2024-11-27: .we are proud of your life on the other sidE
- Log: .we are proud of your life on the other sidE
- Cast: Yuliana Kafim, Shari Loom
- Where: The Photon Power League, Fujinomiya City
- Date: 2024-11-27
- Summary: Yuliana goes to visit the PPL again, and meets up with Shari, this time. They talk about their history, the revelations of the previous timeline, and their plans for the future... and come to peace with each other, too.
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
Yuliana steals away to the Photon Power League again, today; she takes civilian transports instead of the Ghost, and she is disguised as one of her many fake identities, shrouded in a lilac headscarf and make-up. Her bomber jacket hides her tentacles, leading from a SNAFU ZAKU band shirt to a pair of nice warm slacks. (Not quite as warm as what she'd need at the Castle.) It's the perfect disguise.
Well, until she gets to the PPL, anyway. She lets them know who's really visiting.
She sits in a break room, having delivered the schematics she came to share; she's already messaged Shari to see if she'd like to meet, while she's here. Now she's just waiting for her, in a familiar kind of way.
...
She should have brought Plyushokrova.
<Pose Tracker> Shari Loom has posed.
It's best that Yuliana wanted to meet her at the Photon Power League; Shari's not prepared to explain to her younger brother why she's meeting an international criminal for a social call.
She probably should, though.
Shari's got a band shirt on too today, having opted for casual. This one is Empty Spiral! And she has on black jeans to go with it, and her usual dark makeup.
She also has a cup of coffee in her hand and happens to poke her head into the break room. "...Hey," she greets, and comes around the corner, moving to step closer to Yuliana. She has a tablet in one of her very large pockets, sticking out.
"...How's it..."
Pause. "Man, that's awkward. I'm kinda glad you reached out, though."
"Looks like we had more in common than we knew, huh?"
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
Yuliana is a very nice international criminal and all the kids love her! Except the kids in Sri Lanka. And the kids in the Arctic Circle. And...
Yes, fine, she won't come to her house. She's being considerate.
"Hey," Yuliana says, lifting a hand and a tentacle in greeting. She has very politely folded her frills up behind her ears, so she isn't making the entire PPL miserable for Shari to exist in.
"It's not weird unless you say it's weird," she wrinkles up her nose. "You made it weird!" And then she pauses, and waves her hand again, and goes, "ugh, I mean --"
No Plyushokrova, so she hugs one of the pillows of the couch to her stomach, instead. "... Elya told me about it," she says, quietly, looking away. "How she... was brainwashing me. And to spare you, too. She didn't really get into details, but I know how I reacted to other Whispered, so... I can guess what destroying you involved. And I suppose it must have been quite tense for you," she says, gaze veiled by her teal lashes, "knowing I was only being so nice due to force."
She shakes her head. "Well, that, and everything... I wasn't sure what to say, but I thought I ought to say... something."
<Pose Tracker> Shari Loom has posed.
Shari minds the Silence less than most of the Awakened, given how often it was associated with torment for her. ...On the other hand, she knows what it means now. So it's a mixed bag. She's not eager to delve into the Void with Yuliana, though.
"I made it weird," she agrees.
Shari watches Yuliana hug something, and can tell immediately she's troubled. So she comes over and sits on the couch across from Yuliana instead of making her deal with talking with someone standing up.
"Ah, yeah? That's surprising. But.. good. Maybe she won't do stuff like that to you more." A pause. "...Eh. Sometimes it was," Shari says, "Sometimes. But mostly I tried not to think about it, and even if you had to be nice, you were still nice." Another pause. "Except when it came to wrecking machinery."
Sigh.
"Yeah, I wanted to say something to you, too, but I wasn't sure what. ...I'm helping Elisa with her machine. Sorry I didn't stick around to visit when she took me to the Castle, but I had to get home after getting the schematics. My brother..."
She trails off.
"We've been through a lot, huh? I always... I always wondered if you guys would come after me. And now that you have, it's not what I expected at all."
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
"She said it was... how we got together, too," Yuliana admits, head canting to one side. At least Shari isn't looking down on her, now. "Since I kept denying her dark intentions for the world. She just kept erasing my memory until she found some way to say it I could accept. But... it was only four times. She only really did it... four times. She really didn't want to hurt me, you see."
She laughs, though it's a touch thin. "I guess I just didn't see that as harming you," she says, of her wrecks, "since it's how my own teacher taught me how to panelbeat. Voyevoda would bring this smoking totalled mess into the yard and say, there, you see the problem! My God, it was nothing but problems!" And Yuliana laughs, again, a little less awkwardly this time.
