The trip is uneventful. Though Yuliana does not look outside, the others might see the devastation surrounding Kaffeklubben Island... and the eerie, fresh nature of the isalnd itself, as if it were reborn in the flames of Junius Seven. The Castle is fully intact. The Castle remains.
And when they arrive, Elisa Kafim is there in the hangar. As others begin to disembark, she gives a personal message to each crew member.
"You did well," she says to one.
"Your service will be remembered," to another.
"You are a stalwart ally," to Boris, "And we are glad that you have returned," to Jadgit.
It is not to be kind. It is so that each of them remember who they serve. So that each of the remembers what it is that they are here to do. And finally...
"Where is my wife?" she asks of Parminder.
-=-=-
Elisa Kafim steps into the crew quarters and looks over the wreckage. Her hood is up now, her black robes hanging still and dark. Her eyes are bloodshot, though more black than red. She is ashen; a woman with lighter skin might be pale. But she is whole.
"Yuliana," she says. "My darling. You are home."
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
"Hey," Boris starts, when Elisa acknowledges them, "Yuliana, she was taking it hard, no?" There's a nasty bruise blossoming over his cheek; Elisa might be able to put together who really took it on the chin, here. "Don't think she'd wanna see us... so..."
"Thank you," Jadgit knows better than to have a conversation with Elisa, at least. "Come on," he encourages Boris, as he takes him by the arm and guides him out.
Parminder, meanwhile, shrugs. "I ain't no helicopter daddy," he says, far too blithe. "Over-under? She ran off to have a tantrum somewhere. BTW, check the tapes. Some great shit in there." He's no help at all, of course, except that the most logical place for Yuliana to go have 'a tantrum'...
... are her crew quarters, as damaged as previously described.
She hasn't bothered changing into warm robes on the trip home. She's been too busy with her emotions. So many emotions. How does one woman have so many emotions?!
When she lifts her head from where she'd buried them in her hands, though, her own tearstained eyes widen. "Elya!" She exclaims, and picks herself up at once to all but throw herself at her wife, tentacles wrapping tightly about her as she presses her lips to hers. "Oh!" She chokes up, hands coming up behind Elisa's head as she rises up on her feet so that she can press her forehead to a woman made taller by her heels. "Oh, Elya! Oh...!"
She trembles, for a moment, pressing herself so tightly into her that perhaps she thinks she could bodily sink into her flesh. "Boyevaya podruga," she addresses her friend in combat, "oh, are you well? You're ashen!"
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
"I see," Elisa says to Boris, and she may have seemed kind a moment ago but now that she is focused on his she takes in the details with the eye of a sculptor. "It is good, to tell me of these things. I suggest you stop by the infirmary." A nod, to Jadgit and Boris both. But Parminder...
"Remember your purpose in this mission," Elisa points out to Parminder. It is easily enough said, but it's the closest to a warning she tends to get with him. A pause. "...I will... 'check the tapes' later."
But the crew quarters.
Elisa looks at Yuliana, catching her easily. Her lips are cold, but Elisa is very much present in the world. It is strange, perhaps, that the usual signs that she should be distant are gone, and she is active, present, palpably Aware.
Elisa holds Yuliana in place. She will keep her safe.
"The procedures were... difficult," Elisa allows after a moment. "I will be well after I rest."
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
"Yes, ma'am," Boris says, dipping his head. "I'll go on and do that." And, whispered, as the two of them leave: ("See? You don't gotta be so scared of her, man.")
"Quit yer squarkin', she ain't dead," Parminder grins. "And I'd know if she'd left, your Witchiness. You have fun picking her up!" It's irreverent as ever, but...
... in that total lack of care for his own personal safety, he did, in his way, acknowledge his purpose. The purpose any of them have in missions like this, that is: get Yuliana back, alive.
(That she could run off is as much a threat as her perishing, according to Parminder.)
