2022-05-25: Renascent handover
- Log: Renascent handover
- Cast: Yuliana Dispersal, Elisa Kafim
- Where: Colombo, Sri Lanka
- Date: 2022-05-25 (0096)
- Summary: After realising that Yuliana has fallen out of contact, Elisa makes a series of bold moves in order to find her again. Ultimately, she takes custody of the Captain's care right out from under Major Pham's nose, through a mixture of brute witchcraft and generous gifts. With many revelations about Yuliana's history, it becomes clear just how dire being a subject of REA scientists really is. (CW: Medical trauma.)
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Dispersal has posed.
"Scans reveal our initial suspicions -- we've found traces of a Y-Negation Field detected in the green fold crystals. They're sub-threshold, but this proves we can catch lightning in a bottle."
"Still, using fold crystal as a medium... these results are starkly different from our earlier experiments. Have we gotten their name out of the subject, yet?"
"Not yet. Dr. Petrov is in there now, trying to figure out how much she knows."
"In this state? We haven't medicated her for close to a week. She'll be totally useless for conversation!"
"You've just got to apply some lateral thinking to it."
"Of course you'd say that -- you're a psychiatrist."
...---...
Captain Yuliana Dispersal has not been entirely absent, over the past week. She hasn't been returning home at night -- but she does appear in the office, now and then, to handle her usual desk duties.
She is... having one of her episodes. The ones where her speech becomes pressured and flighty, and she's remarkably too liable to throw things about. She hasn't gone out into the field -- appointments with medical are keeping her close to home, apparently.
That is, after all, the funny thing about their Sri Lankan office. The Nega Force are stationed here as an expression of soft power from the Republic to one of its more democratic nations, but... there's a research laboratory, right next door. They handle the medical needs of their military neighbours, as a courtesy; Yuliana, Wen, and Cascade all have different reasons to visit. (Parminder, for some reason, can't stand the place -- but he's also the most normal person on the squad, so he doesn't need specialised care.)
But she's made appearances, even if she's difficult for her team to deal with, right now. She's not a prisoner. The captain of the Nega Force wouldn't simply be under suspicion!
Of course, it's a mistake to say she can just leave, on her typical long leash. It's even a mistake to say she can contact people she doesn't need to speak to, to keep the military bureaucracy rolling over. The line just happens to go dead, or the email fails to send, in those subtle gestures of autocratic control. It's all about appearances.
This, too, is a test -- one which Yuliana can still pass, even caught on the edge of oblivion.
She's been playing the game for a very, very long time. She slipped up, with her jewellery -- but she wasn't caught with an unpublished book about worldwide destruction. They haven't found her burner phone, carefully concealed -- not that she's been able to access it, either. Of course, a certain amount of extracurricular dallying is accepted from any ranking officer of the REA; varying levels of criminal side-projects are so common as to be pedestrian. But association with Celestial Being must surely be a shade too far, she thinks, even for the corruption of her Republic.
Perhaps it's lucky that they don't suspect her in this way. Rather, their suspicions...
EXITING THE OFFICE
"This is unbelievable," Cascade grouses, as she pulls on her blouse. She's having a femme day today, so unlike the androgynous suit they were wearing at the party, she's in the most hallowed of office gear -- a pencil skirt. There's also a band-aid on her cheek. "Do you know I had to go and edit six outgoing messages today to make them something other than nonsense?"
"I'm sure they're just adjusting the Captain's meds," Wen assures her, as she slips on a broad, cheerful hat. She's in smart business casual as well, of course. There's no need to dress for a fight when they're doing paperwork. Her too-red eyes settle on Cascade, as she presses: "More importantly, are you all right, after today's... incident? She threw that stapler pretty hard..."
"Ugh, forget it," Cascade grumbles, as they get out onto the street proper. (Parminder is staying late to take care of some tasks; unlike the two of them, most of his work gets done behind a desk.) "I don't want to talk about it." She looks one way, towards a large, shadowy building with tinted windows and an ambiguous name, and then back to Wen.
"... you have an appointment too, right?" Wen supplies, smiling sympathetically as she brushes over something her coworker would rather not talk about. "I'll see you tomorrow, Cascade. Positive energy!" She insists, flashing a peace sign, and turns to walk down the street.
