View source for 2023-07-27: .you're gonna need that rosetta stonE

*'''Log:''' .you're gonna need that rosetta stonE
*'''Cast:''' [[Character :: Yuliana Kafim]], [[Character :: Anita Rosetta]]
*'''Where:''' Gelato Storefront, Orb Union
*'''Date:''' 2023-07-27
*'''Summary''': ''Yuliana is in Orb to drop off a gift -- and Anita finds her enjoying her favourite snack. The day quickly grows less wonderful for Yuliana as Anita asks some very simple and direct questions about Alma and Rena. Yuliana tells Anita how to save Alma, and why she tried to destroy Rena, but there are some things it's more difficult to say. Even so, Anita's able to learn an awful lot from their tormentor just by virtue of being an Oldtype, isn't she?''
----

[[Category:Logs]]
[[Category:Phase 1, Turn 3]]

 <Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
<poem>

        OST: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=924dVfSw3Rk Megadeth - Train of Consequences

        Yuliana has a ''wanzer'' to deliver, which explains why she's hanging out by her drop point, now. As it happens, the neutral point arranged to exchange it... is in ''Orb,'' rather than Britannian territory.

        She's not at the drop point right now, though -- and she's disinclined to say whether that's because she's already committed the exchange or because she arrived early. No, her ''current'' occupation is far more innocuous: seated outside a gelato bar, spoon buried in a cup of passionfruit and mango. A brown bomber jacket matches the newsboy's cap on her head. Sharp-winged shades across her eyes obscure that awful scar down the left side of her face. With dark slacks and a green blouse peeking out, she could be any normal person.

        A normal person with a magnificent rainbow scarf tied about her neck, naturally, a lovely purple bracelet on her wrist and a rich-in-all-senses rose gold wedding ring about her finger, all studded with onyx and emerald and diamond. Behind the bangs swept to either side of her face, her ears are pierced with rose gold hoops, too. It's ''so'' important to accessorise.

        (The contrast between Zaftran gold and the rainbow scarf is a deliberate statement.)

        Anyway, she's happily enjoying her gelato, as if she ''weren't'' an internationally-wanted ultra-criminal. The sun is shining, the sky is blue... here tucked away in this well-kept secret of Orb, she's not even bothered by all the traffic of the main streets. There's only ''locals,'' milling around, here. What a comfortable atmosphere!


</poem>
 <Pose Tracker> Anita Rosetta has posed.
<poem>

A comfortable, pleasant atmosphere for normal people. And there's another one now, casually sliding her way into the seat across from Yuliana.

"This seat taken? Cool." Anita says after the fact, without giving time for an answer. She's just exited the gelato bar herself, as evidenced by the cone topped with scoops of peach and vanilla held gently in her left hand so as not to crush it. They know her around Orb already, so she doesn't bother with concealing gloves - the gleaming metal on fully display.

She's dressed casually today, as is her custom when she's not on duty, in her usual hoodie and jeans combo. She leans back comfortably as if she's fully welcome here and offers her table mate a smile.

"Fancy meetin' you here. I've been meaning to talk with you about a mutual friend." She says. Still with that same smile and casual tone, she gets right into it. "...What'd you do to Alma?"


</poem>
 <Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
<poem>

        "What a thing to ask after the fact," Yuliana remarks, dryly, after Anita's slipped in. "But worry not -- you are welcome." She isn't. Yuliana smiles to her, anyway, this poor lost lamb all taken by the Ra Mari II's wolves.

        Yuliana looks at her, endless green eyes peeking out above those shades, and sees a pity.

        She takes another spoonful of mango and gelato, reflecting on the difference between the mangos ''Orb'' cultivates and the ones back home. (Did you know there's so much variance, between mangoes? Yuliana knows.) She is quiet for long and deliberate beats, as she eats that mouthful, though Anita's asked her a question.

        "We took her for our own," she settles on, finally, "to carve a wound into Lilith, who -- I do hope you've heard -- tried to ''kill me'' at my ''own wedding.'' Do you know she shot my dearest Elisa through the ''heart,'' when she interspersed herself?" Lightly, she adds: "Not that such a thing would stop her. My ''boyevaya podruga'' is a wonderous woman." Her 'combat friend', literally speaking -- the woman who meets all life's challenges beside her.

        Yuliana sniffs, a shade haughty. "I suppose it's true we'd subverted her before then -- but it wasn't ''serious,'' you know. All we did was suggest that she was my ''friend'' -- to help inform me on the attacks ''your friends'' were plotting against me, I hope you realise," she pouts, and scowls. "If you and Renalle and your lot weren't so cruel to me, this wouldn't have ever had to happen! Allot your blame where it ought to lie." Not, implicitly, with ''Yuliana.'' She's always been allergic to things being ''her fault.''

