2024-02-05: What Comes After (Nothing)

• Log: What Comes After (Nothing)
• Cast: Yuliana Kafim, Elisa Kafim, Kaworu Nagisa
• Where: Stockholm, Kingdom of Scandinavia
• Date: 2024-02-05 (ICly June 0098)
• Summary: Yuliana coaxes her wife out into the world -- using the power of disguises. There they meet Kaworu, and explain their situation and intentions to him... until he asks what happens after the Way to the Void is opened, and Yuliana is shaken by her lack of answer.

---

<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.

        The city of Stockholm is still quite nippy in June -- but it tends to hang around fifteen to twenty degrees (59-68F, if you're Britannian), which makes it positively balmy compared to home.

        How did these two lovebirds get here? This is not about that. They're here, and one of them is a brown-skinned multiracial woman draped in fine wool and silk, greens and blues and a few striking purples to match the hair of the woman beside her. She's wearing proper hijab, today, head wrapped in a kerudung style, with a pair of sunglasses to ward off the sunlight streaming down into the city. She is quite scarred, under there, but enough of her is covered that it's not immediately obvious how much.

        This is, of course, Aishah Strand, the Malay-Greenlandic Naturalised Britannian, clearly on vacation to the nearby Kingdom. Any relation to Kafims alive or undying is entirely coincidental. She has papers.

        And though she's the one grasping the arm of her woman -- and without heels of her own, she's shorter than her -- she certainly seems to be the one guiding them. "There's a lovely park just by here, Isabeau," she says the name deliberately, though no less warmly. "Shall we go...?" And so they go, as Yuliana -- sorry, Aishah, we were very clear -- shows her to the waterfront and a lovely little covered picnic shelter nearby.

        There are children playing on the green, and a dog rollicking through. They are not in danger.

<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.

It is a lovely city! In theory. Elisa Kafim does not make a habit of traveling out and about... but Isabeau Gezvat does. Isabeau is a woman of light brown skin and purple hair, dressed in pale violet with a lovely scarf and a warm coat.

She is also wearing sunglasses. No scars are apparent.

She also has papers.

"Yes," Isabeau agrees, led along. She looks about as if the place is foreign to her--which makes sense for a tourist, really. She happens to be taking in the details rather intentionally...

But obviously, there is no danger.

<Pose Tracker> Kaworu Nagisa has posed.

        Of course there's no danger. This peace will be protected.
        
        As 'Aishah' and 'Isabeau' walk along the waterfront and by the covered picnic shelter, a certain youth will come into view. Kaworu Nagisa had a NERV meeting to attend in the area, and consequently is dressed in his administrator suit: a typical black jacket and slacks with white shirt, but the shirt is lined with violet stripes on the inside, the cufflinks of the suit have a small point on their circular face, and his purple tie, with a couple of green stripes at the end, looks more like a scarf than a proper tie. The tie clip is more rounded, almost plug-like, than normal, too. He sits on a bench, watching the children and their dog play together with a faint smile, legs folded, hands tucked in his pockets.
        
        Then he looks up and smiles over at the loving spouses as they approach. "Hey," he greets them. "It's been some time, hasn't it?" His red eyes fix on 'Aishah' specifically. "Though not that much time for you." His gaze shifts to encompass them both again. "What brings you two here?"
        
        Obviously they're on a date, but there's any number of places they could go on a date to, after all. It isn't an accusatory question, though. He's simply curious.

<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.

        Obviously.

        "Ah -- do excuse us, we didn't realise this seat was taken!" 'Aishah' laughs off stumbling onto Kaworu, fingers veiling her lips in a show of modesty.

        "Haha... though it has been some time," she says, reaching out her hand to shake his. "It's Aishah," she introduces herself, "Aishah Strand, remember? This is my wife, Isabeau Gezvat -- we kept our last names," she explains, casually. "And it's... Kaworu, isn't it? My, you look professional today! Are you working?"

