2024-12-29: .i will choose my magnificence with yoU
- Log: .i will choose my magnificence with yoU
- Cast: Yuliana Kafim, Elisa Kafim
- Where: The Silent Castle, Kaffeklubben Island
- Date: 2024-12-29
- Summary: Yuliana and Elisa wake, the morning after the Empress tried to break through reality, and revel in their success. They feel good about their future -- even though their future will be such a drastic change. They will welcome others beside them, just the same... those who have made the choice with open eyes, at least.
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
Emptear set down, and Elisa's magics sunk her back into the ocean. They offered #2 what solace they could, and a bed for each of them, should they like them. (They are, of course, free to leave when they like.) But Yuliana was shaking and weary, when her blindfold was lifted from her eyes; she had to rest, and so did her wife.
Atop the East Wing's keep is the Mistress's domain. Their four-poster bed has its drapes drawn, shielding them from the light of the crackling fireplace -- the only light here, since the gaslamps have all been turned off, and the sun will not rise for some time yet. In a liminal place like this, it's impossible to say precisely how late or early it is... only that one rises after she has slept.
Alarm clocks are for other people.
Yuliana grumbles, still half in her own slumber, as she tosses and turns in Elisa's arms. Through the frill at her ears, she may know just why Yuliana can't sleep: the Empress is loud to screaming, now, Her rage shaking at the deafening shroud between them. She cannot reach her -- but Her feelings still can.
She wouldn't be so angry if it wasn't working.
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
Elisa contested the Empress's will, and--while not alone--came out the stronger. It is good practice for what will come next... what will come next, and require her to draw upon the Power she has seeded throughout the world.
She saw to Yuliana first, but then she had to rest as well. Elisa does not sleep under most circumstances, certainly not these, but she has reclined, has taken respite with Yuliana in her arms to replenish herself.
If Yuliana did not wake on time, Elisa could wake her. But that is not the problem, as it happens...
Instead, Yuliana tosses and turns, and Elisa opens her eyes again, looking at her wife.
"The Empress is enraged even further now," Elisa comments gently.
"...Because we are winning, my darling. She thought to test us before we could finish our preparations. And failed."
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
Yuliana's eyes scrunch up, at first, before they open; she takes in Elisa's voice, the way her cool skin takes on the warmth of the furs over them without offering her own heat, the crackling of the fireplace in the background.
"Elya," she breathes, as she shifts again, to turn towards her, curling into her. She lifts a hand, from beneath those warm furs, to reach up and trace the lines of her cheek. Once, and once again: "Elyula..." as she orients to her, as she wakes.
She is enraged, and they are winning.
Yuliana smiles, and it is a thing as warm as it is viciously satiated, a shark tasting blood. "She is so angry," she says, gazing to her wife from her silken pillow. "Abjectly furious. I realised in that fight, Elya, that She was so angry She no longer even wished to possess me -- only to erase me. She rejects me, now, as an insufficent heir to Her dead wife... but She could not kill me. Nor any of us! Now She tosses Her things against the walls, screaming rage, in impotence!"
Her smile widens, as she agrees: "We are winning!"
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
Elisa is cool, yet. There are some things that do not change, even knowing the 'why' of them.
"Yes," Elisa answers, looking into Yuliana's endless green eyes, and she notices that warmth as well as that viciousness, and treasures both. "Is that so...? Perhaps it is, then. That she has gone so far..."
A small smile, wicked and pleased, creeps onto Elisa's face. "Indeed. She cannot. Not with our combined power. ...But we must strengthen our own, as well. For when we reach the Void."
A pause. "...But She is sloppy yet. She could have had more success had she given Her new shard more time." Elisa uses the capitalization this time, but mocking. She is not beneath the Empress, now. "...But instead all She could invest in it was rage. Had it taken the time to gather power, as I have, perhaps it could have been a greater threat. But instead, it was over in a single battle."
"We shall reject Her. And show the folly of discounting Us."
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
Even knowing the 'why' of it, Yuliana is still a little too pleased to be getting one over her enemies -- but could anyone blame her, after what the Empress put her through?
(And the rest of the world, yes, them too.)
"You were protecting me too, Elya," Yuliana smiles, leaning forward and tilting her face to place a kiss to her lips, in appreciation. She keeps her face close, even when she pulls away. "I felt it. She could not fling Her curses to me, thanks to your interference. What Power She could wield was limited to what She had vested in Her shard..."
And it was sloppy.
Yuliana still has a healthy -- respect? -- caution for a God; she knows she is still mortal, yet. (For now.) She still speaks of the Empress as if She were important, but her address lacks that breathless regard she once held.