        "But you needn't worry," she goes on, waving her spoon at Anita. "I'm dissatisfied with how things ended up, with her -- I was never terribly interested in dooming Alma for her own sake. The machinations are already in motion... presuming you've the capacity to save her." And she stabs her spoon into her gelato again, to take another bite, as if to deliberately spare her from having to elaborate too quickly.


</poem>
 <Pose Tracker> Anita Rosetta has posed.
<poem>

"Glad to hear it." Anita replies brightly. Fortunately, she's a polite, patient listener, working on her cone as she waits. She's always been very patient, after all - even as long and deliberate as that silence gets. And she listens, as Yuliana explains what happens. Anita frown dips, just a little.

"...Sure. I heard, yeah. That ''was'' out of line. Barging into your wedding and shooting your wife. But don't think that excuses you from stealing someone ''else'' to get back at her." Anita replies. And then Yuliana continues, admitting to have subverted Alma before that point. Anita, having eaten her gelato, finishes off the cone with a ''CRUNCH'', resting her now-hand on the edge of the table.

"Oh, it wasn't ''serious''. I guess that makes it okay. Just a little mental subversion between friends, right?" Anita replies with a smile - then hesitates for a moment, a thoughtful expression crossing her face. "...Or, fake friends, I guess."

She frowns, then.

"...You don't think, ''maybe'', that had something to do with it?" She asks pointedly. Attacks her friends were planning... and then Yuliana continues. Anita's expression goes flat.

"We were ''cruel'' to you, huh? Guess it's only fair to apologize, then. For... existing? Making you blackmail Rena, for... what? What did she even ''do''?" Anita asks. "...Seriously. I'm asking, here, 'cause if there's one thing Rena isn't, it's 'cruel'."

But Rena isn't why she's here, as much as she enjoys talking about her. Yuliana assures her she needn't worry.

"You know, when ''you'' say that it only makes me worry more, right?" Anita replies... and then frowns. "...'Machinations'. What did you ''do''?"

And... save her from what?


</poem>
 <Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
<poem>

        "Yes, it ''does'' make it okay! Rather, it was ''necessary,''" Yuliana shoots back, when Anita smiles past that emphatic ''crunch.'' She sounds terribly defensive about the whole affair. Perhaps given how -- "It was an unreasonable escalation!", Yuliana spikes that pointed question -- everyone but her is in wrong.

        Emphatically.

        Yuliana scowls, stabbing her gelato with her spoon, mixing that mango and passionfruit together in the process. She broods through Anita's line of questioning, only to answer her last question, first: "Oh, only the ''terrible crime'' of setting her free. I'm sure you hate me for ''that'' one, too."

        Her expression is dark, as she takes another spoonful. Munch.

        "She ''taunted'' me," Yuliana says, at length, and not without pain.

        "The minute -- the ''minute'' I walked from that hellhole -- the Institute," she explains, wire-taut, that same place Permanence escaped from, "she kept ''bludgeoning'' me with all the lovely ''choice'' I ought to have! As if I hadn't been set up to fail in Torrington... as if I hadn't just dealt with the failure! And there she is, asking if I'm planning to ''take'' my ''stress leave,'' as if it weren't some faint excuse for disappearing me for some gentle ''re-education!'' Telling me to ''relax,'' as if I hadn't just heard Dr. Tian tell me the same damn thing! You know it's no kindness, I hope?!"

        She slams her cup down on the table; the remaining gelato jumps, inside it, part of the snack all but leaping upon the side of her fingers. "And then -- and then she tells me she wants to make her own decisions, be her own person, do what she can to make the world better! Right after I -- you know Pham ''wanted'' me to ruin things in Torrington?! That was his whole damn plan! Wind me up and have me sabotage the mission so they'd need the REA's ''support'' rebuilding! I thought I was going in there to save people, but all that time, ''all that time'' --"

        Somewhere along the line, her eyes teared up. She's not dignifying that with acknowledgement at all.

        "A-and then she tells me to ''accept myself,'' and ''then'' she tells me ''not'' to accept something dark and terrible, and --"

        Lips curled back, Yuliana lifts her hand, wounded, to suck that passionfruit from her fingers as if she'd bloodied her fist. "She mocked me," she insists, again, hotly, tense. "She ''mocked'' me. I had to go right back inside... r-right back t o them..."


</poem>
 <Pose Tracker> Anita Rosetta has posed.
<poem>

"'Necessary', huh. Funny word, that, the way it makes complications disappear. It was 'necessary', so it was okay to ruin a kind woman's life." Anita replies dully. "'Unreasonable', huh. And what would ''you'' have done?"

