2024-11-25: Meeting In The Middle
- Log: Meeting In The Middle
- Cast: Yuliana Kafim, Eight Orlodhari
- Where: A Forest Clearing, Kingdom of Scandinavia
- Date: 2024-11-25
- Summary: Eight calls Yuliana out for a conversation, to figure out where she stands after the revelations of Istantarik. And Yuliana struggles to open up to Eight, but does manage, in time, to speak about her worries and her expectations.
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
Yuliana is surprised, one day, to receive a message that Eight wants to see her. She offers to host her at the Castle, generously, though she's tragically turned down in favour of a neutral location in the Kingdom of Scandinavia.
"No cops?" Yuliana confirms, with all due caution.
But neither of them are particularly eager to involve the police.
The Ghost touches down in a secluded forest clearing, ahead of time. Yuliana proceeds to set up a card table, a couple of folding chairs, and a battery-powered teakettle. Even if Eight is going to rudely deny her offer of hospitality, she can still extend it. How else is she going to know she won't be harmed?
(Yuliana's picked up a thing or two from her wife, too.)
She brews a pot of tea, sugar cubes and a little pot of milk all laid out with glass lids to keep the bugs out, a covering likewise over a plate of tea biscuits. Preparations complete, she sits in one of those chairs, drumming her fingers on her folded arms as she waits.
She's a little sceptical that Eight would view her kindly, after seeing that... but if she can't get her on side, she'll never reach Rena.
Perhaps she's gone to something of an effort to meet her halfway.
<Pose Tracker> Eight Orlodhari has posed.
Eight Orlodhari has been thinking about Yuliana Kafim. There's the matter of the dragon, of course--and all its revelations. But she came up again, when she checked in on one Shelby Korts...
Maybe it's nothing, but maybe it's a good time. For the sake of the world's security, and... maybe some other reasons.
"We're well outside my jurisdiction," Eight points out. "So no, no cops."
Eight has her own ways of getting here; she insists to her security team that she'll be fine, and while they aren't thrilled about it, they let her go.
There are many, many reasons Eight isn't going to the Silent Castle, after all.
So when Eight arrives, she arrives in ordinary clothes. A white coat over a red dress, boots, her hair down and long. And, if Yuliana looks closely, she'll spot something about Eight that she isn't particularly trying to hide.
"...The tea smells nice," Eight says as she approaches. "Thank you."
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
Luckily, the chairs are made for Yuliana's bountiful behind, so they will certainly fit Eight. She, herself, is dressed in her black robes; she evidently wasn't planning on leaving for long, today. Her tentacles fold on her lap, but she's tucked her frills away, thoughtfully, so Eight won't be quite so miserable touching down.
She'd better stay on her side of the table, though.
"Ah," she says when she sees her, eyes lidding over her smile, "congratulations." Of course it's the first thing she notices. She unfolds her arms to pour some tea, sliding it over to the other side of the table. "And you are quite welcome. It's an Earl Grey blend. Please, sit. You wished to see me?"
She pours a cup of tea for herself, too -- three sugars, and milk. Yuliana doesn't fear anyone judging her for making her tea into a dessert; the only tragedy is that it was impractical to bring all the additions out there.
<Pose Tracker> Eight Orlodhari has posed.
Eight appreciates not being plunged into cold water in the already-cold Scandinavian forest, so to speak. She will be staying on her side of the table. And of course--
"Thank you," Eight answers that too. "...Fourteen weeks. So we won't be needing a car this time."
Eight accepts the tea, and pours in a few accoutrements herself this time. Her sweet tooth is active...
She takes her seat before doing that, of course, and then--
"Yes, I did," she says. "I take it you saw what happened. The day of that... dragon," she explains. "The things everyone saw."
"I assume you did because I'm not sure you'd have agreed to meet with me otherwise."
She pauses, and then, "...How are you feeling?"
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
"Hmm? A shame. You should really have a story to tell your children about it, beyond embarrassing them with the gorey details." See? Yuliana was doing her a favour by carjacking that poor guy. Now she can tell the twins a fun story about the day they were born!
(That poor guy, Eight may know, is now in therapy following two acts of Yuliana destroying his car. ... he takes public transport these days.)
