2024-09-06: The Matriarchy
- Log: The Matriarchy
- Cast: Yuliana Kafim (NPCing Sashenka Dian), Elisa Kafim
- Where: The Silent Castle, Kaffeklubben Island
- Date: 2024-09-06
- Summary: The Queen and her Queen Mother walk together, and hold a discussion on hatred and Yuliana's past relationships. They have an understanding with each other... and it's too late to escape, now.
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
OST: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7IshVRic9E Flying Fox and the Hunter Gatherers - Ant Eating Matriarch
The children are unsettled, and their new resident child psychologist, Larisa Isakova, has gathered them together to express their feelings through art. Assisting her is her wife, Zinaida, who has taken her time caring for Pavel and Anastasiya at home to publish some self-illustrated children's stories of her own; her artistic skills are well-employed, here, as she helps Makar figure out how what colours of paint to use. Dr. Gao -- the physicist, her husband is the medical doctor, they're both doctors, don't mix them up -- is here helping them as well, alongside Jadgit, the children's (regrettably Cyber-Newtype) teacher.
And, of course, the Queen Mother is here: Sashenka Dian, who is presently helping young Sona as the eleven year old orphan struggles with the recorder she's trying to play. "Don't fuss," she assures her, as the girl screams and stomps her foot; she steps away briefly, only to set up a mirror and hang up shaded chords beside it. When she guides Sona to sit beside the mirror, Sashenka says: "Watch your fingers in the mirror, and you'll see if they're positioned right. If you can't tell where your hands are, there are always ways to check."
"Okay..." Sona frowns, her hair-buns sagging down to either side of her head; she must be quarter-Meltrandi, with her hair reacting like that.
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
Elisa Kafim has had much to consider lately. She is quite recovered from her exertions protecting the Castle, and soon, she has a mission of her own on which to embark. But one of the things she was led to consider came from a discussion with Yuliana over the Queen Mother herself...
The resident child psychologist. What a treat! Elisa steps into the room after a knock to announce her presence, and smiles.
She has the correct number of teeth.
"What pleasure to see the children working at art... I, myself, practice such things. Please, continue."
She does not mind Sona screaming and stomping. She looks around at the others; Zinaida, as well, Makar with his paints. Dr. Gao helping, and Jadgit...
And the one she was looking for.
"...With such expertise in the room, I am certain that you will all learn well. Learning is very important. We must all make our minds the greatest that they can be."
A pause. "Mother," she says, turning her attention to Sashenka. "I wish to speak with you. Will you join me?"
Sashenka is one of the only ones that Elisa would ask... Though it may be best not to test what she would do if denied.
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
"Wow, the Queen!" Sona gasps, while Suchart and Soth snicker behind her. (They're all orphans; that doesn't mean they don't give Sona crap for wanting to be a princess when she grows up.) Maksim, meanwhile, looks up from where he's painting Swordtooth -- presently napping along the top of his canvas, all coiled around the top of his easel in the middle -- to grin: "Hi, Aunt Elisa!" Makar echoes him with a simpler smile and, "Hi," and the Gao's teenage girls offer their own brief chorus of, "Hey."
Of course, the children all quiet down to listen to her. They're very well-behaved, even after such a horrible experience. (They all know who's responsible for them still being alive, today.)
And Sashenka rises from where she leant down beside the orphan girl, giving Sona's shoulder a little squeeze as she goes. "I will," she assents, nodding to her daughter, and slips her hands into her fur muffler as she steps out into the hall behind her, following her where she would go. There is no need to test her; she is pleased to offer time to her daughter, in-law or no.
In her black and green shawl, she may well be one of the few women here who can rival Elisa's dignity, moving through these stone halls.
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
Elisa inclines her head to Sona in acknowledgement. Perhaps, one day, Sona can become a princess. If she works hard, and learns to destroy her enemies.
It's possible.
"Hello, Makar." Another nod to the other children. Children are very important, Yuliana has assured her, and so Elisa will not spare effort in seeing to their development.
But Sashenka rises, and Elisa is pleased. She is in her robes, as well; in her heels, that make her so tall. "Pursue your studies well," Elisa says to the children, makes eye contact with the adult in charge, and then turns to walk with Sashenka.
