2025-01-16: Leina's Resolution
- Log: Leina's Resolution
- Cast: Yuliana Kafim, Elisa Kafim, Leina Ashta
- Where: The Photon Power Labs, Fujinomiya City
- Date: 2025-01-16
- Summary: Leina gets to speak with Yuliana and Elisa one last time, as the wives finish setting up Elisa's sculptures in the parks. She gets insight into the feelings Elisa was working out, through them... and then, she gets to face the consequences of meeting Yuliana in secret like this for so long.
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
Yuliana and her wife have been haunting the parks around the Photon Power Labs, the past few days. And of course touching grass and feeding ducks are important goals in their own right -- particularly when one is going to a place with neither ducks nor grass -- but they've had an evil scheme this whole time!
Oh, wait, no. It's a... regular scheme. There's not even a single damned soul involved. She assured Leina of this, when she last sent her a message, suggesting she come check out their works in the parks when she has some time. It's a message which joins many more, in Leina's history, inviting her to come accompany her to disguised outings or to talk on the phone. She's made sure that scrapbook isn't bereft.
Over the past few days, sculptures have been installed throughout the parks. Some are strange and terrifying, others abstract; but all, in their way, are beautiful, from an array of cubes and spheres inlaid with the sigils of individuals and organisations (named with a plaque as 'Community'), to an unsettling sculpture of She Who Devours, terminating in a dull-eyed copy of Elisa. (She is called, 'Rage'.)
And there's one last sculpture to install. Of course the wives work together, fixing her to a platform so that she can be admired by those passing by the grass; they've picked a lovely little glen in the park, shaded by an old cherry blossom.
Yuliana, in repose, as if sleeping peacefully; with no abstraction to her, nor draconic features or horrors, the curves and jags of her face and curled body speak to a deep appreciation of her as she exists in this world.
"It really is beautiful," Yuliana sighs, as she steps back from the pillar hosting the sculpture. A plaque at its base names the sculpture, simply, 'Yuliana', by the artist Elisa Kafim. "I had no idea you'd captured me so well, zhenushka... and look, now they'll see me as they come to view the falling petals. Isn't it wonderful?"
She takes Elisa's hands in hers, and lifts up on her toes to match the height of Elisa's heels so that she can kiss her, right there in the park. How indecent!
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
A regular scheme that Elisa would not have thought of on her own... but is glad to be a part of, now. To share her art was never her intention, but now that it is out of her drafty Castle, out in the real world, perhaps people will appreciate it... or perhaps not. It might unsettle; it might comfort. It might do any number of things, but now it simply 'is' in the world.
And this last...
Ah, yes.
Elisa steps back and looks upon the sculpture. She did not require power tools or much assistance to move her art into place; those were used more for anchoring it, for solidifying where they must be.
Even if they are destroyed, they will have been here. Shown to others.
And this...
Elisa leans down to kiss Yuliana back. "My darling," she says, and looks to it. "I wished to capture you only as you are. Not how I wish you to be. ...That is a distinction I have had some trouble with in the past..."
"...But no more. We shall become what we will, together."
<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.
It's the curse of a Newtype to know the intentions of someone almost immediately before meeting them. In her case, even before doing so.
She doesn't stop walking... until a meaty hand lays upon her shoulder.
"Who're you meeting?"
"Some friends." She said, without meeting Kenanji's eyes. "We're on the grounds, that means I don't need supervision-"
"How long have you been doing this?"
She sighs, then adjusts her scarf, "... On and off for years."
"You're unbelievable." He says as he grasps his radio, "I'm calling this in-" And fully tries to grab her wrist to twist it behind her back.
But before he can, "They're leaving forever, and never coming back." "And what difference does that make? They still need to be held accountable for their crimes against humanity-"
"That's out the window. Everything is." She replies ever so softly. "Maybe the world ends in the next few days - but it won't be by them."
Something cracks in her voice, even as she holds firm, "Just let me say goodbye." His finger hovers over the radio comm, "You have no idea what you're asking of me, Leina."
"I know exactly what I'm asking of you." She tells him, and for a time... the two are standing off, their eyes on each other, his hand on comm...