She sips her own tea -- they both take it sweet, apparently -- and frowns, when Eight mentions the obvious. "Yes," she says, less chipper this time. "I saw. And I know everyone saw," she adds, pouting, "that's always what she does, you know? That Dr. Devi. She shows me what she's done, takes credit for it, but of course everyone watching blames me!"
Yuliana sighs, her shoulders sinking down. "So... I feel like everyone knows I'm no good," she settles on, less animated, looking down at her teacup. "Even though that woman wearing my face isn't me. She isn't, you know. But surely -- they must all think that way. I mean, Koji and Sayaka didn't, and I heard Shari responded just fine too, but -- but everyone else, surely? I mean, aren't you here to put a bullet in me?"
She wonders, distantly, why she's like this.
<Pose Tracker> Eight Orlodhari has posed.
"...Heh." Eight shouldn't laugh about that poor guy. But she does anyway, if only a little. "There's time yet to get stories for this one. ...One, I think." She's pretty sure.
Yuliana frowns, but Eight is resolute. She nods, when Yuliana confirms. Dr. Devi...
"That's not my style," Eight says simply of a bullet. "...Besides which, I do believe you. You've done plenty of terrible things yourself--but not those things. You've threatened a world. You haven't helped end it out of spite."
She sighs. "I mean... Let me try that again."
"No, I don't think you're 'her'. Frankly, seeing what I saw made me think about you and how you are. It gives me some hope that, seeing what happened in that other timeline, that you might not want to repeat her mistakes."
"So I wanted to see how you were doing. How you were feeling."
"And ask if this changes anything for you. It would for me."
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
"Oh, good. One is far easier, I've heard." And Yuliana can at least try not to resent Eight for that. Maybe just a little.
Her frown deepens, as Eight makes her first attempt. If a bullet's not her style, it must be poison, and joke's on her, Yuliana already brought snacks so she knows they're clean. And as far as threatening the world --
Luckily, before she can snap anything out, Eight calls a do-over. Yuliana puffs the air out of her cheeks, folding her legs over each other, and listens to her try again.
"Horrid, all right?" She says, poking a tea biscuit into her tea. "The whole thing feels horrid. And my wife told me how she was controlling my mind too, and there've been the conversations with my family, and the Empress is loud enough that I can hear Her screaming bloody murder, and I was a Spacenoid the whole time, and, and, and--!!"
Eight can probably see the point where Yuliana wants to do one or more of kicking the table over, throwing her cup of tea at her, or slamming it down so forcefully the whole table collapses; thankfully, she does none of those things, though her tentacles snap to either side of her, rattling their crests to create a hissing which sounds more like a tarantula than a snake.
"... the Empress saved me from being that woman," she starts over, slumping back down again, "but She destroyed both our lives. And She's so angry I've rejected 'myself'... She doesn't see any difference between her and I. I don't think She'll forgive reality... and you saw what She did to the last one. We have to kill Her... help us or don't. I don't care." She cares a lot. "Either way, we're not staying. If the Void stays empty, She might come back... since She isn't a logical being any more. Someone has to be there, to make sure She stays gone. That's why... we still have to go. Besides," she sighs, "I guess it's my birthright, or whatever, since that Martian had a thing for my ancestor."
<Pose Tracker> Eight Orlodhari has posed.
One is easier! That's what they say. Eight nods. And then--
Horrid, Yuliana says once Eight manages a second time. And that's fair enough, says Eight's expression. She lifts an eyebrow in surprise about her wife, and, and, and so many things. She does see the point where Yuliana wants to do those things. Just as surely, she notes that she doesn't do that.
"Both of your lives. That's what I noticed, too. ...Your wife isn't someone I'd have thought of in those terms before. But it's undeniable now that you were both manipulated by that entity."
To kill Her...
"To be honest..." Eight sighs. "Even if you changed your ways from today, even if you never hurt another person again--you're right. Too many people would call for your blood, yours and hers. For 'justice', for 'revenge'..." She shakes her head.
"I'm not going to tell you you should lay down and die, of course. Quite the opposite. If you aim to take the fight to this entity, this Empress, then..."
"I have more than my own feelings to consider. So I can't make any promises here and now. But if that's your aim, I think it's an aim worth pursuing."
"Are you going to be all right there, though? It turned the Empress into... well. Into what she turned into. Do you think you'll be able to retain your 'self' since you're going with someone else, instead of going it alone?"