"It is good to see that the children are listening to you," Elisa comments. "But the children are not why I wish to have your time."
"...I discussed with our Yuliana some of the things that were on her mind. Something on her heart."
"...Coordinators. The difference between 'normal people' and others. And the hatred in some hearts."
"I found it interesting," she says evenly, still speaking thoughtfully and conversationally. "...Of course, I also told her that you were correct. But I found it so interesting that I wished to discuss it with you personally."
"Do you think she adequately expressed your viewpoint, or would you prefer to give it to me yourself?"
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
"Children are our future," Sashenka agrees, "but you do not concern yourself with a future well-laid in place, zhena dochura." She speaks warmly of Elisa... as the wife of her daughter, specifically. (Aside from her interjections, she is considerate enough to speak the OCU's English, around a child of Orb... though her accent remains thick. This, too, is a statement.) "What stirs you?"
She asks, and she listens, as she shares her own perspective on her daughter's heart with her. She continues to walk, her own shoes clicking against the stone. She does not wear tall heels; she doesn't need to, standing six feet tall already.
Ah, yes... the matter of 'hate'.
"Hmm," Sashenka hums, deep in her sonorous throat. "'Some' hearts, yes? No, no, that is not quite right... it is much more specific than this. It is the tension of creation which fosters hate in humanity's heart," she says, calm and contemplative, "of being 'made' in some fashion to defy our Natural order."
Her eyebrows raise, as if it is below her to shrug with her whole shoulders. "The burden is too great," she concludes, grave. "Many give in... when their way forward is so clear."
(The enemy is weak, and it is strong.)
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
"Indeed," Elisa answers. She maintains the OCU's English for now, as well; she could speak in Sashenka's language instead... But she doesn't. For some reason. There are many statements to be made.
"Yes," Elisa answers. "Yes, I see." She is calm and contemplative; Elisa is even-toned and conversational. "It is that which I agree with," she says. "That 'hate'... It is normal, in those created or made or changed. It is the natural tension that comes of stealing the fires of the gods for the use of man."
"We often hate that which we do not understand... But more often, 'we'," she says of the created this time, "Hate that which we do understand. The Natural, whose purity taunts some of us by existing."
"Yes, indeed... It is a burden. One that many cannot hold for long."
She smiles. "How very good it is that Yuliana is so concerned with the weal of the Natural. Isn't it? That she wishes so much to keep those 'ordinary' people safe..."
"She has taught me much."
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
"Very good," Sashenka smiles, to hear Elisa's understanding. It's not a pleasant expression, though she is, of course, a very pleasant woman.
There's no need for those veils, are there? No, when walking with an evil witch... there is a different kind of etiquette to attend to.
"Yulya is a good girl," she says, and her love for her daughter, at least, is not unkind. "She has always attended to the will of normalcy... as she can." A light sigh, "Though it took her so long to marry! Haa, my girl spent too long in her carefree youth... she spoke of so few enduring relationships to me."
Few -- meaning there wasn't none.
"But I am sure you will mind her wishes," Sashenka says, and says it after reminding Elisa of her own knowledge of her wife. She is connected to Yuliana, woven into her history, her mother, her confidante. She hears what Elisa says, between the margins; she lays her own eggs, in the walls. "You have always held her happiness high, dochura." And now, she calls Elisa her daughter, plainly.
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
Elisa speaks only obliquely of her own hates, of course. But rest assured, they exist. It is a far different kind of etiquette that she expects and requires. ...No, there is no need for a veil. Elisa knows these things well.
"She is," Elisa agrees. "She cares very much. It is... an endearing trait," Elisa settles on, as if she might be describing a cute quirk or other trait that one might find adorable rather than take too seriously.
Elisa and Sashenka play a delicate dance that amuses at least one of them to continue. Indeed; she will remember. "I have," Elisa says. "And I shall continue to do so. Our family, I shall protect."
"For it is mine now, as well."
A smile. "But do tell," she says. "I would be of course fascinated to hear about our Yuliana's history... history shapes us, after all."
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
Of course Elisa has hate in her heart.
She is a Superman, too.
"Yulya always has been an optimist," Sashenka agrees, smiling. "She would tell me, 'mama, I am going to save the world!' Why, the whole world -- that is a terribly large place, I would say. An awful lot of people! But she was so sure of herself..." She's fond of her daughter, of course. Who wouldn't be?