"It's fine, it's fine," she excuses Shari's rudeness, waving a hand again. "How is your brother?" A pause: "That's not some veiled threat," she clarifies. "I'm making conversation. And even if it's just the brainwashing, I've been worried for you in the wake of Britannia's crimes, anyway."
She shrugs, and adds: "I wished for you to live your life. Elya wasn't like to pursue you, when I felt that way. Haa... though I guess the feelings of that woman with my face cut the other way, just the same. I do not like what she did," she adds, "to the girl wearing your face. And it wasn't fair, you know, that you were blamed for it... when you're not even the same woman."
<Pose Tracker> Shari Loom has posed.
"...Yeah," Shari says. "She told me it was very important that she find you. But if she'd used mind control on you for everything, it would've eventually harmed your ability to think independently. ...She taught me the trick," Shari explains. "But I didn't like to use it. That's what the Orb was for."
Shari laughs back. "No, it's cool. It did make me a better engineer. It was just kind of annoying at the time, since I had classwork and stuff... But that didn't end up mattering, in the end."
Classwork, that is.
"I believe you," Shari says. "He's OK. And my boyfriend--there's no way Parminder didn't spy on me to tell you more about him--is doing good too. My brother's... adapting, to life outside Britannia. Fewer servants, see."
Worried for her... "Well, thanks."
A pause. "...So that's how it was. I know you 'had' to be nice, but... you really were kind, even if it was forced. So I guess that always..." She shakes her head. "Well, anyway. I'm glad you don't like it. ...But we're gonna do better this time. You're going to live, and the Gate is going to be closed."
She stops. "I'm going to live my own life. When we're done... I don't want to think about the Empress anymore. But I don't mind thinking about you and Elisa, now and then."
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
"She had no choice, either," Yuliana says, with a light scowl. "The Empress insisted she have me." She pauses, for a moment, and adds: "I've never been able to use those powers for myself... I suppose that's what got them into this mess to begin with."
What would the world have looked like, if the past Yuliana could have used blood magics herself?
"It's a shame you missed so much," she says, of class, but doesn't linger there. She does shake her head, though, when Shari mentions Parminder. "I specifically told him not to do so, you know." Which is... something!
She smiles, though that expression, too, is a little thin. "I do not wish to die," she says, a touch dulled, "but in the event I do -- or Elya does -- we've resolved not to continue the cycle. Though... the Empress would do so in a heartbeat, I suppose. Have you heard Her? She's going on so terribly much... I can even hear it through the Liminal Lattice. I worry what that portends..."
Yuliana shakes her head, looking down at the crossed bars of black and green on her wrists. "Well," she settles on, after a moment, "that's kind of you. But we will be gone. We will cross through and dwell in the Void... and it is better for this world if the veil is thin no more. It should not be so difficult, when I am gone, that walking wound -- but I will need you to take care with it, Sharochka. From this side."
<Pose Tracker> Shari Loom has posed.
Hm. "...I guess she didn't, huh? At that point... Well, it was startling. She wasn't the woman I met first after even just a few months using the Void's power-I guess that's because of the Empress." A shake of Shari's head. "Maybe that's best. Using the Void's power directly... it's hard on the body; it makes you less... human, I guess. More Other. That's why I use it through technology. Well, and it's just what I'm better at, I guess."
A shame... But Parminder? "Huh. I wonder if he listened," she reflects.
A thin smile, but--
"...I see. That's good, at least. But yeah, she would. I..." Shari nods, and gestures to her earrings. "These keep it to a dull roar. But even through these I hear her trying. She just can't take over my perceptions anymore." Shari goes back and forth, Her and her. She's not consistent about it; it depends on her mood.
"It portends bad," Shari says bluntly. "I don't know what's going to happen, but I don't expect anything good. But I'm better at this than the other Shari was. So if something happens... I'll equip everyone as they need."
But they'll be gone...
"...If anybody can reach you," Shari says, hesitantly, "It'll be me. And vice-versa. But I think you're right. It's better if we don't... stay in touch, unless it's absolutely necessary."
"I'll be careful. But it's like I always said. The Void isn't good or bad. It's just... part of reality. A sort of... unifying part of reality. That's why it does mind control. It aligns the will of the subject with the will of the user. It makes other things like it is."
"...So be careful, OK? Hold onto what matters to you."