-=-=-
Leina continues walking, it's unknown how long after, down the path, as she looks upon one sculpture after another. At some points, she stops, looking upon them.
At others she passes by... each one leaves a mark, as she approaches the pair at the last installation.
Where she stops...
It's hard to watch the two kiss, knowing what their relationship was before. Maybe however... some part of her is jealous.
An ugly part.
They came back from worse than she was able to. Though maybe it'll be years back. Or centuries - given what they said.
"It's a nice piece." Leina eventually comments, while looking at the sculpture, not at them. It's notable perhaps, since she's hardly prudish.
"I can't really comment on the technical work, but... well - there's something nice and classical about this one."
She's wearing a pink jacket, over several layers of shirts, including a turtleneck, a scarf, long sleeves and gloves... and warm winter pants, over some boots.
-=-=-
"This really isn't the career for her." Kenanji says to himself, while watching from a local Starbooks porch, downing a coffee and a pastry.
That the glasses he's wearing are actually surveillance gear- well...
"... that soft heart is going to get more than just her killed."
Who can say what kind of deal the two made? But... either way, he's allowing this, if only for now.
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
OST: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezdyy7FeF8M Icon for Hire - You Can't Kill Us
Their relationship has changed, of late. Yuliana can feel it, and doesn't even need a Newtype's curse to do so; her wife has been making an effort. Like when she proposed displaying her artwork, after Elisa gave her that private showing...
Her cheeks glow with affection, as she lowers back down on her feet. "You captured me perfectly," she says, gazing up to her wife. "And now... Yaka's visitors can look on your works, and know that you had your own feelings about this world and your life. That you were more than their nemesis..."
She turns with a smile, when she hears Leina comment, still clasping her wife's hands tenderly. She is, nominally, dressed in a disguise -- a hijab covering her hair, makeup covering that wretched scar down the left side of her face, a bomber jacket zipped up and a little too round around the waist. It's still not difficult for Leina to know who she is, though... because there's no hiding that aura around her.
"Isn't it nice?" She asks, her voice warm. "Like I'm her very own Venus! Oh, you can really feel Elya's appreciation for me, just as I am. She made me so beautiful."
Squeezing Elisa's hands, Yuliana finally releases them, so she can step out and open her arms to offer Leina a hug instead. "I'm glad," she adds, softly, "we were able to see you again. It won't be long, now... everyone's almost ready."
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
Elisa has changed, though she will likely never be 'human' in the same way that most Half-Meltrandi are. But she is glad of Yuliana's praise. "Yes... Whatever they wish to think of me is their own business," of course, "But I suppose it is well, to leave a mark that is not a scar. When I reclaim my Power from the world after the Empress's defeat, my other marks shall fade."
But Elisa is not... particularly disguised, as it happens. She is not in her robes, and perhaps that's good enough.
"I thank you," Elisa says to Leina of her compliment. "Classical... yes. Most of my sculptures have been different, but I wished to impart... her, more than only my feelings about her. If you also see it, then perhaps I have succeeded."
"You are beautiful, but it is not because I have made you so," she says. "...If anything, it is you who have shaped me. Shaped me beyond what She intended me to be."
Elisa is definitely not going to hug Leina, but she does incline her head towards her respectfully.
"...You would have been worthy, either as apprentice or ultimate adversary," Elisa says to Leina. "But I understand, now. The power that I could grant you... it could not grant your wish. So I shall stop offering."
Pause. "...Unless you've changed your mind, here at the end. But I imagine not."
"...But you were right about many things. Not all. But many. I understand more than I once did, of humanity, and what 'matters' to those who keep it."
<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.
"I think you have." She says, quietly, "At least - in my opinion." She clarifies, because she's not an artist... but, well - she has opinions on the opinions of artists in art.
Her eyelids shutter slowly, briefly at Yuliana speaking of her being Elisa's own Venus. 'Not just hers' she might have added. A relationship of parallels becoming opposites...
... or so she hopes...
"You can." She says with a smile, because, despite Elisa being very dull to her senses - she can. At least until Yuliana comes and wraps her arms around her.
And that sensation of appreciation from Elisa is replaced by the warmth of her arms as she hugs her back.