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
"My wife is in the same position as I am," Yuliana says, in such a delicate way as to avoid making any statements about Elisa's strength directly. She still doesn't want to embarrass her in front of other people. "We just... had no idea. We knew some things -- you know, I knew that Her speech derives from OCU English, and my wife knew she was a part of Her -- but time travel? It wasn't even a possibility. It still feels like utter fiction."
Surely it will never come up again.
Yuliana frowns, when Eight brings up how welcome they are on the Earth. "That's... also true," she says, clearly troubled. "And for a time, it was the extent of our reason for leaving. But running away from that was why that woman cast that other Elisa into the Void in the first place... so that can't be the only reason. Earth has forgiven worse villains than us. We could stay." She takes a breath, looking up to the trees. "... but with no one on the other side, She might rebuild Herself. So, you see, this way is better for everyone."
It's worth pursuing, though. At least she thinks that. And...
Yuliana tilts her head, lifting a tentacle to look at it, as she contemplates Eight's final questions. "Have I retained my 'self'?" She asks, turning its 'face' towards Eight, instead. "The Void has changed me... but I am no less myself than when I started. It's as I said, earlier -- about Her language. When She says, 'Y oni fia-kio-kh'ia,'" and the words scratch at her throat, not entirely built for human vocal chords, "it means, quite directly, 'I am vengeance'. And you see, there -- 'I' has become 'Y'. Speak the sounds; you will find them similar on your tongue. Repeat, 'v', and 'f'. You see? Your tongue sits in the same place of your mouth. It is only its retraction which changes. We see this over and over, the method of voicing warped, the details changed, some sounds in different places -- but the sentence structure remains the same. The word order remains the same. Subject, verb, object. What appears to be impossible speech is not so different from the words we're sharing now, on examination."
Her tentacles spread out, with her free hand, as she gestures. "The Void does change you. I am proof enough of that. But it does not create you. The Empress became such a selfish, hateful woman because... She had been pushed into that role." Yuliana looks sad, again, as she talks about that. "Perhaps She had always been a little spiteful... but Her negative qualities were rewarded once and once again, until the woman who was flung into the Void was consumed by Her madness. It is not so for us," she says, shaking her head. "Primarily, yes, we have each other -- we will not be shaped by loneliness and grief, as She was. But, I... have been trying not to bring more harm to others. And I've never had any desire to end the world."
She pauses, tilting her head. "... I guess it's true that I have... a different moral compass to my wife. You could worry that she might become her own horror, in the crucible of change. But I will be with her, and she values my desires, even if she does not always share them. Besides, she holds in esteem the opinion of someone else who would rather the Earth not be destroyed, so it isn't even just me! Her perspective isn't entirely like ours," Yuliana smiles, "but we'll be okay. Especially since we'll be together. I can always remind her. And she can remind me of anything I lose track of, too."
<Pose Tracker> Eight Orlodhari has posed.
Eight recognizes 'delicate' language when she hears it, but she's not about to insult Yuliana's wife in these circumstances. Besides; she's never met her, for some reason.
"I see..." The language. Time travel. And as for Earth, "That's true," she admits of 'worse villains', thinking of how many died in the war with the Zentradi. "...Well, if you're comfortable with that..." With watching. With being on the other side.
"Huh." Eight is smart enough that she can understand the linguistic discussion. Many things remain the same. "Huh. Yeah. I see what you mean."
"Well, you're more expert in this Void than I am," she admits. "But I'm glad to hear you think it works like that. Since..."
"I don't want to see what happens to Rena if this Empress gets out," she says seriously. "...I was going to ask about your wife. Different moral compass is right. But we don't have to share the same moral intuitions to have the same goals, either. If you and your wife want to stop a threat to the world, and are willing to give up your own 'mortal' lives to do it..."
She pauses. "That was my issue with Rita," she explains. "This world isn't all there is, she said--but I like the physical world. I like life. And I think you do, too."
"So I hope you can remind each other of those things, too."
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
Yuliana's wife is much more camera-shy than she is. There's a reason why she's the main act, and Elisa is behind the curtains. It's totally normal not to meet her wife!