Yuliana, at least, picks herself up when she sees her wife. And she is cold, but Yuliana is still warm, pressed against her. Perhaps she can warm her up, just by being here? "You worked so hard," she breathes, a hand slipping forward to cradle Elisa's cold cheek. Unlike the crew and pilots, Yuliana isn't unsettled, gazing into her black-bloodshot eyes. "You kept us safe, didn't you? Oh, Elya... thank you, my darling, without you we'd be lost. When the debris rained down... so close to us... it's because of your efforts, isn't it?"
It was an exhausting effort, but Yuliana is thankful.
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
Elisa is dimly aware that Boris will now fear her less. She files it away, a neutral fact for the moment.
But Parminder talks of her 'squarkin'. Elisa lifts an eyebrow. "...Good," she settles on. Since, after all, he has confirmed his purpose and his success. So long as he continues to succeed... She will continue to find him amusing.
(He's not wrong.)
Elisa does not warm, for the moment; perhaps that will change in time. Perhaps she'll exert some energy to make herself more palatable, soon. But she does not yet. Instead, she gazes back into Yuliana's eyes in turn, green to endles green. "I did," she confirms. "...The wreckage came for the Silent Castle. But your home and your family are whole. Now, Ingvar guards against the waves when they return."
"Come. ...There is one other you will wish to see."
Elisa is pleased. Yuliana... is thankful.
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
"You protected them," Yuliana says, again, gently stroking her wife's cheek. "There is no one finer than you, Elya." Give her this much credit; she's entirely wrapped up in her wife, in these moments, no matter her grief for her friend and the world in that order.
But Elisa is -- kind? -- mindful enough to point out the grief which has bruised her legs, and Yuliana's endless eyes widen, under hers. "Lettu!" She gasps, as her wife's condition and victory is put out of her mind in favour of Wendy. "Elya, did she -- did she --"
She can't quite choke out asking if she died, but she's easily steered off of the ship and into the lone North Wing. She looks down at the earth as they walk, for once not covered in any snow; it is too perfectly normal, without any of the natural jagged variations in the edges of its landmass, as if it had been exactly carved and put back in place.
The snow didn't survive the trip, but the geese look very happy.
And when they get to Elisa's laboratory -- the one Yuliana knows about, anyway -- she finds Wendy lying in repose on a hospital bed which looks nothing like a hospital bed. Her skin has been tinged with green; her eyes are shut. Guanyu has pulled up a chair, beside her, clutching her hand. She's been there ever since someone told her where Wendy was.
"She's sleeping," the blue-haired maid tells Yuliana, as she haltingly releases Elisa's arm to creep forward.
"Lettu," Yuliana says, choked up with her emotions again, as she strokes the sniper's pink hair tenderly from her now-green brow. "You didn't have to do that. Why... why would you do that..?"
(Elisa may note the way Guanyu lowers her gaze, even as her other hand closes over Wendy's, holding it tighter. Some part of her must surely feel possessive of her fiancee, even as she bows her head to her queen. ... perhaps she can be forgiven for that.)
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
Elisa is fine, is it? Elisa can accept this. She inclines her head, and does not smile--it does not suit the dignity of the moment. However, she is pleased. "I will always protect what is mine."
Mindful is a good word. She recognizes that it is important to Yuliana, after all. ...And she did work hard on the matter.
The matter of life.
Elisa leads Yuliana along, continuing to step step step on the way, until the laboratory that Yuliana knows. Guanyu is there, beside her. She of course would be there. That is... appropriate.
"Hello... Guanyu." Elisa greets her by name. "I see your vigil is ongoing. I will have sustenance brought to you, if you wish it. ...She hoped for you, specifically."
A look then to Yuliana. "She did not have to," Elisa agrees. "But she did. And I shall remember. I pay the debts that I owe, a life for a life. She will endure."
"...But her rest will take time. To reacclimate soul to body, even after only a brief separation, is difficult."