        And of course she very subtly nudges Elisa -- sorry, Isabeau -- forward to shake Kaworu's hand, as well. "We're just on a little trip," she explains, as she does. "Area 9 can get a little dull... so we made the effort to travel here!" Travelling is an effort, she reminds Elisa, in the process, for people who can't just teleport where they please.

<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.

A date! And now, a certain youth... 'Isabeau' recognizes Kaworu immediately, of course. She assumes the same, when he speaks to them. "It has," she agrees, and at Aishah's nudge, steps forwrd to shake his hand. Her hand is warmer than it was in the Silent Castle... but that, too, is an illlusion.

"Indeed," Isabeau says. "The effort to travel is... worthwhile, I am told. My wife thinks I spend too much time on my work, and not enough in the world. I am coming to find that perhaps I agree with her in this."

"And you?"

<Pose Tracker> Kaworu Nagisa has posed.

        "It's quite all right," Kaworu reassures 'Aishah.' Whether he sits or stands, either is fine by him; he'd be content to let them have the bench. But that isn't really what this moment is about. He accepts her hand as she re-introduces her and her wife.
        
        "I see," he replies. "Yes, it is. I had a meeting earlier today, which has resolved. Now I'm admiring the city."
        
        In other words, it's a coincidence that he's here. But coincidences are sometimes merely threads in the tapestry of fate.
        
        "It's good to take in the world. Work is important, but it's just as important to simply live," Kaworu replies. When offered, he shakes Elisa's hand next. Then he scoots over to give them room to sit too if they wish.
        
        It does strike him as curious to see them together after Yuliana had attended Koji's party not that long ago. But at present, he isn't informed about all the nuances of Yuliana's situation, so beyond that impression, he doesn't read much into it.

<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.

        "You spend too much time cooped up -- darling!" Yuliana almost slips into Zaftran, but it's rather blink-and-you'll-miss-it, the way the pause between her statement and her affectionate address is just a hair too long to be a comma. "You know, even though I travel, she's always just wrapped up in her work? So I must show her that this good green Earth doesn't bite!"

        That's probably a metaphor, and not a statement of intent.

        Aishah nudges them into sitting down, and -- because she's dastardly -- she sits Isabeau in the middle, so that she's closest to Kaworu. Of course, she holds her other hand, so she's not completely abandoning her.

        "I've been... working on the living part," she says, once they're seated. "You saw me at the party... well, I don't know if it's rather too late for that, but my visits there are something of a secret. Sayaka is helping me with... some communication issues I've been having," she phrases it, delicately. "But as you can understand, there are plenty of people who wouldn't wish to give me the chance."

        Like NERV, most likely. They probably object to the North Pole's current state.

<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.

"Do you enjoy this city?" Isabeau wonders, looking about it as if to evaluate it for herself.

Coincidences... And to live. "I suppose I do." A pause. "Yes... To bite, this would be problematic."

And so she ends up sitting in the middle. Hmmm. She considers that for a moment and then, "Yes. My wife is in a delicate position. But I support her in this."

A pause. "I do not do much... 'simply living'. Always do I move with purpose."

"But that has its merits. For instance, those people who would not give her the chance... I have time to address that."

<Pose Tracker> Kaworu Nagisa has posed.

        "Hmmm..." Kaworu hums thoughtfully at this exchange between the wives. "A disagreement?"
        
        Whatever way Aishah seats herself and her wife is fine by him. Isabeau in the middle doesn't bother him. If there's a subtext to it, he misses it, even.
        
        "I suppose it depends on who it's supposed to be a secret from," he muses. He would say he sees, but he doesn't, so he refrains. NERV definitely objects to the North Pole's current state, though. But Kaworu's done work for the day. It's more valuable to him to have a conversation rather than a confrontation.
        
        He already has a general idea of the reason for Isabeau's purpose. It's not something he disapproves of. He's in a similar position himself. But... "There are after-effects of your work that trouble a great many people," he remarks to her. His gaze shifts to Aishah. "That's why Shinji-kun was afraid of you, you know. He was there that day in the Orb Union. It may have been your wife's work, but you support it, don't you?"
        
