2024-09-04: ... And Into The Lower World
- Cutscene: ... And Into The Lower World
- Cast: Yuliana Kafim, Wendy Yuan, Jin Guanyu
- Where: The Silent Castle, Kaffeklubben Island
- Date: 2024-09-04
- Summary: Yuliana comes to bear bad news, interrupting Guanyu and Wendy as they plan their future: Guanyu's sister, Guanting, is dead. And this time, there's no helping that.
Wendy and Guanyu -- both in the black robes typical of Castle denizens, now -- sob together on a loveseat in Wendy's room, pouring over a tablet. "What about him?" Guanyu asks, scrolling down and pointing. "Graduated from the Royal Academy and went on to be an acclaimed heart surgeon... and he doesn't have much in the way of family disease, either. Plus, pink hair, just like mom!"
"Sure," Wendy laughs, "if you want our kids to be nerds. What about this guy? He's a marathon runner!"
"A marathon runner with a family history of heart disease," Guanyu points out, though she's grinning, too.
"Nobility has made you so picky," Wendy sighs, overwrought.
"I just think we should consider the surgeon," Guanyu says, a light frown crossing her face as their banter crosses into criticism. "What's wrong with that?"
"Nothing at all, silly!" Wendy says, shoving her head into the side of Guanyu's head. (Gently.) "If that's what you want to do -- that's what we'll do. I just want you to be happy, Guyu."
"I know," Guanyu sighs, tilting her face to kiss her fiancee's cheek.
And that's when there's a knock at the door.
"Yes?" Wendy calls out, a touch surprised -- she's not expecting interruption by any servants. Her surprise only deepens when she sees (every minute detail of) Yuliana slipping through the door.
Yuliana's expression is grave; this clearly isn't a casual visit. "Good," she says, as she takes a seat on the chair opposite them without so much as asking, "you're both here."
"What happened?" Wendy asks, as her gaze turns cold and assessing. (Familiar.)
"It concerns your fiancee," Yuliana explains, before she turns her gaze to Guanyu, in Wendy's arms. "Guanyu, I'm afraid I have... terrible news."
"What could be more horrible than w-what's happened already?" Guanyu asks -- and chokes up, asking it.
Yuliana closes her eyes, and takes a breath, leaning forward. She braces her elbows on her knees, and folds her hands together. "We've been receiving damage reports since it happened," she says, levelling her endless eyes on Guanyu, "but it's taken time to confirm them. We were hoping they'd made it to a shelter, but... the exiles from Shanghai don't seem to have made it. And... there was a Hua Lian Rebel, helping them navigate the wilds."
"You don't mean..." Guanyu starts, and grows ashen.
"The woman they sent to help was Jin Guanting," Yuliana says, gravely. "Our reports indicate she was your sister... we recovered her body from an earthslide just a few hours ago." She takes a breath, and says: "I'm sorry."
"No!" Guanyu wails, turning to bury herself against her fiancee. Wendy wraps her up in her cloak as she wails, hands clutched tight. "This can't be happening! How could you?! Damn you!!"
"I wasn't aware of the specific arrangement," Yuliana admits, still conciliatory. (With, it must be said, great effort.) "I understand that you're angry, but the correspondence we've received from Sally's men said Guanting volunteered to help them."
"I-I didn't even know she was still fighting," Guanyu sobs, voice muffled by Wendy's robes. "I thought, since the Rebels were routed, she might've gave it up... don't tell me you knew she was working with you!"
"I wasn't aware the Dawn of Fold gave us contact with someone so important to you," Yuliana lies, with all the delicate trimmings of truth.
"I guess you would've told me..." Guanyu sighs.
"Of course I would have," Wendy says, as she glares at Yuliana over her head.
And Yuliana shrugs, head canting to one side, a gesture Guanyu mercifully misses. "You've experienced so much loss in such a short time," she says, instead, and her tone is sympathetic. "I grieve for what the Coordinators have done to you. I've arranged for you to attend her funeral, if you'd like to... Wendy, I trust you'll see her there?"
"Sure thing, Captain," Wendy says, gaze cold as ice.
"Her... her funeral?" Guanyu asks, voice small. "Can't -- can't you do something? You did something before!"
Yuliana looks away, her frill pinning back against her head; it's Wendy who speaks up, instead, stroking her fiancee's hair gently. "It's been too long," she tells her. "Since my body was clinging to life, my patron was able to place my soul in a crystal while she rearranged my body into a form which could host it again. But if I'd been dead this long... my soul would have passed. What the Queen would have made, then... would only have looked like me."
"You don't want that," Yuliana adds, her fingers tightening around each other as she clutches them together. "Seeing a man without any free will left is..."
"I know," Guanyu says, gloomily. "They're simple."
"Did we really hire you before we stopped doing that...?" Yuliana wonders, before she shakes her head, thinks better of it, and puts it out of her mind. (It's one of those questions she just knows better than to dissect too much.) "It doesn't matter," she decides, firmly. "An animate corpse would probably be worse than that, anyway."
"So all these awful things happen... and my sister is still dead...?" Guanyu asks, and she'll choke with the inequity of it all. "It's not... fair. We sold our souls to the devil, so we should at least be happy on Earth!"
"Be kinder when you speak of my wife," all the patience in Yuliana's voice flees in an instant, as she corrects her, sternly.
"... I'm sorry," Guanyu says, deflating into Wendy. "I am grateful... really, just..."
"The broken parts of you will grow back stronger," Yuliana says, and perhaps it is a comfort. "If there's nothing more I can do for you... I'll leave, for now. All right?"
"I think that's best," Wendy answers, though Yuliana was asking Guanyu. "This is all just really overwhelming, Captain. Thanks for coming and telling us yourself... we'll talk later."
"Sure," Yuliana says, and stands. She closes the door gently behind her, and tries to put the sound of sobbing out of her mind as she does.
(Guanting sent the Silent Calling a letter; she knew she was looking for her, and kept her for herself. Surely, no one could blame her... for that.)