"But she is no thrall; she lives, and will maintain her mind and spirit. ...When you are ready, we shall give Guanyu her privacy."
Forgiven?
Elisa would accept nothing less but possessiveness, now.
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
"We're in your care," Yuliana breathed, all adoration.
And as it happens, Wendy is, too.
"Thank you, Mistress," Guanyu says, dipping her head to Elisa, too. "Truly. I... I don't know what I'd do without Wendy. If you could... please. I don't want to leave her." Which is notable; even with a fire going in the fireplace, here, the North Wing is still bone-chillingly cold. No one wants to spend much time here, in this place which pays little heed to human comfort.
"She saved my life," Yuliana tells her, quietly. "Got in the way of one of those damn Coordinators, when he tried to run me through." Yuliana only ever heard a male voice, attributed to the machine Stella drove, after all. "There was no warning... in an instant, it happened. Thank God for Elya..." She'll endure, after all, as her own person.
Guanyu squeezes her fiancee's hand. "Wendy cares for you very much, Mistress," she says, and tries not to resent her for it. "I'm sure she didn't need any time to think about it."
"Please," Yuliana offers her, magnanimous, as she squeezes Guanyu's shoulder in a show of support, "you don't need to be so formal. Call me Yuliana. Now... we'll go," she says, with another long look to the sleeping Wendy. "But take all the time you need, Guanyu. For now, we'll have July cover for you."
"July's dead," Guanyu says, and the words are all hollowed out. "She turned to dust, right in front of our eyes. Vlad and Yuna, too."
"Wh..." A life for a life, Elisa said, and surely it wasn't hers. Their own people... Yuliana's frill lowers, as she puts the pieces together. "Oh," she says, the weight settling in. "I'm sorry."
"There's no hope without sacrifice," Guanyu says, though she's clearly still horrified by it all. "The rest of us are alive... and my Wendy is, too. I'm just glad I'm still here to watch over her... now."
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
"I will," Elisa confirms. "Do not trouble yourself over logistics, now. Care for your partner as you wish. You have special dispensation to remain in this ward as long as she is asleep." She doesn't know what she would do without her; that is fair. ...But notably, Elisa doesn't say to be less formal, not yet.
Instead she says, "You shall be one of the family, soon."
A pause. Wendy probably didn't have to think about it. "No. But she was afforded a chance to think about this," Elisa confirms. "...I asked if she wished to remain."
It's not important that she would've kept her anyway. She did ask.
July's dead, though. Turned to dust...
"Yes. That is correct. 'Sacrifice' is what makes the world continue to turn, day after day. ...But I think this system has reached the end of its usefulness."
Because the servants might start to revolt? Surely not.
"Now that the Castle and our family are safe, I am free to pursue... alternate sources of power."
"Your life is precious to Wendy," Elisa says to Guanyu then, focused on her without kindness but without cruelty, either. "I will not take it."
A pause. "...But as you say, Yuliana. We shall go." Elisa takes Yuliana's arm again, and they will depart the laboratory.
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
"Thank you, Mistress," Guanyu says, again, and though it comes through all her grief, her gratitude doesn't sound forced. Elisa doesn't extend informality to her, though, and she doesn't take it. ... maybe they'll be closer, soon.
Yuliana smiles, when Elisa says that Wendy had a choice. "Of course," she says, relieved. "You were good to her, Elya... thank you." Her gratitude couldn't be forced; she is too overtaken with the love she feels for her wife.
And when Elisa assures her she can seek alternate routes, Yuliana smiles. "Of course... I know it was a desperate situation, Elya. You didn't have a choice... but now it's done, you'll work something out. You always have." When Yuliana is bothered by it, anyway.
The servants might revolt. They wouldn't get very far, though. It's all in their contract...
Guanyu feels, a little, like a mouse being sized up by a snake, but she knows at least that Elisa isn't being cruel. "Yes," she nods, and if her voice is a little hushed... she's probably fine.