        Isabeau speaks of addressing those who wouldn't give Aishah a chance. Kaworu gives her a look somewhere between curious and assessing. "Oh? How do you plan on doing that?"

<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.

        "It is not so much disagreement as a difference in perspectives," Aishah explains, easily. "We come from different worlds, you see, and so we approach our lives differently. But my wife is admirably trying to see my point of view -- aren't you, darling?" She asks, squeezing her hand in support.

        "Hmm... from the people who would like to detain me, I suppose," she says, in response to Kaworu's musing. "You know, many of them have updated their standing warrants to 'alive or dead,' by now? I don't expect those organisations to be particularly... sympathetic to the reality of the situation, and the pressures upon me." She sighs, deeply. "But that is why I've sought aid -- for it is not entirely by my own will that I dance."

        She keeps holding Isabeau's hand, even now they're sitting, stroking the back of her hand soothingly. "We aren't here to make trouble," she says, and whether she's reminding Isabeau or assuring Kaworu is an open question. "... and I regret that I scared the poor lad," now she's talking to Kaworu, though, over her wife's shoulder. "Of course, I don't dictate how my wife enacts her works, though I'll always stand by her... but there were certain pressures put upon us, then."

        She doesn't speak for her wife when Kaworu questions her! Any more than she's already given her reminder prompts, anyway.

<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.

"I am," Isabeau answers. "It is... natural, for a difference in perspective to happen. It is part of reality in this world. Even with those with whom we are closest."

The trouble that their work has caused... "No, they are not sympathetic. They would have little reason to be. They do not understand, any more than I understand their points of view."

Shinji was afraid... "Hmmm."

Yuliana regrets scaring him, and they do not cause trouble. "I wish no ill upon your friend." A pause. "But I will only retaliate in kind with how they act against my wife. No more, and no less."

<Pose Tracker> Kaworu Nagisa has posed.

        "I see. That's only inevitable," Kaworu says, of different worlds leading to different perspectives. He smiles at Isabeau as she weighs in similarly. "Yes. It's admirable that you're doing your best to understand her even so."
        
        Aishah speaks of those who'd put her in detainment. "I understand there's a significant overlap," Kaworu replies. His expression does turn thoughtful as she mentions her pressures, though. "Oh?" he prompts. He may or may not get an answer. A prompt like that is easy to ignore.
        
        His smile returns, if rueful, at the talk of regrets. "I'll pass on your regrets. Shinji-kun can be a bit skittish at times, so I hope you weren't hurt. He's human, after all." (Isn't the phrase 'He's only human'?) Here, though, he asks a more direct question: "May I ask about what those pressures were?"
        
        He considers, too, Elisa's line in the sand. "And what of how they act against you?" he wonders. That aside: "Shinji-kun is a gentle soul. He's very dear to me. I hope there's no cause for conflict between any of you in the future."

<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.

        "And we are very close," Aishah adds, when Isabeau gives her own perspective on closeness. She hasn't let go of her hand, all this time.

        Elisa, Yuliana thinks, is being very reasonable. She is so proud of her. And whether she's disguised those feathery filaments at her ears or not, with the rest of her appearance shift, Elisa may still know that.

        At first she nods, when Kaworu prompts her -- but she lets him talk. "Of course it was disappointing," she sighs, "but I don't blame him for the way he was acting, you understand. It's reasonable for him to be frightened... I've no ill-will against him, either."

        She strokes the back of her wife's hand, as she looks out over the water features of the park. "I suppose I'll have to speak a little more frankly," she says, "so I hope I can trust you, dear." A light pause, and -- "I have two wives, you know -- though I didn't marry two women. One lies... beyond this home. She lives far away... I didn't even know She was my Wife, until late last year. We used to have a far more reverent relationship. Well," Yuliana sighs, "in a sense, we still do. This other Wife, She can be inflexible, and... She has certain demands about how things are achieved, and when. She's been in my head since I became an adult... so it's difficult for me to deny Her. Yes... if She willed it, my body would even move regardless of my wishes."

        She looks down, at her hand, cradling -- Isabeau's.