"So soon..." She murmurs, softly, and for a while, she doesn't know what to say about this. "... Yeah... I'm glad I was able to see you again too."
She finally decides upon, it's at least, stalling some, to get her feelings in order.
And as they do finally part from the hug, she listens to what Elisa has to say... and perhaps it's to get her thoughts in order...
"I wish I could say it was never really about being right... but sometimes, I guess it was."
She admits, softly to Elisa, "Old habits really do die hard... but, it's not just about being right." She says as she puts her hands back in her pockets, "It's about wanting something good, for the people in your life."
...
"And that means you too, Doctor Kafim." She says, as she returns to the title. "I don't know. It's hard for me to feel good about this still... just - the people in my life changing to be... something else?"
Words fail her again, and after a sheepish shrug, "It's never been an occasion to celebrate, really. It means every so often someone I really wanted to get the chance to live shows up to tell me... I should, instead."
It's hard to keep it together admitting that, but she does. "So... sorry. I can't change my mind." She says with a smile at Elisa, "Even if I really wanted to. ... Right now - I think I'd rather just lock this in."
A beat.
"Just how human the both of you really are... always were... and always will be."
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
"Oh, Elya," Yuliana sighs, smiling to her wife, still quite lovesick. (She would say there's much to be jealous of, even given their past history.) "You have become so beautiful, yourself... and I hope there will be people who will glimpse that beauty, through these works." As opposed to -- the others, which will fade. "Though," she adds, smiling, "I think Leyasha has already!"
Even if she's not an artist -- if she still appreciates the work, Yuliana is happy, too.
She gives Leina a good, supportive squeeze, though she takes care not to hold her too tightly. (She has to mind her strength, and surely she's not the only one.) "Feel how you feel," she encourages her, gently.
When she steps back, she takes Elisa's hand again, squeezing her hand just the same. "You are wise," she agrees, with her wife, on Leina's measure. "And the things you saw were real. But Elya gave me a choice -- a real choice -- when it all became clear. And... I chose to be with her with clear eyes."
She smiles, gesturing with a hand, loosely. "Then I won't tell you to live," she supposes, "but I will just assure you that I will keep on living, instead. My humanity is precious to me... and I intend to preserve it, in the ways which I can. Though I will surely change, in the Void... I do not wish to leave that humanity behind. I will take it with me... alongside my memories."
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
In Leina's opinion... "Yuliana values your opinion. ...I suppose I also do, as I think of it. I accept this."
Yuliana is adoring, and Elisa smiles. It almost looks real; it's not so toothy as usual. "Perhaps so. I would like that."
Elisa continues not to try to hug Leina. She waits, and does not show obvious jealousy, as Yuliana hugs Leina. Instead, she waits. ...She can accept this. After all, she has eternity...
A look at Leina, as she speaks of being right--and otherwise. "Me as well?" she wonders. "How strange. I have done nothing but harm you and frustrate you. And yet..." Hmm. "...It is fair, to feel bad about it, I think. We are giving up that which you value most. ...Even I, who consider myself far from human... do remember what it was like, to be Half-Meltrandi, and half-human. What it was like to be a mortal being, if only a bit."
A look to Yuliana, and she squeezes her hand as well. "I did. If she chose to stay, I would not object. ...I have controlled her choices in the past; no more. We have agreed on this."
A look to Leina. "I also wish to hang onto that which I enjoy about the mortal realm. I wish to shape matter, not only ephemera. ...And those who have chosen to Ascend may decide to settle with us, or on their own. We shall have... company."
"I will not turn into what the Empress became. I will not destroy that which I wished to hold in fruitless hatred."
"...I respect your desire to see Yuliana remain human. To see 'humanity' continue to matter. For that reason..."
"You shall not see me again, after we travel there. My nature, as it is now... I cannot exist in this world without harming it, any longer."
"...But I will admit," she says. "Now that I know enough of this world to care at all for it... I do feel as if I am giving something up. Perhaps that will be the comfort we offer you; that we know we turn out backs on something precious, and do so anyway."
<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.
There's a faint smile, "That sounds like it was a tough one for you." And she shamelessly just, winks at Elisa, "I accept this too."
Feel how you feel.