Yuliana leans against her wife, grasping her arm as she walks with her, along the walls, and back to the East Wing where they dwell. There are several staircases between them and their expansive personal quarters which spread across the top of the tower, but neither of them have ever skipped leg day, so it's barely worth noting.
Once they're safely in their bedroom, Yuliana turns herself towards her wife, pressing herself into her again as her fingers lace through Elisa's hair. "Kiss me," she pleads, gazing intently to her. "Such a wretched fight -- Elya -- I must know I'm still alive."
All that adrenaline, all those overwhelming emotions... they have to go somewhere.
Perhaps then, they'll be able to sleep.
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
Soon, perhaps. After all... Guanyu will be one of the Family soon. Apparently Wendy is, too.
Elisa nods in acknowledgement to her former(?) servant and to her wife both. "There is strength in choice," Elisa adds, not at all ominously.
But Yuliana is clearly bothered--though that's not the only reason, this time, that Elisa considers otherwise. ...Perhaps it is because some things can really only be tapped once. Sometimes, the djinn cannot be returned to the bottle. This may be that kind of situation.
"I have ideas. I will pursue them after I rest."
Back, back to the East Wing, and Elisa walks on. Safely in their bedroom, Elisa finally lowers her hood, and looks into her wife's eyes. "You are," she tells her. "And I will show you this."
Elisa is attentive, as usual, but also more full of life than is usual; she may be chill, but she is nowhere else than here, nowhere other than doing this. The overwhelming emotion will have somewhere to go. And eventually, when that is done...
Elisa closes her eyes, and sleeps.
She remains asleep for some time.
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
Yuliana's personal attendants are certainly closer than most outsiders are, to their family. Perhaps the members of their royal Court may be considered to have honourary familial status... in some fashion.
They are bonded to their house, now.
There is strength in choice, and so Yuliana chooses to have faith in her wife, even after hearing of her sacrifices. She chooses to give herself unto her wife, pouring all her overwhelming emotions into their bond... and she has always been most glad to share these things with her wife where they bring her into the present moment, inhabiting herself beside her.
(Elisa's always been closest to normal, in these times behind closed -- or, before they invited the children to the home, carelessly open -- doors. No wonder Yuliana is so unrelentingly physically-focused, even leaving aside her struggles to connect on the metaphysical plane. To invite Elisa into affection is to coax her into being her most approachable self... and yet, today she starts from that endpoint!)
But, strangely -- for the first time in the four years they've known each other -- it's Yuliana who wakes, before Elisa does, shivering with the reminder that she's not taken her morning medications. Strangely, strangely, Elisa is asleep. Yuliana carefully disentangles herself, trying not to wake her wife, as she goes to fetch her medications; she calls a servant up to bring her some food and drink, and takes care of those basic tasks of the morning.
She doesn't wake Elisa to see if she needs food. No -- the kind of sustenance Elisa must need, right now...
The best thing Yuliana can do for her, once she's taken her medications, is to crawl into the furs again, wriggling in under Elisa's arm and pressing her body against her as she dozes off again. It's not a demanding ask of her; she's still quite exhausted, even after a full night's sleep.
Then lunch comes, and her body reminds her it needs those medications, again. She doesn't even leave bed this time, grabbing what she'd put on the bedside table -- Yuliana has a bedside table, at least, because unlike her wife, she can't summon whatever she needs to her side with magic -- and taking it then and there.
At dinner... she at least slips out to eat something, again. Elisa's told her she has to take these pills with food, after all.
And then, to sleep...
In repeating this process, Yuliana is left to stroke her fingers through her wife's hair and gaze upon her sleeping face. Without her sharp lipstick, her perfect lips are cyanotic, tinted blue from her too-slow heart; her bronze skin is more cool than warm, in colour as well as in feeling. Pretty as a corpse, Yuliana could almost believe she was dead, if not for the occasional, languid in-and-out of her breath. She wonders: will she ever wake again?