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
"You guess?" Yuliana repeats, drily, lifting her tentacles to 'look' at her with those eye-spots on their raised crests. They lower back down to her lap, as she tilts her head. "In many ways, the Empress overwrote her, I suppose. She's... still trying to reconnect with what was taken," she adds, a touch delicately. (It's always a little nervewracking, sharing personal details about her very private wife, even to their niece.)
"I'd hope so," she sniffs, on Parminder. "We might be excommunicated, but I'm still his superior officer!"
Yuliana still puts the emphasis on Her. She can't escape, so easily, the Empress's omnipotence. ... but she's plotting to kill Her, anyway.
"I just hope," she frowns, "the Empress does not force the issue. Even you need time to make ready... but Her fury is greater than I have ever known." But the Empress has been furious before, and the only one to bear those effects have been them. What's different, now?
(Everything.)
She tilts her head, when Shari points out that she could reach her. "You could," she supposes, after a moment. "Though you may not recognise me, after a while. I'm fine with changing, of course... but no doubt it would be shocking. I wouldn't wish to frighten you." She hums, through her lips, looking down at one of those tentacles. "Still, with the possibility of a house call... I must impress on Elya the importance of keeping some avatar of humanity about us. Yes, that will be less confronting, I think," she nods, to herself, with a smile.
"But do not worry, we will be just fine. Unlike the Empress, we will have each other -- and unlike the Empress, we do not go consumed by grief. There's not the 'only thing which matters', now... that's why I think it will be different, this time."
<Pose Tracker> Shari Loom has posed.
"Heh. No, I don't need to hedge," she says, straightening a little and sipping her coffee with both hands. "She was different before and after. It's clear, in hindsight. At the time I tried to think about everything as little as I could, but..."
"Hm. Well, she was pretty cool before the Void happened. Like, a little of a mad scientist? But the cool kind. She liked kaiju."
She hopes so!! ...Shari assumes that Parminder did whatever was funniest. She's just not sure what that is.
"I do," Shari says, "But at least I have the Knight already. It has the latest in my Void technology. It's resistant to Void powers, too. Though... There's nothing that says I'll be able to get away from my work to help, or that I'll be around if something happens." A sigh. "Either way, I've developed some armaments for the PPL that should help."
She pauses. "She really is madder than ever. I Hear it, too. ...I wonder... will you and Elisa figure out the trick of communicating on that 'frequency'?"
But Shari might not recognize her after a while... "I think that the more you get away from your humanity, the less you'll remember what was important to you. Even if it's just to talk to me, I think it's a good idea to keep a human form around. If that's an option. But I figure it is. The Empress tore herself apart; you don't have to do that."
They'll be fine... "That's true," she admits. "It's..."
"Well, I hope so. Just... Well. I know Elisa has the willpower to keep her 'self' in the Void. I've seen it. So as long as you remind her that she wants to, I think you two will be OK."
A look down. "...I should... catch you up on my life, I guess. Before you go. I don't want to leave things unsaid."
"...But you're the only ones who can make sure she doesn't come back. Time has no meaning there, after all."
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
"In one of the realities of Goragon," Yuliana relates, mildly, "Elya and I were park rangers, tending the kaiju of a nature reserve. If things had been different..." She sighs, shaking her head. "... but that's just a 'what if', I suppose."
Parminder always does what's funniest. Which is why he doxxed a different Geraldo with the same name and told Yuliana all about him, only to reveal that she was furious for nothing and that Geraldo lived in Portugal.
That still doesn't count as invading Shari's privacy, though.
"That's true," Yuliana frowns. "She could strike at any time... I'll speak with Elya about keeping Emptear ready. Just... in case." And if she shudders, a little, thinking of that machine, pay it no mind. She can bear to be overwhelmed a little longer.
"We may," she supposes, "but we wish to grant you your Silence, from now on." She has to emphasise the word. She's obligated.
She tilts her head, as Shari muses on their eldritch nature. "Hmm... perhaps that's so. Though I don't feel any more detached from what I value now than I did before I left the Republic, either... but you're right. We needn't tear ourselves apart the same way."
Not that it might not happen over time, anyway. But they can at least keep a part of themselves recognisable to Earth. She nods, with an affirmative hum, when Shari suggests she remind her.
And she smiles, when Shari looks down. "I would like that," she says, gently. "You have been very important to us, Sharochka, though that importance was enforced by divine will. It's still true... and you're right. That's why we have to go." She hugs her pillow to herself, a little more tightly. "I did think, you know -- that the world has forgiven worse than us. If we wanted to stay, we could. But the Empress might remake Herself, in that dark part of existence, if no eyes watch Her. Without anyone there... She might threaten us again. I must be sure She stays dead. I'll not have my revenge completely until I do."