"It's still a little confronting," Yuliana laughs, dipping another biscuit into her tea. "It's a big life change, you know? It's not good for reality if the veil is thin, so I'm leaving all my friends behind... but if I do it this way, I suppose the people I hurt don't have to make peace with seeing me at the store. I remember how I once gouged a man's eyes out for his wretched racism towards my wife, back when she was my fiancee -- and I had the thought that he was likely old enough to remember that war, before everyone made nice." Eight and Yuliana are thinking of the same thing, evidently. (Even if her story is far more horrible.) "Not that it's entirely altruistic, or anything -- you know -- worrying about assassination attempts does get quite tiring. But the Void is more comfortable to us, so we're the natural fit to stay on that side and keep an eye on things... and it works out better here, too. So I guess I am comfortable with it, huh?"
Yuliana coils her tentacles about her knees, tilting her head again as Eight brings Rena up. She listens to her speak about Rita, too. "You know, those things she said scared me to death," she sighs, taking another sip of tea. "I thought for sure everyone would leave me behind... so I wanted to find some way to chop the Newtype's legs off so they wouldn't outpace the rest of us. Outpace me. You know, it's because of what Ritechka told me that I was able to believe in my Elisa's visions... though I'm told I denied her, the first time she proposed a union." She quiets, for a moment, the chirping of bugs filling the air instead. "She kept erasing my memory and framing her desires differently, until she found the version of her story I embraced... that's when we first started going steady. It's a little -- messed up," she stumbles over it, with an awkward little laugh, "ha, but, I just thought to myself, it was a strange type of arranged marriage. Since we had no choice but to get together, but we found love, anyway." 'We' had no choice, she says, because Elisa could do nothing but compel Yuliana to be with her. She couldn't deny the Empress's will, back then.
"... but... Reka may be instrumental to our efforts," Yuliana goes on, because she didn't forget about her. "You saw the Void spilling open like that... it's because I am both its Lock and Key. If I go through, there would be no one to close the Gate... but I am not the only woman thus touched, in this time. Reka has her own bond with the Void. I believe she could close it... after all, she already assisted me in doing so, once." When the Void's influence pulled back from Earth, at the North Pole. "And," she adds, "I do not think it will destroy her. But she may surely be destroyed, if the Empress is allowed to batter down the hatches of reality and tear through the world's canvas."
<Pose Tracker> Eight Orlodhari has posed.
Confronting. That's a word for it. Eight has a good enough poker face that she doesn't immediately react to gouging a man's eyes out, which is for the best overall. That war... Yes. It's a different kind of example, but they have it there. "I see. Well, all right. So long as you are."
She has to work it out, but--
Rita... "Mm. I don't condone how you did it... But I don't blame you being afraid, either. I wouldn't want that kind of world anyway. There are too many things in the physical world I like. Maybe, one day, humanity will be luminous beings or... something. But personally, I hope that in a thousand years we're still getting a chance at material life."
Mind control. Eight frowns, and can't keep that to herself entirely, but the way Yuliana explains it... She had no choice, was it?
Maybe she really didn't. That's the scary part.
"It's true. Arranged marriages can work out fine. ...If you look at it that way, that makes sense."
Rena. "I see..." She nods. "I remember, she did. And I should hope it won't." But, "...It's up to her, of course. But I think if that Empress gets out, we're all doomed anyway. We saw as much. And while maybe we could fix it this time..."
Better not to get there.
She has other questions--other things she wonders--but...
"Mm." She considers, for a moment. "...What about your nephews? The people in that Calling?" She pauses. "...If it's necessary, what I can offer is sanctuary to some of your people who want to escape NUNE. We'd have to work out the details... But I'm willing to put something on the line to help the vulnerable."
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
Yuliana spared a single thought for that guy, but she still doesn't really regret gouging his eyes out. (Or leading to his death, for that matter.) He was racist towards her wife. Perhaps it's for the best Eight doesn't flinch, so she doesn't have to get into it.
(She's already admitting enough faults, surely she doesn't have to admit them where they deserved it.)
"Dr. Devi was distracting me," Yuliana sighs. "I see that, now. After a trail of bodies... unfortunately." She can at least express remorse over people like Concentric and Rena. That's something, isn't it?