There's a soft laugh, "I dunno - how I feel has caused problems you know." She says with a smile, and while she won't say Puru One... she doesn't have to.
A choice.
"See when you put it like that - it makes it hard to feel how I feel." She says, almost apologetically, "But I won't spend what might be our last meeting gainsaying it."
Clear eyes. How can they be? How can anyone be after all that?
"I don't even know if I broke up with someone who my soul will always be a part of with clear eyes."
And it's a difference between them, perhaps - to be so close to someone like that, and to choose to leave... it's as much difference as choosing to stay.
'Then I won't tell you to live...'
"Well... I think I might try it." She says with a head tilt, and a close eyed smile, "Assuming we all make it through what comes next."
Maybe the world isn't fair, and never will be. But she gave it her all to try and give Yuliana this chance. That it ended in a manner not of her preference...
... doesn't mean the effort wasn't worth it...
... doesn't mean she had to choose to put in that effort...
She could have lived her life with a clear conscience, had she been really thinking clearly about it all. Said it was 'good enough' said 'she tried her hardest' but...
... it's almost like liberating herself from that feeling, by knowing the effort had some small amount of meaning to someone...
Hands in her pockets, she looks at Elisa, and- "Speaking as someone who may never know how much of Puru One was really just me... I can't know how much was just what was done to you. And maybe neither can you. I guess that's something all three of us share in a way."
It's perhaps an ugly way to put it - but it's also fair, within her eyes. "In different ways, all of us have to live with who we are - who we were made to be - as best as we can. How much that matters to each of us - is up to us too. ... And so is what we do next."
She rubs the back of her head, "I guess I'm feeling weird philosophical today... hope I don't sound too preachy.... Anyhow, here's how I see it..." As she finishes rubbing the side of her head, she smiles at Elisa, "...that it's in your nature to harm the world - I think that makes you just as human as the rest of us. We could be exploring other galaxies... or at least colonizing Saturn. Instead we're still fighting over this."
She taps her foot to the ground as if to demonstrate. "Still... I guess I can admit part of me wonders what it would be like. Maybe... that's the best way for me to see it."
It's always been a risk to discuss this thought with Yuliana as she looks vaguely up.
"Not Gods... just explorers of somewhere far, far from here."
Sucking in a breath, she sighs, and...
"... I'll miss you." She says softly as her gaze now trails down, as if it's at a place where she'll be staying, "Maybe it's selfish, but part of me hopes... I'll be able to feel you out there."
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
Elisa is very considerate not to be jealous, and she is rewarded with more handholding. Yuliana can express affection to other people without diminishing the affection she has for her wife! "Elya has done many difficult things, of late," Yuliana smiles. "And I'm proud of her!"
Yuliana tilts her head, scratching at her cheek with her free hand. "Well... I've done my own share of hurting Leyasha," she points out, to her wife. "And not just in leaving, now." She doesn't like to admit it... but it's true, anyway. "... still, I wished to do something other than that hurt, before the end."
It's hard to feel how you feel... but that's always been true.
"Haa... I admit, we might not," Yuliana sighs, glancing aside. "Some part of me worries, that we're setting this trap, whether we might be inviting that force into this world... but She's already proven She will break through regardless, hasn't She?" She looks up, to the sky, tilting her head. "So either She tears through at a place of Her choosing, or of ours... I would not trust Her not to manifest in the middle of Tokyo, to be frank."
(It's a classic.)
"But we will fight our best," Yuliana decides, looking back to Leina, squeezing Elisa's hand. "And I could not have done such a thing without you, I think. I can imagine a world where I accepted Her wrathful affection... and I did not push Elya to define herself outside of Her. There's what was done to us... but what we now do is a different matter. A matter I could nor have conceived of, alone."
She has to laugh, though. "Still, preachy? Even if you are, Leyasha, I love you for it. You are my dear, preachy friend. There are some things we will remain, no?" Sorry, Leina. You're the designated driver. You will always be the designated driver.
She gives Elisa's hand another little squeeze, saying that, as if to reassure her that it's okay, and her heart is big enough to have a little love spare for other people.