<Pose Tracker> Shari Loom has posed.
"Huh," Shari says. "You know? I could see it. ...Even if it's just a what if."
Gerardo's privacy is safe!! For now...
"Smart," Shari says. "You'll need your strongest. ...I mean, the Da Xukong 0's pretty great, but it's not as specialized in dealing with weird shit, you know? Elisa'll take care of you."
The Silence... Shari nods. "I'd... appreciate that," she says.
It definitely could happen. Shari can only speculate as to the long-term effects of living in the Void. As an engineer she's a little curious... but as a person she doesn't really want to know. She's seen enough of it in Elisa.
A gentle statement... Shari nods. "Mmm. Yeah." She nods. "Even Dr. Hell managed to come back and look good for a while," she says. "And selfishly... I want to be sure, too. So I appreciate it. It's my revenge too. It's ours. We'll all have it."
"...Well, OK. In that case... Me and my boyfriend. He taught me Spanish, and all about wine and stuff. Leina set us up, originally, and at first it was just this casual thing, but..."
"We got to like each other enough that we stuck with it after we caught feelings, I guess. It sounds weird to think of it that way now, considering."
"He helped me a lot. He knows about the Empress--I woke him up one night screaming because she was after me again. ...Well, more than one night, before I figured out these."
"You probably don't need to hear the gory details there, but... I'm happy. With the life I've started building. And now I've got my brother around--our parents... died, in the Junius 7 attack. So... He's my responsibility, now."
"I'm not just fighting to get Her out of my head anymore. I have... reasons, you know? People."
"You get that."
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
"I think we could have been happy," Yuliana muses, looking up at the ceiling. "Maybe we can make something like that, in the Void."
Let's be honest: Yuliana is quite sure Elisa would love Void Jurassic Park.
"She will," Yuliana smiles, on her wife's protection.
And they will leave Shari to her own whispers, when all is done.
"You're right," Yuliana nods, thoughtfully. "You have your own reasons to want Her gone for good, but you've your own life to attend to, here... I am glad that I can do this for you, plemyannitsa." She calls her her niece, lapsing into Zaftran, briefly.
But Shari has learned another language after all this! "Ah, te felicito," she congratulates her, smiling. "I remember you mentioning it, once before... but Leyasha did that, did she? Ha! She is quite the helpful girl." Yuliana frowns, as she adds: "... I wonder how I'll talk with her."
It's a brief aside, though, before she turns back to Shari. "I'm pleased he's been so helpful," she smiles. "Elya helped me the same way, when I would wake in the night. Though..." Her smile fades, as she frowns, again. "I am... sorry to hear about your parents. I never thought they were terribly good for you or to you, but I don't suppose you ever wanted them dead for the insult. And you are very young to be responsible for someone, that way. Koyan and Yaka will help you, all right?"
She shakes her head, smiling to her, again. "Because, yes. I get that. It's not simply for Elya, or even just for my own sake, or some sterile ideals I came up with as a girl... this is the world where my friends live. So I can't allow it to be destroyed... even if someone like me ended it all, last time."
<Pose Tracker> Shari Loom has posed.
"That'd be interesting," Shari ventures of Void Jurassic Park. "And you'll need things to do anyway. So I think it's a cool idea."
Just because she hasn't personally liked most of Elisa's kaiju very much--she's not big on locusts--doesn't mean it's inherently a bad thing, if they aren't threatening people.
Shari's own Whispers are enough. ...And dangerous enough.
"Yeah. There's a lot that's happened... but you'll be doing something good for me and for everybody else, too." Does it make it up to the people she's hurt? No, that's not how it works. But Shari thinks she can do good now, and it's... nice, to see her want to.
"Te debo una," Shari answers, debt and all. "I had an easier time picking it up thanks to you." A pause. "Hope it goes OK," of Leina.
But, "He has. And he's helping with Gareth, too--my brother. I dunno if he's up for that kind of commitment though... Helping out with a teenager when we're not really out of that age ourselves. But I guess I'll find out. It's nice, to have worries like that."
But her parents... Shari gives a wan smile. "Yeah. I didn't like them, but I didn't want them dead about it. But they will. They have. I live closer here, now. I had to quit school for a while, but I mean... I can go back any time. People would literally kill to have me at their schools."
She's modest, too! No, she doesn't treat that as a good thing, really.
But... "...I'm happy to hear that," Shari says. "You've had a big ride. Sometimes I've really appreciated you, and sometimes you've really freaked me out. ...But I'm glad that we can at least be on the same page now, for this."