She wonders how often Elisa is left with that same question, watching her the way she's doing, now.
But she can't wake her. She won't leave, either, even when one of the maids -- Daria, as it happens -- tells her that her mother is concerned for her. Her poor wife tried so hard to keep them all safe...
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
Wendy, now, is bonded to Elisa as well. In a different way. And so will be the lineage that Wendy could create...
But Yuliana chooses a strength. She shares with Elisa, and Elisa shares in return. The doors are closed indeed, and in this, she is more than approachable, she is beckoning. ...But Elisa sleeps still, when Yuliana wakes.
She sleeps, of all things.
Yuliana is right, in this. It is warmth that helps Elisa now--warmth of body, yes, but also the warmth of that one, all-important bond. Slowly, Elisa draws on the power Yuliana offers her, and bit by bit, that chill abates. She is still not warm, but she is not so cold as she was, by the time Yuliana wonders most.
Elisa is often patient. But now, it is Yuliana who must be patient. And eventually, in the midst of time beyond time...
Elisa's green eyes open again.
"Yuliana," she says, without moving.
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
If Elisa shall draw from her, Yuliana offers it willingly, in her constant presence and her patient embrace. She is a wellspring, scars torn in this world to glimpse another; if Elisa did not possess such a deep well of power herself, perhaps she would draw from Yuliana more often.
Now, when she has used so much of her strength...
Yuliana is here, and here for her alone.
When Elisa's eyes open, they find Yuliana's, gazing to her, just the way it's happened the other way around so many countless times.
"Elya," she breathes, relief flooding her features. "Thank God... you've been asleep for days." Only two -- but they were, perhaps, the longest days of her life. "I was so worried, sputnica zhizni..."
She leans forward, to nuzzle her forehead against Elisa's, and the smile she shares with her life's companion is positively glowing.
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
Perhaps indeed Elisa would. But it is never wise to rely only on one, especially one who is precious, must be protected. But Elisa has used much strength; she still has great reserves of Power, but for a time, her body must recover enough to be able to use more of it. Her nature is divine, but still she has a body. ...For now, at least.
Elisa turns her head to see Yuliana's gaze, and a small smile spreads on her face. No longer are her bones weak; no longer are her eyes bloodshot. She is refreshed.
"It is you who I will thank. You stayed with me, didn't you?" she asks.
That smile, glowing...
"I apologize for worrying you. But to draw upon so much Power taxed my body greatly. I needed to recover."
"...But now you are here, and I see that it is all worthwhile."
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
Elisa looks to her, no longer wearing those signs of her weariness, and Yuliana's precious face lights up with her relieved affection. "Always," she breathes the promise, stroking her fingers through her hair. She is still mortal, though, with a body which demands more than Elisa's, so she assures her: "But don't worry, Elya, I was good... I did eat, and I took all my medicine." If she casts her gaze past Yuliana to her bedside table, she will see that it is true; she's collected the many medications she still has to take there, all within easy reach.
"It's all right," Yuliana forgives her, at once. "You pushed yourself so hard for us, Elya... I'm glad you could rest. Even once I'd recovered, it was lovely to look upon you," she adds, still smiling. "My darling wife, who saved us all..."
She tilts her head, into the pillow. "Haa... how much more wonderful to think of you than that day."
That horrible, horrible day.
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
Elisa is assured.
"I am pleased," Elisa says of Yuliana eating and taking her medicine. "It is important to care for yourself. ...You are precious. To me, especially." Elisa does glance to the table, a brief focus and then her attention is only on Yuliana again.
Yuliana forgives her, of course. "Was it?" she asks, and is pleased by that, too. "It must be novel... I do not often require sleep of the body." A pause. "...Yes. I did much. It was..."
"It was exhilarating," she admits, "To defy Death itself, the very destruction of the Earth. ...And to return your friend and ally."
A pause. "But we need not think on that day further. It is in the past now. Still it shall echo on and on in this planet's destiny... But we are whole."