"Easy for you to say," Cascade grumbles, as she stalks in the other direction -- for the institute next door.
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
There is much in the world that is unbelievable. For instance, detecting the crystals' departure from Yuliana's person. That should be unbelievable. Then, the fact that there's been no contact despite this... Elisa subjected poor, poor Shari to a sleepless night figuring out how to track the crystals' presence in order to locate the office. The trackers she'd made before were useful for this purpose. And now, Elisa simply has to subvert one of dear Yuliana's companions...
She eyes the two as she watches them leave, going in different places. One says 'positive energy'. The other grumbles. This makes Elisa's decision for her quite neatly. She descends from her perch, and steps forward...
"Miss Cascade," a voice says from an alley she passes. "We have much to discuss."
She invites her deeper into the alley, out of the range of cameras, without being seen herself. It is not possible to refuse, or to become particularly loud about it.
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Dispersal has posed.
The alleyway between the buildings is an entirely unremarkable thing, all fire safety regulations. It isn't particularly untidy -- neither is it used for much.
Well, it's useful to note that the windows of both buildings which dwarf it have tinted windows, perhaps.
Cascade's head turns, as she hears a voice from that entirely ignorable avenue. "...?" She grunts, brow knitting. Her gaze snaps back to the retreating Wen, for a moment, with all the typical operative instincts...
... and then she steps into the alleyway, without a sound, away from the cameras at the thresholds. The sun is setting, out there -- which means that a place like this is all shadows.
"Who... are you?" Cascade settles on, unnerved. She has a quiet voice, just by habit -- the voice of someone who has long since learned that yelling for help is a pointless endeavour.
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
It is hard to see Elisa, even in the alley; it's too dark to make out much of her features, except for dark skin and green, green eyes. Also teeth; because she smiles. Typical operative instincts... Useful, in their way. But the sun is setting, and it is shadowy here. So Cascade asks who she is, and Elisa, the figure in the shadows, answers:
"I am someone aware of your difficulties with Captain Dispersal. Someone aware of what she means, what she will be in this world, should we let things unfold as they are."
"I am... someone who could be your friend, if you wanted. Unless you'd prefer to take your chances."
It is not really a choice. But it's important that it look like one.
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Dispersal has posed.
Cascade knows all about choices with forgone conclusions. It's how she joined the military, after all.
(She always just wanted to be a veterinary surgeon.)
She looks at the darkness, with teeth and green, green eyes. The woman in the darkness, who is aware -- "You know?" Cascade hisses, a hand reaching up to clasp by her chest. "About the Captain? The Major... he won't listen to me," she volunteers, an edge of despair to the admission. "No one gets it..."
Cascade takes a step forward, towards the darkness. (The woman, in the darkness.)
"Tell me," she says, as if it were her decision.
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
A veterinary surgeon... a noble profession. But she'd never have met Elisa that way.
That might have been for the best.
No one gets it. The presence in the darkness is sympathetic; it shows in a hand at her chest, a slow nod, the cast of her green eyes, but never in the feeling one could get of a person nearby. ...Not like Yuliana, though; it is not Silent, merely quiet. She is quiet.
"They don't understand. They think they can use her as a weapon, but they do not understand the danger. They do not understand what will happen."
"But I do."
"You are right, when you protest. It is inevitable that their research will open something inimical to life, from that woman. And you are the only one who can delay it, perhaps even stop it in time."
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Dispersal has posed.
Cascade works with Parminder, so she's used to dealing with normal people with no Awakening to speak of. This -- this isn't that, exactly; she's even harder to get a read on than he is. But it's close enough, perhaps, for her heart not to protest.
(Not that it could.)
"Me?" Cascade blinks, surprise on her face, as her hand curls to a loose fist. "But what can I do..? I know they're advancing their plans, over there... why would that monster," what she really thinks, of Yuliana, "be decompensating so badly if they weren't up to something? But -- but there's nothing I can do. You can't reason with that awful woman! Even if she comes over to sign off on things, all I can do is watch her rip everything apart!" She is not particularly loud in her dismay, but there are definite points where her voice trembles, where pain lances through.
She shakes her head, swallowing, heavily. "But the Major always just brushes me off. I'm sure he knows. He just doesn't care. Nobody cares!"