        "Unfortunately, She can also be... something of a cruel communicator, on account of the... cultural differences. And She doesn't understand my limits, so it's easy for Her to put me in danger. So I'm trying to work on... getting a little more space, so that it isn't so... so I'm not so vulnerable. My darling Isabeau has of course been completely supportive," she adds, smiling.

<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.

"Thank you." 'Amirable', is it? But there is overlap between those people. As to the boy, well, "I wish him no harm, either. So long as he does not act against us, there is no reason that that should change."

To her, though... Well. Yuliana explains the other Wife, and their relationship. "We were not aware of the connection between Her and myself," she explains. "But we do now. And we must... act, to ensure my wife's safety."

"Even from She who loves her, if it is necessary."

But her? "Those who act against me will be dealt with as is most advantageous," Isabeau says simply. "I can forgive slights against myself. Against my wife... this is harder to forgive."

"Of course, she tells me I should value my own well-being more... But even so, were I to answer every slight with death, it would be a poorer world."

<Pose Tracker> Kaworu Nagisa has posed.

        "So I've seen," Kaworu tells Aishah. Because he knew that long before this one display.
        
        Elisa and Yuliana both say they have no ill will towards Shinji--and while there might be issue if they ever met on the battlefield, at least for the time being, that's not going to happen. Shinji will inevitably get back in the Evangelion, but once he does, there will be different issues, and there may or may not be room for the Void Wives in dealing with them. "I'm glad to hear it," he thus says. For now, it's enough.
        
        Yuliana explains about her other wife. Kaworu nods. "Ah. Her." He looks at Elisa as she mentions the actions they need to take and nods thoughtfully. "Yes. That is wise. Large lifeforms, even with the best of intentions, can have difficulty watching their feet." His smile turns rueful as his eyes cast to one side--but whatever he's thinking, he doesn't voice it.
        
        "I see," he says instead to Elisa, of slights against her. "Yes, it's largely meaningless to answer slights against oneself. And of course, one can't help but want to shield those one loves." He looks back to Yuliana. "I'm glad she's been supportive to you. That sounds like a very intense pressure indeed." He pauses. "That being the situation, what do you two plan on doing about your work going forward?"

<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.

        Kaworu, has it happens, has seen both her wife and her Wife being close to her. That experience may well inform just how those 'pressures' might play out.

        "My darling is very protective of me," Aishah explains, as if she could be describing anyone but Elisa. (She's starting her wife off with the easier physical disguises; she'll move on to the 201 material of 'changing her story' later.) "My health is much more fragile than hers, you see." And even without being an '80s Cyber-Newtype, that's still true, if only because Yuliana couldn't survive being shot through the heart. "But you are right -- She has the best of intentions, for me. Her demands... they're just an expression of Her anxiety to be with me as soon as possible. She isn't our enemy." They're Elisa's words, but she says them so naturally.

        And she looks to Isabeau, and pets her hand. "I simply don't wish for you to get hurt, darling. I know you're quite tough, compared to me... but I still worry. Though of course it's very good to show appropriate restraint," she assures her.

        For instance: there's no reason to slight Shinji. Right now, anyway.

        But... going forward? "We're... currently re-evaluating our approach," Aishah says, delicately. "With how things were going -- She would have sacrificed me to open the Way, and claimed my spirit instead. But I don't want to die," she says, quietly, as she averts her gaze. "I'll gladly offer my sacrifices," like the way she offers herself to that scrying-ball, "but it's not so much to ask that my heart not be carved from my chest, is it?"

<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.

Kaworu speaks of large lifeforms, and 'Isabeau' inclines her head. "Just so. Even I sometimes have trouble recalling the means of the physical world..."

She is protective! And Aishah's health is so fragile. "Indeed."

But her wife doesn't want her to be hurt... "Yes," Isabeau answers, "It is restraint. As our friend Kaworu says, it has more meaning to avenge the slights against your loved ones.... and I am aware that I am that, for you. So I will not neglect them entirely."

Their plan, and what is necessary.

"As she says. Our plans must necessarily change in detail. To open the way... This, I still believe is important. Perhaps moreso, now. But I am... debating, the matters besides that."