"...And hey. Someone like me couldn't fix it last time. So together we'll do one better. For that girl, too. And for our friends."
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
"I am sure we will have no end of things to do," Yuliana assures Shari, "in a realm which embraces life so." They're not travelling to a sterile place, after all -- it just wasn't tended well by the last occupant.
It is -- in a way -- an attempt to make up for the people she hurt, anyway. She could find forgiveness from the world for what she has done... but those people, then, would have to forgive her themselves, or else find their own revenge.
Best to let the Concentrics of the world lie.
She smiles, when Shari says that she owes her one. "I'm pleased you picked something of it up," she says. "Language is a grand unifier, after all." Her desperation to connect was written, all this time, in her polyglot nature, able to speak to so many people on their own level.
"It is a lot for either of you," she agrees, "but it does not make the effort so far unworthy, if he can't cope with it all. Though," she adds, with a sly grin, "if you do decide he's broken your heart and you can't go on, I will of course look out for you! If you wanted that." IT'S A NICER WAY TO PUT IT, BUT YOU STILL SHOULDN'T OFFER TO ASSASSINATE PEOPLE, YULIANA!
(She's trying to be nice.)
"Though yes, yes, I suppose you wouldn't," she waves it off, a moment later. "Not after everything. Quite a lot of grief... well, when you decide to go back, I'm sure it will be of your own volition. You've been compelled enough."
She smiles, looking to Shari. "I am a woman of these extremes, I think. But... I am trying to look past myself. Not always -- successfully, I admit. But I look at that woman, and I realise... this is the better version of me. For all the people I've killed, or maimed, or left shell-shocked and shattered... you know, I thought I was quite damned, flourishing in that kind of role. But that woman, the last time around, she embraced the nihilism in her head and... she ended it all, for everyone. I realised I could be worse -- and at once I realised I did not wish to be. So yes, let us... do one better."
<Pose Tracker> Shari Loom has posed.
Embracing life... That's a way to put it, all right. Shari actually smiles at that.
Shari listens though, about Yuliana's love of unification. It makes sense, really. It's an important thing. "It is. And besides, you can kinda... You get to know people better when you can do it in their own language."
A lot, but the effort is worthy. That's a good reminder. But that sly grin--Shari makes a face like a frog. It's very flat. "Aunt Yuliana," she sighs, and it has the 'Aunt' in there in the tone, all right.
"..." She laughs, despite herself. "Please don't 'take care' of my boyfriend. ...But I guess it's nice to know I have... options?"
It's so surreal that she can't stay mad about it.
"Yes," Shari answers. "I have."
But she smiles back. And then her expression turns more thoughtful, and then... surprised. The better version...
"Whoa," Shari realizes. "You're right. You are the better version, by... really, really far."
And the difference was...
"Hm."
"Yeah. That counts for a whole lot, the choice." She nods. "We'll put that ghost to rest, too."
"It took me a while to look past myself, too. It felt for so long like my pain was the most important thing, was the only thing I could focus on or care about. But I've learned otherwise. I think... you'll like who you are, when you can see past yourself."
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
Maybe that love of unification is in her genes, these days. "You're exactly right," Yuliana nods, encouragingly. "There are nuances which don't translate, outside one's native language."
Yuliana wrinkles her nose, though, at the tone -- but she has to laugh when Shari does, too. "All right, all right! That's all I meant. I would not leave you to suffer such a thing unsupported." Surely it's worse to be capable of killing a man and not offer to do it!
At least Shari isn't mad at her about it.
She blinks, though, at Shari's thoughtfulness. "Huh? D--don't sound so surprised by that!" She yelps when she hears that 'whoa', holding up her hands and her tentacles and waving them about as if to stop her right there. "But -- but yes, it's really no contest," she adds, calming again. And her choices... matter, huh?
She smiles, at that.
"It's... difficult, when you are in pain," she admits, rubbing at her arm. "It's hard to look anywhere else, particularly when it felt like it was me or them. I still struggle with those thoughts... but I guess a lot of people really don't want to see me dead." A lot of people do, but, well, internationally wanted criminal. It can't be helped. "But... that's a very mature way of looking at it, Sharochka. I wish you did not have to grow up so quickly... but you are a fine young woman, now."
She smiles to her, gesturing outwards, with a hand. "I do not know where your life will take you," the oracle says, "but I know that you will do well. I am the better version of me, but you will be better than I was, just the same... you did not deserve this fate, but you have grasped it all the same. And we are proud of you, plemyannitsa. Both of us."