"Even if you could fix it," Yuliana frowns, "if She did not claim me, She would try again. And I've no doubt She would repeat the cycle, were I to die without falling into Her clutches. Even now, She screams that She will 'fix' me. She will not let me go." And her frown deepens, as she adds: "... which is another way she's different to my wife, you know. After everything came out... she offered to let me leave, if that's what I wanted. But I won't leave her... after what I've seen."
Yuliana bites at the inside of her cheek, only for alarm to spread over her eyes as she realises she bit the wrong side and her mouth is now protesting because she still has a fang. Consequences?! She sips some tea to cover it up, but her expression is easy enough to read, anyway.
"We've -- not yet settled what to do there, precisely," she admits, after that moment. "The childrens' wishes are important, of course, but they are still young... as for the Calling, at present they are welcome to join us, but I know not how many will do so. I am... trying to give them all the information." It's kind of hard to be real with your cult, for some reason.
<Pose Tracker> Eight Orlodhari has posed.
Eight isn't entirely without sympathy. After all... She'd probably have punched him, if it was the 'her' of a few years ago.
"She was. They do that. People like her. ...Though at least that one's gone for good."
To repeat the cycle... Eight frowns. That's true. "Even if she can't destroy this world like she did the last timeline, knowing that we were leaving other people to be harmed by her..." It's not just their world to save, then; it's the other potential worlds that could be harmed, if she tries again.
But different? "I see. ...Yes, that's a difference. I'm glad she gave you the choice."
Was it an informed full choice? Maybe, maybe not. But Eight will take Yuliana's word for it for now.
She passes over a napkin from her side of the table when Yuliana looks alarmed.
"Right. Sometimes our job is to not give them what they want," Eight agrees about how they're still young. But the Calling... Hm. "All right. Well, as I said. Let me know. There are things I can and can't do, but offering refuge to people NUNE would blame for your actions is one of the ones I can."
She considers, then, mulling over her tea, and looking down.
"...If you become some sort of... void goddess," Eight says. "Will you have the chance to create something new, too?"
She keeps looking into her tea, for the moment, and then looks up to Yuliana. "Adoption is important. It's wonderful. But you were sad that you couldn't have your own."
Eight looks back up at Yuliana. "If you're freed from what Dr. Devi did to you physically... Maybe that'll change. Hell if I know what that looks like in your situation, of course."
"...But I hope you can get what you've hoped for, anyway."
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
"Good riddance," Yuliana grumbles, on Dr. Devi.
"... my wife bid me promise not to continue the cycle," she sighs, when Eight speaks of all those worlds. "Not to harm other versions of 'us' as the Empress did. But our feelings are not Hers, in this."
And her feelings... Elisa is at least making more of an effort to honour them. She even made sure that Yuliana could spend time with her friends, just the other day! It is, if nothing else, an improvement.
Yuliana pat-pats at her lips, and folds the napkin over so the trace of blood isn't visible. She didn't just bite herself like an idiot because she forgot she had too many teeth. That definitely never happened.
"I can let them know," she decides, after a moment's pause, "that you've offered them amnesty. They may find that option less confronting, themselves."
And then she goes silent, for a few more moments, looking down at her teacup. A Void Goddess... huh.
"The Empress does have children," she starts, uncertain. "In a sense. Indeed, those dragons my Elisa summons are one reflection of them. It's why... I can't be sure She won't return, even if we kill Her. Because She may have left something of Herself, in Her rosebushes. But... once I'm there..."
Yuliana looks up to Eight, with a small smile. "Maybe... I could do that. It would be very nice. I'm sure they'd not resemble any child you'd know, but I'd love them, all the same."
<Pose Tracker> Eight Orlodhari has posed.
"Yes." Good riddance indeed.
"Hm. I see. That's... good."
Elisa must be... something, to be with. But Eight doesn't draw attention to that or the blood besides having handed over the napkin. Instead, she listens to Yuliana's reply about the Calling. "All right. Just keep in touch with me about it; you know how to reach me."
And it's not through horrible blood mirrors.
The Empress... has children. It's good to know--and it does confirm her idea. But Yuliana actually smiles.
Eight smiles back. "I'm sure they wouldn't," she agrees. "But they'd be yours. And there's something to that."
She sips her tea. "...I'll finish my cup and let you go. But thank you for meeting with me. It's..."
"Been reassuring. I'll discuss with my people what support we can offer in your operation."