"I think that She has fallen further to Her madness," Yuliana says, "ever since I began to pull away from Her. No longer does it feel as if She thinks clearly. Always it is anger, reactive, building upon itself as it echoes through empty halls. The wisdom She showed in your genesis is lost to Her, now. Surely She takes to isolation as poorly as I."
She hums, thoughtfully, through pursed lips. "Good," she decides, a moment later. "She trapped me in a bell jar so that She could be the one to save me -- it serves Her right to feel that same distance before She dies."
Yuliana laughs, the sound cracking, a little, with the audacity of it all. "I'm not beholden to Her!" She cries, relief and joy and shock and all, though it's hardly the first time she's said it. "We're not beholden to Her! Isn't it wonderful, Elya?! We're stronger than Her!"
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
"I was," Elisa confirms. "On this Side of the veil, I hold the cards. I know this world; I have walked its forests, trod upon its ocean floor. Until She comes through Herself, She has no hope to stand against Me so long as there is someone to keep Her sendings occupied."
Elisa... well, isn't exactly respectful of the other divinity in play, at this point. But caution is fair enough. For now.
"That would make sense," Elisa says. "...In trying to focus on things She can barely perceive, of course She would grow mad. One can accustom oneself to isolation... but not while constantly pursuing another."
"...Not that we shall have to. We shall have each other."
To think that Yuliana finds her 'good'... In this madness. It makes Elisa smile at her laughter.
"It is wonderful," Elisa agrees, and kisses Yuliana again, briefly but fiercely. "We are stronger. And We..."
She considers.
"I am glad," she says, "That you have chosen to come as well. You could do otherwise, now. I would not stop you. ...And so I appreciate it more, rather than less, that you will accompany me."
"I thought I needed to hold on so tightly... But with your own Strength also holding me, we are stronger than ever yet."
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
"You have worked so hard to develop your own strength," Yuliana smiles, to her wife, "not content to rest on your laurels. It would have been so easy to reign as the largest fish in the small pond of mortality -- but your ambitions would not have you leashed so. I am so proud of you, Elya."
She smiles, as well, when Elisa speaks on just why her other Self would grow mad. "That's right," she says. "We won't be alone."
Yuliana closes her eyes, delighting, for a moment, in kissing her wife -- all too brief, and all the sweeter for it. She makes a note to meet her ferocity, soon enough. But...
For now, at least, she's more occupied with Elisa's heart. She strokes her cheek, fingers trailing along her cheekbones in a gentle rhythm. "I know," she says, and her voice is gentler too. "I really do have a choice... and the choice I make is to be with you, my sweet Elyula. Forever."
Her cheeks flush, just slightly, with the warmth of her own feelings -- enough to warm her, even in the chill of the Void. "It was hard to find our truth, under all Her demands. But I'm so happy when I'm with you, Elya. I don't regret promising myself to you... nor taking you for my own. We're magnificent. It's going to be a big change, so I admit I'm nervous, but... I'm excited, too. I wasn't looking forward to old age, knowing I'd be leaving you... but now our lives can change together."
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
"And so we see how important it was," Elisa answers. "...There is much yet that I could not accomplish alone. But perhaps that is well enough. For I can accomplish... our intentions. And we shall have more power yet, in the Void."
She is proud. Elisa smiles. "I am pleased that you would say this."
But they won't be alone. And, well...
Elisa's heart does exist, and it is more relevant now than it once was. "...Good," Elisa says, staring into Yuliana's eyes still.
She sees that flush, but she hears her words more. "We are," Elisa agrees. "...And we did find it. Yes, of course. Nerves are... to be expected."
"For it will be a change for me, as well. That is true. ...I am glad, not to lose you. To have my battle companion with me for all days."
"I love you, Yuliana. ...We shall make a grand place for our Selves."
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
"It is well enough," Yuliana agrees. "No woman is an island. I know that more than most," for she's still a remarkably self-centred woman, with thoughts of how unique her insight is, despite the work she's done. "Even when they tried to make me so, messages in bottles still came through. Their strength will bolster yours... as mine will."
Elisa is pleased, and Yuliana is, too.
She gazes into her wife's eyes, happy to lose herself in Elisa's own avarice. (She's not lost, after all.) "Boyevaya podruga," she names her combat friend, "I will thank the Empress for one thing alone -- that She sent you to me. I am so in love with you! All this heartache -- it is worth it, to me, that it brought us together this way." She sighs, her frills curling, behind her ears. "Of course I wish it had not been so dreadfully hard... but if the alternative were to not have met you, I would do it all again."