"Still... explorers, is it?" She wonders, looking up at the sky again. "Maybe that's a good way to look at it... we certainly don't intend to be tyrants of the realm. We want to make a home of the Void, because it is not necessarily such an evil place as the Empress has made it."
She smiles, looking back to Leina. "We must close the Gate and secure fast the veil. But..." A light pause, as she thinks. "... I think that if anyone had the potential to know we were still there, to the left of this reality, it would be people like you, and Reka, and Sharochka. You were close to the Void... so it's not impossible. Though..." She shakes her head, still smiling. "I ask, if you do still see where we went, that you do not knock. It is best for this world that it does not come too close to that one... but though I will not be able to reach through, I hope you will know that I still think of you."
She clasps her free hand to her heart. "For I will miss you, too. I will miss the Earth... I even spent a while just laying in the grass, the other day, in hopes that I would remember the feeling enough to make my own. But there are some things I cannot craft, from matter or ephrema... and you are amongst them, Leyasha."
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
Pride! From someone else! It's very big. And of course, Yuliana has done her own share, and Elisa inclines her head. "That is true. But indeed... we both had this wish."
Leina winks at Elisa and Elisa doesn't quite laugh, but she does tilt her head. "...Yes," she agrees. "And, well..."
"Feelings cause many problems. Yet they are worth having."
As for making it through, "I have... a contingency plan," Elisa says, "Of how to make it through. But I do not intend to use it, and so I will not share what it is. But I assure you--with all my Power and might, I will work to see that Yuliana sees tomorrow, and those she cares for. ...And myself, of course. I fully intend to become the victor, and have my revenge."
But as Leina speaks her ugly, harsh truths, Elisa nods. She respects this more than she would a platitude, preachy or not. "Indeed. I cannot know. I can only progress from here, and try to find a 'self' with which I can be contented. ...Perhaps that is part of why I wish to spare Earth. I have chosen it."
But... Hmmm. Just as human...?
"I once believed that kaiju were the way forward for human evolution. ...Perhaps it is not 'evolution' that humanity needs in this sense at all. But I see your point..."
A pause. "To explore the vast expanse of the Void with my wife..." Elisa considers Leina's phrasing, the way she poses it. "...Then I think, whether you call me 'divinity' or no, I am satisfied. That is what I wish. To see where we can go together. To see what we can become, together."
She nods to Yuliana, and squeezes her own hand. "Preachy is acceptable. And... indeed. We do."
She waits, for Yuliana to explain. "...If anyone can find the way," she says, "It is young Shari. But I ask that you do not ask it of her. Even if you miss my Yuliana terribly. And why should you not? She is a glorious creature."
"But to 'feel' us... This would be acceptable."
She considers that. "...I think I will miss you, as well, though we were certainly not 'friends', I think. ...There is much unique in humanity. I ask only this of you, now."
"...Live. I will ask that of you. Live, as best you are able. And as much as you wish."
"We shall craft many new wonders," she says. "...But there are many here, too. As my wife says."
<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.
Yuliana has done her share of hurting her. And for once she can believe... she didn't deserve it. And maybe - she should have never subjected herself to it.
Despite this outcome.
Nevertheless, things worked out anyway - somehow - and she can call herself part of that.
"Then can you do something else for me?" Leina asks quietly, "Don't die on me - now that we're here."
Maybe as a Newtype she shouldn't see death as something horrible... but something peaceful, and wonderful...
... but she can't help it, it's part of the human condition to cling to life. "You have to make it, where you're going."
Even if she can't convince either of them to live on here. She can at least believe they made it, to something other than an early grave.
Despite Elisa's assurances, she has to say that.
"I don't know what's the right call." She admits, soon after, "When I joined Cathedra - I wanted to be the kind of person who stops... people from making decisions for all of humanity."
Keeping her hands in her pockets, "People like Martha." She admits, "But I don't know. If it's just kicking the can down the road for an unknown time - then... I'm not sure how much good putting it to a vote would do. Maybe it's not fair to people just trying to live their lives - but the Empress would care even less about it doing this on her own terms."
That much, she can say for certain...
"I've never been the hot-blooded type... even the first time I climbed into a cockpit on my own accord, it was to protect someone." She flashes Yuliana a rueful smile. "That much hasn't changed."