And Yuliana says she's committing the terrible crime of setting her free. Anita rolls her eyes.

"I'm not gonna drop to my knees in gratitude when it was ''your'' fault in the first place she got that bad." She replies, pointing at her. "You mentioned 'the capacity to save her'. What did you mean by that?"

And then, Yuliana explains. Rena... taunted her. Anita listens intently, her frown steadily growing. She doesn't say anything. She watches as Yuliana grows more impassioned - tears even forming at her eyes. Anita doesn't even flinch when Yuliana slams her cup onto the table. And she's quiet for a moment longer as she trails off. Anita, after a moment... exhales, leaning back.

"...Look. The Institute... It was awful. No one should've had to go through that. And no one shoulda been used like you did. And I'm sorry you did." Anita replies, her tone genuine. "But none of us ''knew'' that. We ''couldn't'' have known until right before we sieged the damn place. ''Rena'' couldn't have known - she couldn't have known what you went through, and what your superiors were demanding of you and using you for. She wasn't ''mocking'' you - that was her trying to encourage you and treat you kindly. ...And you took that as an offense worthy of trying to ruin her life over."

She shakes her head.

"Does that sound ''cruel'', to you?" She asks.


</poem>
 <Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
<poem>

        "I wouldn't have stormed her ''wedding,'' that's for damn sure," Yuliana sniffs, still quite huffy.

        And, "tch," she isn't in an explaining mood about Alma, immediately. She can only explain one thing at a time.

        (Really, even that much generous. Frequently she's explaining ''zero'' things, even when she's talking a lot and fighting a lot. Anita really does get special treatment, with the way she ''doesn't'' assault Yuliana's eyes.)

        She scowls, bristling, as she picks up her spoon -- miraculously, it ''hasn't'' yet been cracked in half -- and shoves another spoonful of gelato into her mouth. If her eyes are blinking too much, behind her sunglasses, never mind that. Her cheeks aren't damp. The shine is just a trick of the light.

        "I ''had'' to do something," Yuliana says, all a-grumble. "No one knows anything that's going on... if it's on the inside, it may as well not ''exist.'' And I ''know'' that's no good," she insists, with hot, jagged emphasis, "why do you ''think'' I keep telling my people their mind's their sanctuary? I wish I could believe it! But do I ''look'' like I have any goddamn inner peace?!"

        Which might explain something about the Silent Calling, and what Yuliana's ''trying'' to do. Anyway.

        "And, what... you're saying I'm someone who can't be treated kindly? Because I took it out on that fucking scar on existence? She should have ''known,''" Yuliana insists, entirely unfair. "It's not as if the Republic's crimes are all ''secret.'' Why was it up to ''me'' to tell you? I was very well busy being tortured, excuse you! There are some things I can't -- I've never been able to just --" Why is it hard to choke that out, all lodged in her throat? Yuliana won't examine it, "I ''wasn't able to say anything!''" That's better, all rising with its hot anger.

        She hasn't answered any of Anita's questions with a ''coherent'' response, of course. Her thoughts jumble to alarm, faced with what should be a simple question. Her justifications, then, are just as confused, all edged in desperation.

        She didn't do anything wrong.

        Yuliana stabs her gelato again. It's becoming rather more liquid than solid, under all this abuse. "... you know, I'm really a kind woman," she says, scowling, deeply. "My Elisa's always talking about how gentle and generous I am... it's not ''my'' fault if you can't appreciate that. And just as she said, I'm sure you'll find foul in our solution..."

        Anita ''did'' ask about Alma, back there. Finally, Yuliana loops back around to it. "You know, I call her Rusalka so she can separate herself from this chapter of her life," Yuliana sniffs -- and this one's a bit more of a sniffle, but never mind that. She takes another bite of half-melted gelato. It's pathetic. "And it wasn't ''easy,'' figuring out a solution which wouldn't leave her a mindless husk. You can't just gut the memories from someone -- well, ''we'' can't, anyway." And Yuliana believes that. Elisa said so, after all. "She wants to fight, so of course she'll fight."

        (She can still talk about what Alma 'wants', with that vague air of self-delusion.)

        "When that happens, it's in your hands. If you wish to save her, you must put the work in. Only when her life is in your hands will she have a path forward. That's simply how the magic works. If you're not able to fight for her -- if you can't reach her, then -- there's nothing we can do."


</poem>
 <Pose Tracker> Anita Rosetta has posed.
<poem>

Anita doesn't respond to that - she's gone as far as she needs to, at that point, and in response to the 'tch', she simply shrugs. She's fine with giving her the time she needs to get back to it.

"...Nah. Not really." She says, of Yuliana's inner peace. She has, if only for a brief moment, seen the world the way she sees it. Her people... it does explain, a little. She frowns, though, and leans back, folding her arms in front of her.