"I have much work to do. ...But it can wait. I prefer to stay with you."
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
"I know," Yuliana says, fingers straying forward to cradle Elisa's cheek. "You'd worry, if I didn't... I have to remember that." She doesn't always remember, but she can hardly be blamed for getting overwhelmed, the way she often is.
She smiles, hearing Elisa speak of her exhilaration. "Oh, Elya, you must have been so glorious," she speaks her adoration, "so strong, to stand against the will of Junius Seven this way." She might not know much about that will -- she couldn't hear anything -- but Rena assured her it wasn't an accident that it fell so viciously.
"Stay with me," she urges her, an active wish from her lips, as she curls her legs and her tentacles tighter about her. "Though, oh, if only it were as simple as putting it from my mind... it's kept plaguing me, Elya. Those awful Coordinators... and even when we set to destroy the colony, those wretched men with the Gaia Sabers' signature tried to destroy us! Kawochka's shields protected us from their unprovoked assault, at least... but even when we tried to protect our blue Earth, they treated us as reprobates."
She didn't do anything to deserve that! Not that day, anyway!
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
"I would," Elisa says. In theory, Yuliana should value herself for her own sake, and perhaps one day Elisa will try that angle. ...But today, "I would indeed. I am pleased that you remembered."
Elisa hears Yuliana's adoration. She smiles, more widely. "Yes... I was strong. I know that I can achieve the strength I require. I have tasted it. And our domain is safe."
But Elisa feels Yuliana curl about her...and it plagues her, plagues Elisa's wife. "I see..."
"I was not in a position to watch the battle, myself. I know there was a force beyond coincidence involved, but that is all. The Gaia Sabers... puppets of Britannia. We must oppose them and all their works."
"But I am pleased that Kaworu protected you, at least. He is..."
She reflects. "A friend."
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
"Good," Yuliana smiles, and then, again: "Good. You are mighty, Elya... mightier still than any force which could strike us. You'll keep us safe... I always feel safest held in your arms." Not only is she helping their family, but Yuliana herself. Isn't it wonderful?
She listens to her wife, and smiles, again, when Elisa speaks of Kaworu. "He's a dear boy," she agrees, warm to him. "And I'm glad that he offers you companionship as well, Elya. Our sister was there, too... she tried to use her perverse powers to turn Junius Seven aside, but even with Judyan's help -- and Dr. Mass's, and that Nova girl -- even then, she could not." She's... not as critical about Rena's failure as she could be, at least.
Yuliana pauses, thoughtfully, before she adds: "Judyan is one of the most powerful amongst them," as a helpful explainer. "I cannot think offhand of another Newtype I have stood beside who hollowed the space around him so grievously, leaving aside Nova's ilk, and rumour has it she's not like him. You know, those 'Whispered'," she adds, offhand.
"But they weren't able to replicate Axis Shock, that day," she says, draws in a breath, and sighs. "I thought... if I'd asked to use Emptear, perhaps I could have... was I too cautious, Elya? Too reluctant to use my own power?"
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
"For that is where you are safest. With me."
She nods, then. A dear boy indeed. And... their sister. Rena Lancaster. Elisa considers that matter. "...Hmm. So there was some will behind it. Some force that could overcome their hopes..."
Fascinating. Elisa wonders if she can use it.
But, "I see. Yes, the 'Whispered'..."
They couldn't replicate it. Elisa shakes her head. "I am glad, that you think of your Power. But the cost to have averted such a disaster, hearing of the Will behind it, would have been greater, I think, that you are willing to let the world pay. It is true that, together, perhaps we could have opened the Void and sent the colony into the realm of the Empress."
"...But to open the Void is to open the Void, and we are not ready. Even if we did, the world would be unprepared."
"So next time, perhaps. But this time... It is well that we did not attempt to intervene directly."
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
"With you," Yuliana agrees, comfortably.