Couldn't have done a thing without her? She has to take a shuddering breath, dabbing her eyes with the back of her hands to try and hold it together.
"... Yeah." She nods, momentarily overwhelmed, unable to form words, before she darts her a mildly irritated look at being called preachy multiple times, "Hey." 'You don't have to rub it in.' she seems to say, but it seems mildly teasing.
"Oh I think we'll definitely evolve. Life keeps changing - just like the world we live in. But for the first time in history... how we evolve - has become more than natural selection."
And there's a smile to the scientist, "It's become a conversation. That we're all a part of. Terrifying isn't it? Terrifying... and wonderful. Maybe the Newtype will be a branch that doesn't make it." She shrugs to herself, "Maybe we'll all choose something different for ourselves... rather than leaving it to nature. I don't know. Kaiju might be the way forward yet."
Her objection was never to the Void itself, she knows - to Kaiju, but to it being enforced upon all of them. Overriding that process of humanity deciding what it will become - or deciding to let nature keep figuring it out for them.
"I think I'll keep calling you 'Doctor'... you earned that long before any of this happened to you." She winks, "And a woman deserves that respect - no matter where they go."
Divinity? No. She knows they're people. Even the Empress, was a flawed and hurt person once. Now she's more a raw force of nature.
"Guess... we'll see. We can't know until we know." She says of feeling Yuliana, her nature might change. How they interact with each other will change. "Of course I won't knock." She sounds scandalized, "Have you ever even met my generation? I'll text, and you'll deal with it. There'll be at least five emojis and a sticker or three of my favorite cat memes."
But... she'll be thinking of her? "You'll probably long outlive me. If I do have kids - be sure to be more thoughtful about thinking about me that the Empress was of you."
She holds up a finger, "If you give my great-grandchildren nightmares don't think I won't do more than think back your way."
It's teasing, of course.
A little humor to prevent from breaking down... thinking of the implications. It's one final meeting.
As for Elisa's remark, she admits, "To be honest, I wouldn't have ever expected you to want to be. Remember that time you looked at me after I admitted to feeling 'Her' the first time?"
There's a shrug of her shoulders, and an apologetic look, "I called you a monster, after. And for the longest time after - I thought that was true, as I heard more of what you did to Yuliana. I spent so much time trying to reach out to her - only to know you were doing everything in your power to make certain to twist that in your favor."
It's all true, but...
"I didn't realize you were really capable of... being different, like this. If I had - maybe I would have tried harder reaching out to you. Maybe... that would have ended badly for all of us... I don't know."
Indeed, she can't know.
"Don't break her heart. Eternity is a very long time to be with someone - you promise me that, and keep it - and maybe one day... even if we can no longer speak... you'll be someone I'd be honored to be friends with."
She smiles and there's a shrug, "But maybe not too - humans... we're messy like that. You killed a lot of people, Doctor Kafim. Probably way more than I'll ever know."
The fact Elisa killed a lot of people is NOT worth a shrug, just the fact that Leina doesn't know how she'll feel about that come ten - twenty years from now.
"So make it mean something. Maybe it's delusion to think that you can make it mean something by what you do next. That there's any meaning to taking responsibility for those who are gone. But... that's part of being human, too."
Maybe those humans still mean nothing to Elisa, and never will - but if she's found value at least in Leina's words...
... then she'll find her voice, and hope it helps to create better for all of them.
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
"Don't worry," Yuliana reassures Leina, twining her fingers between Elisa's. "Just like Elya, I fully intend to succeed. Not that I have anything like a contingency plan," she adds, chuckling, as she turns her fond gaze to her wife. "I've always been far more direct, haven't I, zhenushka? But," she looks back to Leina, still smiling, "I certainly won't die on you. This time is different than the last. We are different than the last."
All that tragedy -- began long before that Yuliana died. But no doubt it took a turn for the very worst, when she did.
But they've made a pledge -- not to repeat time again.