"We shall come up with an answer, in time. For now, our work is on hold."

<Pose Tracker> Kaworu Nagisa has posed.

        Just so.
        
        Kaworu nods as Yuliana describes her health as being 'frailer' than her wife's/wives's. That's certainly an accurate way to describe it. He has no reason to doubt Her intentions, either. But it sounds as though there really are quite a few problems with Her view of the world She would descend upon...
        
        Kaworu can relate. His relatives all have the same problem too. Even the most pro-human of them did.
        
        His eyebrows furrow when Yuliana explains about the would-be sacrifice and the claiming of her spirit. "Is that so? Hmm."
        
        That's quite a change. And while details often do, the broad strokes tend to stay the same, short of a total rebuild. He considers Elisa, but only nods.
        
        "That's reasonable," he tells Yuliana. "Most living beings fear death."
        
        ...he says like it doesn't apply to him. But that's just Kaworu's way, probably.
        
        Regardless, it's good that the plan is on hold for now. However... "I should ask. When the way is opened, what do you mean to have happen next?"
        
        It's good to confirm what else might be different.

<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.

        "I will always be pleased to remind you," Aishah assures her wife, smiling, on the matter of the physical world.

        She nods, when Isabeau gives her assessment of their intent -- of course she speaks for the both of them, in this. And when Kaworu says it's reasonable, she affirms: "I am alive." And Isabeau can feel it, in the warmth still in her cool palms, in the pulse at her wrist.

        But Kaworu has another question, and Yuliana sways a little, in her seat, visibly dazed. "What... next?" She asks, baffled. "Then -- then I won't be hurt any longer, and we will dwell in a beautiful place, and we will all be together again, and... what next? I..."

        It's a simple question, but it's clearly agitated her, the way her hand suddenly grasps her wife's for support more than to support her.

<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.

It is a change. There are many changes occurring. As to most living beings, well...

It is natural, isn't it? Nevertheless, Isabeau does not comment on it.

"When the way is opened..." Isabeau pauses, when Kaworu's question prompts that reaction from 'Aishah'. What next, she wonders?

"We will go through," Elisa says, holding Yuliana closely. She forgets the disguise for the moment. "...Whether anything else comes of it--this is yet to be known. We shall see."

"But for now, it is time for us to go home. It was pleasant to speak with you, Kaworu Nagisa."

"I wish you well in your time."

Elisa lifts Yuliana up, not bodily exactly, but with significant support, and makes to go.

<Pose Tracker> Kaworu Nagisa has posed.

        When the way is opened, what happens next?
        
        It is telling that neither Elisa nor Yuliana seems to know. Kaworu knows what he's seen, but theirs is a fate unentwined with his own. He can't be certain that it will be the same.
        
        His usual smile is gone as Yuliana sways, as Elisa ends the conversation and moves to leave.
        
        "You as well," he tells Elisa. His red eyes flick over to Yuliana--but he doesn't offer her any words, nor does he try to stop Elisa from leaving with her.
        
        Something to mull over, though he suspects Yuliana won't have by the time they next happen to speak.
        
        Soon enough, he'll stand and make his way back to his transport. He only has so much time to enjoy the world--not with the eyes that are ever on him.

<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.

        Well, most living beings don't have the privilege of being married to God -- or Her Avatar. Perhaps if they had Elisa whispering about how wonderful it would be in their ear, they'd all be as happy about it as Yuliana is!

        ... but even Yuliana's faith can be shaken, as Elisa unfortunately knows. And perhaps she is shaken, now, as she's forced to question what comes after the Void. It's always been something she's thought of quite vaguely -- certainly with nothing as solid as a plan.

        She clings to her wife, and her fingers tremble, and... she doesn't have to express her sudden bout of malaise to her wife. Elisa knows. They -- they have to go home. "D...do be well," she offers, as she's taken to her feet by her wife.

        She leans on her, as they leave. They at least have the courtesy of disappearing into an alleyway before they disappear.

        She keeps hold of her wife for some time after that.