Her own eyes shine, with all the light of her love. The Empress would have extinguished that light; She failed.
"Let us make a grand home, my love," she says, softly. "A place where we can live. Let us fill it with our children, and teach them the tales of the world which preceded them. Ours is a realm of life... it need not be so quiet."
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
Yes, Yuliana would know it. But it is still somewhat alien to Elisa, who is growing accustomed to the idea of worthwhile allies moreso over time. Still, she is growing accustomed to it. "They have their own reasons for opposing Her. These... human notions allow us greater power than we would have alone."
But Elisa knows the meaning of the phrase Yuliana uses so often. One thing... "Hmm... You are so gracious," Elisa comments of what to thank. It is worth it... "Well, I would not change what has Been myself. Not since it led me to you. ...There is still much She must answer for however, even if we consider much of it 'for the best'."
As for the things they did, well. This is not about that.
"Our children," Elisa reflects further. "...Yes," she says. "A fine idea. There is no reason that We should stay alone."
Though speaking of alone, "...Though I think I am still willing to allow those of our Calling who wish it to Ascend. ...Some will wish to carve out their own homes. But I am willing to accept those who would prefer to be vassals."
"...But children. This, yes... This is altogether wonderful. Let us do it."
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
Elisa may be somewhat alien, but Yuliana welcomes her into her family, even so. (Which also, broadly speaking, is 'humanity'.) "They made their own decisions," she agrees. "And there's power in that." It's an explanation her wife can understand; she's an apt translator.
"Yes," she says, as she strokes her wife's face. "There will be a reckoning, and She will face what She has done. We will kill Her, Elya, and salt Her from Her fields." And what they did...
... well, Yuliana's set at least one thing to rights. And she still thinks that leaving is the kinder option, considering the people she's -- hurt. Though... she does think, here, of Leina's grief. Her frills wilt, for a moment. The poor girl.
She wouldn't be happy if they took her with them, though.
She smiles again, though, when she thinks of their future. "I will not be bound by the flaws of my mortal body, in that place," she says, warmly. "Finally... I'll be able to give you children of our own, Elya. Since the boys are staying here, we wouldn't want our new home to be empty..."
She tilts her head, against their pillow. "I've been spreading the message," she says, of their Callers. "For those who wish to stay -- Magallanica has offered them amnesty. They will not be punished for remaining in reality. Those who would still choose another realm, knowing it to be a one-way trip... they will gather their own Power, around them. We will be in conversation. The Void will not be a gravesite any longer." What a dismal realm the Empress built, all blood and roses!
"It will be wonderful," she sighs, still smiling. "It really will."
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
"There is. A power I had previously discounted..."
But indeed, what they will do, they will do. But Elisa does not say more of it for now; she instead considers Yuliana's thinking there, the way she wilts. "...Is something the matter?"
A pause. "Yes... We shall create them together. We indeed would not want such a thing." A pause. "Though the gifts we have given will remain. I should hope Maksim's familiar serves him well, despite the fact that I am leaving."
Spreading the message... "Good," she says. "Magallanica is a place of strength. It has shielded itself from the whims of the other mighty, and continued despite that. But those who will gather Power... yes."
"It shall be well," Elisa says. "I..."
"I look forward to it. With you."
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
"I just thought of Leyasha," Yuliana sighs, and not for the first time. "You remember? She is terribly upset that I'm leaving... that's why I asked her to safeguard Sokrova, for us." She's already sent him along to her, in advance of them leaving. Her evil plan is, of course, to help Leina adjust to the idea a little more gradually. "I suppose she feels it to be a punishment, that I go to another place, when she would prefer I made amends in this world. I told her of our concerns over the Empress's recovery, that we needed to be on the other side to ensure She stays gone... but she is a girl ruled by her heart, and her heart has only known people like me to die. It is like a death, to go and to not return." Yuliana worries at her bottom lip, for a moment; it does bother her. "I feel for her," she says, "but I will not change my decision, either. Perhaps I am wronging her one more time, in her life... but what I can do for her is to offer her some better memories, before I leave."
It's still a little hard to step outside herself and consider how Leina feels about it all, but she does, at least, make the effort.
She smiles, though, to think of Maksim and his snake. "Swordtooth will protect him for the rest of his days," she says, quite sure of herself. "It is a relief, really, that we can offer him this. The poor boy was beside himself... but he is too young to make such a decision for himself. We had to be responsible parents, no? Our parents will care for them, I know. And... yes, Magallanica will be strong enough to protect them."
Yuliana leans forward, to kiss her wife, again.
"I'm looking forward to being with you," she murmurs. "And we're still together, now..."