She sighs, her head canting to one side. "It's not very democratic," she admits, "though I suppose that system has always been a touch removed from my experience, no? Well, true democracy, I should say." There are plenty of places, like Sri Lanka, which act as though they elect their officials... but Yuliana knows very well those elections are neither free nor fair. "But... I hope that the arena we have chosen will keep Her from destroying too many. And in this, I owe you my thanks, as well... since I did not care to know all the places people lived, up there." Yuliana sighs, gesturing with her free palm. "Even so... not all space is empty, is it? Ah, Shelby would not have forgiven me if we brought the Empress to existence over Sweetwater."
Does Yuliana fear Shelby's wrath so much that she ended up staging their battle at the exact opposite point to the cook's colony? That is a secret she will take to the Void.
"It's all right," she assures Leina, "I am hot-blooded enough for the both of us. And I've always chosen the Earth!" She adds, turning and clasping her other hand to Elisa's, smiling widely to her. "It's exciting to find contentment in that, isn't it? The Empress has nothing to do with it!"
She grins, as she looks back to Leina, giving her that Look over being called preachy. "Heh heh..." She still has to give her a bit of a hard time, apparently. That's what friends do!
"A conversation... well, if it's what someone wants, that's fine, isn't it?" Yuliana wonders, pressing her free hand to her cheek and tilting her head into it. "Even if it's with Kaiju. They're a part of the world, as well, after all."
But it's Yuliana's turn to huff, when Leina insists she'll text. "None of those emojis ever make sense with the message!" She complains. "What on earth does sparkle umbrella heart mean?! When it wasn't even raining!" She laughs, though, a moment later. "I do hope you make plenty of those me-meys with Sokrova, though. He's a good boy, so he's very photogenic." Yuliana knows how to pronounce 'meme'; Parminder is her best friend. She's doing that on purpose.
"Haa... though I will live long past you, won't I?" She wonders, turning thoughtful. "Don't worry. I have always loved children, and I do not think I will forget my concern for them, in the Void. If by some chance your great-great-great-granddaughter mines through the layers of reality, I shall be sure to keep a human form with which to greet her, so I do not cause her such a fright."
She squeezes Elisa's hand, again, as Leina recounts her feelings towards her. She doesn't blame her for them, the way she once might have reflexively done; she recognises how concerned she was for her. "You operated on the information you had," she says, gently. "I will always be grateful, Leyasha, that you reached out to me... though it often harmed you. And... when you realised the extent of the Empress's actions, you looked at my wife in a new light. I can ask nothing more of you, or anyone." Yuliana looks to that statue, embedded in the park. "It is my hope that in seeing these artworks... some people will come to understand the internality of my wife, and not just her impacts. But that you have is enough, I think."
She leaves Elisa to answer the question of whether she'll break her heart -- though she does not think she will.
"... would you like to see the other sculptures?" She asks, after a pause. "We placed them throughout the parks... they are wonderful artworks, really. And now, at least, Elya can give you her artist's statements!"
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
For both of them, not to die on her, is a tall order, and yet... Perhaps it is human, to cling so to life. "You have," Elisa agrees with Yuliana's directness. "And indeed. Perhaps, alone, our strength might not be sufficient. I do not like admitting that... But it is possible. But we will not be alone. We shall triumph, and with us shall triumph these others who have come to protect their world."
"Mm. Yes. Autonomy... Once, it was an inconvenience to me," Elisa admits. "But I understand it now. There is no solution that will encompass all humans, I think. You are too... willful."
"Yes," Elisa agrees, "You have always chosen Earth. And indeed, I think... a 'conversation' seems appropriate."
She does not repeat Yuliana's thanks for a good staging point; it would be redundant. Neither does she involve herslef in the matter of...
Emojis.
"But I shall also endeavor to keep humanoid form. ...For Shari's descendents, perhaps. Take care of the girl. We are... more alike, than I ever imagined. Though it would not hurt her to do a little conquest..."
Ah, well.
But friends, "I do," Elisa says. "And to be clear: Yes. I am, and was. I am a terrible monster, a fiend who would destroy many. ...But I would like to be somewhat more than only this."
"...Perhaps this day will come. I will not break Yuliana's heart. On this, you have my word. ...Perhaps it would have ended badly. Perhaps not. But we cannot know." A pause. "...I have ended many lives. The world is deprived of what some of them might have brought to it. This is something I shall be more careful of, in the future. ...Of course, many who I killed required it. But many more did not. I hope that you shall find solutions that require less blood. ...For it seems to me that this world will drown itself in it even without my influence if you do not."