But Elisa explains why her vain hope was vain -- and Yuliana's frills wilt down, disappointed by her wife's sound logic. "You're right," she says, of course. "It would have cost too much... and the world's not ready."
She draws in another breath, to sigh, deeply. "For a moment, I even thought... what if I were to dance, Elya? But I knew that without my armour, I would surely die... even though it was in the atmosphere, I couldn't choose the world, Elya. Not over myself."
She's contemplative about it, but isn't that nice?
"This 'Distortion Field', though," she scowls, "it's apparently technology which Nergal found... the one protecting that Nadesico. You know? Orb's pride and joy?" That is where they'd be most likely to know it, neither of them having much interest in the mechanical Jovian Lizards. "But the Coordinators are using it, now. Tch, those damn Coordinators!" She curls in closer to her wife, pouting. "Arrogant sons of bitches... I thought the relocation was just a political issue, at the time, you know. Mama said they were no good, but I didn't believe her... I was too busy hating Newtypes, I suppose. I thought she just didn't have the perspective to know who the real threat was... but I should have honoured our mother more," she says, and of course Sashenka is mother to both of them, now. Elisa's married in, but it still makes her a daughter. "Everyone's disrespectful in their youth, aren't they...? If I'd listened to her, I might have realised before Lettu had to die to illustrate the point."
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
"Good," Elisa says of Yuliana's decision. "You are more important than this world. If it is between you and all humanity... You are my choice. And should be your own choice. I am proud that you can recognize this."
A pause. "Of course, if we can save humans, we will. But not at cost of your life. We must always be wary of the costs of our actions."
Technology that Nergal found... Elisa is thoughtful. "In my life Before, I was angry with Nergal," she admits. "A rival scientist had me ousted from that company, on false charges. ...But now I am only curious. Where would they find such a technology? What use could it be to us?"
Coordinators...
Hmmm. "You should honor our mother," Elisa agrees. "If Coordinators are her enemy, then surely they are our enemy." Elisa doesn't particularly care; she's from Orb, a land where Coordintor and Natural live together. But if it encourages Yuliana to accept her hatreds...
Yes. It is well.
"But do not blame yourself. We can only act in the future, my darling. None can change what has already come to pass."
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
"You're right," Yuliana affirms, again. "There is always a cost... I won't let it be me, Elya. Haa... not that my impulsiveness makes that easy, sometimes..."
She tilts her head, as she listens to Elisa's story. "Shall we find out, darling?" She asks, stroking her wife's hair, again. "If they've wronged you, it is just to take their prizes from them... though you're so magnanimous, allowing them to be objects of curiosity."
And Yuliana nods, against their fine silk pillows, as Elisa agrees with her filial piety. "It was after the Republic treated her so cruelly," she says. "She began taking notice of Blue Cosmos... I thought she was just angry at the State, but I suppose I didn't understand her concerns at all. I'll have to speak with her, on this..."
She smiles, gazing only to her wife. "We must always look forward... you're right, Elya. We'll get them back... haha, and I can make sure they're blamed, too. Everyone will be talking about this... it won't be hard to seed some doubts." Would Yuliana use online media to radicalise innocent people? Of course she would, it used to be part of her job.
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
"Good," Elisa says, pleased. "...It is fine that it is difficult sometimes. So long as you succeed. And I will be there to help."
Not that she can go with Yuliana to every battle, nor would Yuliana seem to want her to... But she can guard her in many ways.
"Let's," Elisa agrees thoughtfully. "I suppose they have. But their technology could be of use. Yes..."
Yuliana explains Blue Cosmos's influence, and Elisa nods again. "I see. Yes, by all means. Tell me of what she says. I think it is best that it is a conversation between the two of you, and not me. My perspective... is different."
On humans.
"Excellent," Elisa says with a smile. "I am pleased to see you thinking ahead."
"...But now that I am awake," she suggests, "I wish you to think of me. Let us be late for our next meal..."
Elisa moves to kiss her wife.