She smiles, to Elisa. "As you come to me, so do I pass my duty to you. Our spouses may be the ones to go to war, but our work is done behind the front lines... and while my daughter's choice was ultimately unorthodox, I have faith that you will not let our family down."
To claim something is to be claimed by it.
"Hmm... it was Captain Pavlova, wasn't it?" Sashenka wonders, tilting her head, just so. "Yes, Natali Vladimirovna Pavlova... I remember, because it was one of the only ones she rang me up to tell me about while it was happening. Haa, most times, the women left her before she could tell me anything..." She shakes her head, and keeps walking. "Yulya would have only been an officer cadet, back then, so I will not say I entirely approved... she told me, dochura, that Natali was drawn to Yulya because she was exotic. Well, I thought at the time it was a matter of race -- our Yulya, she comes from two worlds -- but I suppose, knowing as I know now, it may have been more a matter of those experiments."
Her lips curl, slightly, to speak of them.
"But she grew increasingly uncomfortable, I think, with the demands of the woman. She rang me one day, quite upset, telling me it had gone too far... so she had sabotaged the woman's career with all the blackmail she was able to obtain. I heard little of it, since she realised she was speaking about classified information and clammed up, but next I heard of her -- she had secured a promotion into what was clearly a black operation. Clearly she studied well!" Sashenka laughs, as if she'd taught her daughter how to play an instrument instead of how to ruin someone's life and step over the body.
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
An optimist, she calls Yuliana. And Elisa listens. "Of course," Elisa says. "She is like that still. Wishing to save the many..."
A smile, then. "Yes," she answers Sashenka. They are claimant and claimed in turn, bound by the choices that they have made. "Indeed, such is our role. And I shall not let our family down."
What does that look like, from Elisa? Time will tell. She cares. That is dangerous enough.
Pavlova... One who didn't leave Yuliana quickly. That's novel. But no more forgivable, of course. "I see," Elisa answers. "An officer and a cadet," she comments. "Hmm."
The experiments. "...I see."
Elisa smiles at the moral to the story, though. "So she protected herself after all. How strong is our Yuliana," she says, pleased. "Indeed. She has learned very much from you."
Elisa may have to see if there is anything left of this woman.
"...Your time is appreciated, Mother. This has been most illuminating."
She could bring up the matter of her work enabling B-Systems, but...
Some things are better kept in reserve after all.
"Let us continue to support our family, each in her own way."
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
"I have complete faith in you," Sashenka affirms, despite the danger in Elisa's care.
It would be more dangerous, now, to refuse it; and Sashenka has little reason to wish to, given her more jaded outlook compared to her daughter.
"The officer-cadet," Sashenka joins the phrase, deliberately, "xue yuan, is the lowest-ranked commissioned officer in the REA forces, who is still completing the training required by her commission." Hence, perhaps, Sashenka's concern -- that someone so early in her career would be propositioned by someone so far along in hers.
Even if Yuliana were quite taken by her, the dynamics in play would not have been fair.
"She is strong," Sashenka smiles. "And I am glad for that. I should not like for anyone to take advantage of my daughter, with no will to take responsibility for her welfare. A casual relationship should not demand so much." Which means that those demands... must incur equivalent costs.
But Elisa has always been good at minding her debts.
"I am always pleased to light your path, Elyushka," Sashenka says, warmly; Elisa is as much her daughter as Yuliana is, now. ... even if she picks a different diminutive, for Elisa.
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
Elisa's perspective cannot rightly be called cynicism, not exactly. But she sees wisdom in Sashenka's.. caution.
"I see," Elisa answers. And she does see. "So she was still in training at that point... Yes, that would hardly be fair. It would have put Yuliana at significant disadvantage... and yet, she overcame it. I am proud."
'With no will to take responsibility'. Does this mean Sashenka thinks Elisa is taking advantage of her? Perhaps it does. Elisa notes that. "Indeed. Her welfare is foremost in my mind. Casual relationships are for those who have not yet settled into their adult lives. We require... Something greater."
Elisa knows her own debts.
"Indeed," Elisa answers, and inclines her head. "Be well."
She starts off down the hall--towards the North Wing. She has much to do.