"...I do not entirely understand being human. I do not really know that there is meaning to my wishing something different for some lives. But I will, at least, stop the Empress from taking yet more."
"...yes," she says. "It will be enough, for me, to know that some few understand. It is... more, than I expected. And more than I perhaps merit from humanity."
She stops. The sculptures... "Some may be disturbing," she warns. "I made them to understand, after all. But it would be my honor to show you."
<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.
"I'll hold you to that." Leina says softly, trying and failing every so often with a brush of her hand to hide the fact that she's already been tearing up.
"I could hardly blame all of us for voting to let her come only when she comes." She eventually says of democracy, "We all have different desires. Should I tell a child it's better than we risk him dying tomorrow when his biggest concern is that assignment he put off until today..."
She takes a breath, it doesn't sit well with her now, but at the same time - it might be better this way, "This is why I'd make a poor officer in the military. Deciding where we fight our battles..."
A shake of her head, and it's clear... a choice of a location sacrifices some people for the crime of being one place or another.
"... we did our best." Is all she can declare, of the location they chose, before she clucks her tongue, "Rein it back a touch this time. I deal with more than enough of that between Judau, Koji, and Shiro..." The hot-bloodedness that is.
"I prefer the word stubborn personally." She counters to Elisa's statement of humanity being willful.
But contentment, the Empress? She shakes her head, and smiles...
"Yeah, I mean - I made friends with some, and connected with others - I would never say they shouldn't be a part of this world."
As for Yuliana complaining, what she receives in return, is Leina quite maturely, pulling down a single eyelid, and sticking out her tongue, "Buuuu~" As she leans forward briefly on her toes.
Definitely a dignified young woman.
As she lets go of her face, she smiles and threatens, "I'll make so many - but you'll understand not a single one of them." She doesn't comment on her pronunciation of me-mey- she knows she's doing a bit.
"Good. Then there'll be no problems." On both of them keeping human forms.
But when it comes to Elisa... as she admits to being a terrible monster, Leina wonders for a moment...
... what Haman might have said...
Certainly not that she was a terrible monster, she thinks... but it's interesting to hear it.
And eventually there's this sigh, and a smile, "Too little time... far too little, to talk about any of this." Of the people Elisa needed to kill - those she didn't.
It's still a very human discussion, whenever she has pulled the trigger, had to make that decision. Such distinctions run through her mind.
She's not sure they once did through Elisa's, but they do now.
"You don't need to understand. I'm not sure - any of us even get it. Not really. We're each human in our own way. For better - for worse." She chuckles, "Even one of the worst guys I ever met - he still cared for me in his own way."
...
"You'll have a lot of time to think about it. But - no way to make it up to anyone but Yuliana. Maybe... one day that'll bother you."
If so, it'll be humanity's punishment - or the punishment of Elisa's own humanity. "You'll have to help each other get through that together."
Their mutual regrets, even as the memory of life here becomes more and more distant.
In the end... "Sure... I'd love to."
She does her best not to look at her watch.
"I can handle disturbing. You should see my collection of horror films."
Little known Leina Ashta facts - the enjoyment of horror - but perhaps it's not so surprising for someone who's lived the life she has.
-=-=-
A few hours time, it's what she gets.
"You're not going to fight me putting them on."
"I won't. That was our agreement."
And as Kenanji Avery puts her in handcuffs, he at least does her the courtesy of not putting them on too tightly.
"You said you had to do this to have no regrets. Was it worth it?"
As she let herself be led to the car, "You've never asked yourself if it would be worth it to talk to any of them, one last time?"
Kenanji busied himself with the actions of putting her in the backseat of the car, and securing her things, before meeting her eyes again.
Happy Birthday to You - Witch from Mercury OST - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmKOLl05Ov0
And he thinks of a man singing even as Gund burned him alive from the inside out. The legions of children that Vanadis remnants put in those cockpits as they vanished.
One... by one...
... by one...
"Not even once." He utters, having to force his voice to become chilly. as he shuts the door behind her, and her face vanishes behind a tinted window.