"I didn't say ''that''. I'm just saying you don't make it ''easy''. Not that it'll stop some people from trying." Anita replies with a shrug. "...And why should she have?"

Yuliana works her way through something. She wasn't able to say anything, huh... Anita frowns. Well. It ''does'' explain a lot, too.

"I bet they didn't make it easy. The last thing people like that want is people outside knowing how bad things really are." Anita comments - and then, she frowns.

Yuliana insists she's a kind woman - how Elisa is always talking about how gentle and generous she is.

"...It kind of ''is'' your fault. You haven't exactly given me any reason to believe otherwise. I'm sure she believes that - but I mean, she's your ''wife'', so..." Anita points out. But, Yuliana continues about Alma.

"...That's why, huh?" Anita states more than asks, and frowns as she continues. "...Well. I guess I'm glad at least you thought about that much. Still... it's gotta come down to fighting, huh...?"

Anita massages the back of her neck.

"...I don't like it. But if that's the way it's gotta be, then I'll fight anything that gets in the way of us saving her - even if it's Alma herself." Anita says, shaking her head. "One way or another, I'm not letting this go any further than it has. She doesn't deserve this."


</poem>
 <Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
<poem>

        "Some things are just..." Private, Yuliana almost says, before she remembers her warning to Alma and firmly shuts her own jaw. The protest goes to silence, in the wake of Anita's words about what people like ''that'' want.

        It feels wretched. How could Anita make her feel this way?!

        "Shut up," Yuliana hisses, when Anita insists it ''is'' her fault. She has plenty of justifications for why it ''isn't.''

        (She thinks they are justifications.)

        She finishes her gelato, and shoves it back down onto the table. "I --" Yuliana starts, the word a touch ragged. She stops. She composes herself.

        "I didn't ''want'' this," she snaps, and the words are more angry than wounded, now. Better. "I didn't know -- just what I was suggesting, back then. People don't ''know'' they've been brainwashed, as I'm sure ''you'' well know." Whether that's a jab at Anita's role in the Ra Mari II, or a jab at her concern over Alma -- well, both options are bad. "I didn't know why it brought me discomfort. And I thought she deserved it, since she was such a wretched scar in the world. They ''told'' me she deserved it, you know. Dr. Devi was ''quite'' pleased to have me focus my anger elsewhere!" Dr. Devi, of course, being the Institute's head scientist. Permanence had nothing good to say about her.

        ... or her witchcraft, because according to Permanence, the 'sick shit' Divya Devi got up to when creating Ypotryll was nothing less than ''magic.''

        "But, she... it got out of hand," Yuliana insists. "It's not like Alma ever even did that much, just..."

        Her lips twist. Her hand slams down on the table, too, as she pushes herself up with too many sharp motions.

        "I don't want her around any more, all right?! Grasp her, or leave her to rot! It's not my concern! If you don't believe in yourself, if you can't fight for what you believe in, you don't deserve ''anything!'' How else will you appreciate it?!"

        Elisa's words, from her lips. Let it be some comfort, to her, as she turns and begins to storm off. Stupid Anita...!!!


</poem>
 <Pose Tracker> Anita Rosetta has posed.
<poem>

Yuliana doesn't finish the sentence, but Anita can guess what she was going to say. And when she hisses at her to shut up, Anita only shrugs. Yuliana insists she didn't want this, and that she didn't know what she was suggesting.

"Are you saying you regret it?" Anita asks - though she raises an eyebrow at Yuliana's pointed jab at her. She can think of a few things that can be referring too - she certainly wouldn't be the first to wonder about her role amongst her crew.

Dr. Devi... Anita frowns, at that. She knows the name only by reputation, and ''what'' a reputation it is.

"...Yeah. I don't doubt that." Anita comments.

...It got out of hand. Anita watches her - and she doesn't flinch, when Yuliana slams her hand on the table.

"You don't have to worry about that." Anita replies with a shake of her head as Yuliana begins to storm off. "I don't plan on leaving her, so that really only leaves one option, y'know?"

With that said, Anita stands up as well, gathering Yuliana's abandoned things. The least she can do is take care of this so the staff doesn't have to come out and retrieve it themselves.


</poem>
 <Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
<poem>

        "No! Yes. I don't know." Yuliana's response to that question -- whether she regrets what happened -- is, if anything, a shade ''lost.''

        She doesn't stick around to explain just why she'd struggle with it so much, either... despite it being, like all Anita's questions, theoretically simple to answer. Whether Anita's going to save Alma... tcha! As if she cares, either way!

        She leaves her trash behind, in her anger. It's a good thing Anita's here to clean that up, too...
</poem>