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
What can she do...? The figure allws Cascade to rage and despair over that question, in the moment. There is nothing. The pain lances through, and through the shadowy figure could never 'sense' that pain, she can hear it, can see it in her face. And she sees her talk of what the Major does...
"You," she confirms. "You are the only one, because you are the only one who sees it. You are right. They are up to something, and soon it will be too late. But there is something you can do."
"Go into the laboratory. Take me with you. I will ensure that their plans for her quiet. But I must work carefully; I cannot simply destroy the project, or they would repeat it. I must be silent. I must be targeted."
"And it must be you."
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Dispersal has posed.
"It must be... me...?" Cascade repeats, light catching at the edges of her purple eyes. She blinks; it's gone. "Of course... I'm not about to let her get away with hurting everyone like me. I'll... I'll do something about it. I'll stop her. I'll stop this!"
What lies in her heart is vengeance. And really -- if it weren't Yuliana, it would be someone else. Her world has so much to answer to, for the wounds it has carved on Cascade Wattana.
"I have an appointment," she shares, easily. "They'll ask questions about you, but... maybe we can get past them. I won't be able to get you deep into the facility, though... I'm coded as a patient in the Institute, so my movement is limited. I'd help you more if I could, really." And she really would.
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
"It must be you." Light catches; and there. There, she is hers. Hurting everyone like her--this quest is noble. It is kind, in its way. "Yes..."
Vengeance is a powerful motivator. It will do, for Elisa. And perhaps it will pay its dividends later. It need not be anyone else, though; not for now. Just enough that she is willing...
"They won't ask too many questions," Elisa reflects, still in darkness. "I will simply be your shadow. Getting me into the facility is more than enough; I can do my work from there."
A patient. Of course.
"I know you would. Together, we will face what comes."
"...So I will follow. And I will be your shadow."
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Dispersal has posed.
"My shadow... all right." Cascade nods, and turns, to the entrance of the alleyway. "Then -- follow me."
She doesn't look back, as she walks them to the facility. Why would someone glance back to see their own shadow?
The Institute for Continuing Study is the most generically named research laboratory for some miles. Even its name is not screamed from the rooftops; there's a little plaque with the title, tastefully embossed near the doors.
Those doors, of course, require key-card entry -- and luckily for Elisa, Cascade happens to have one. She grabs the ID badge from her belt, and pulls it out to swipe across the reader. The door opens --
And inside, there's a man who is armed. Not OBVIOUSLY armed -- he isn't holding a gun -- but it is, indeed, right there on his belt. "Ms. Wattana," he recognises her, by sight. He looks behind her, to the woman shadowing. "... and you are?"
The first trial.
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
Elisa follows. She is a shadow, and that is all. The Institute is the place she must go, and so she goes. She waits for the key-card entry, and for the man there. The man recognizes Cascade, of couse, by sight. But Elisa?
"I am no one," she does not say, because she does not need to say it. He hears it all the same, in his subconscious because his conscious will not comprehend it. "You did not see me," the impulse comes, "You were mistaken to imagine anyone else was here at all. And you will not dwell upon this mistake."
Her eyes flash green as she does not speak. She was never here.
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Dispersal has posed.
"Uh... hm," the guard clears his throat, as he shakes his head, and returns his attention to Cascade. "Go on through," he tells her; tells them, unwittingly.
Of course, there was only ever one person entering the building, and Cascade has more than enough reason to be here.
This is a building which banks on stark whiteness, sterile and bright. The chairs in the waiting room are comfortable enough, at least. Cascade goes to tell the woman at the desk she's here, and sits down on a single row of seats. She doesn't look back.
The Institute doesn't require a large waiting room. It isn't a public facility, after all. It serves very few patients -- and yet, regardless, has very many scientists. Like, for instance, the man whose ID reads Dr. Suresh Kumar, who steps through the waiting room from one of those locked doors. On his way out, perhaps.
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
That is all. But the stark whiteness is fine; shadows are easily cast in the light. Cascade moves to sit down, and Elisa stands near her seat for a moment, only to murmur, "You have done well. Now comes my turn... We will speak again. But you will not need to dwell upon this."
Simple commands, simple statements; it is best to keep them that way. And Elisa moves forward, stepping into the path of the doctor. "You need to use the restroom," she tells him, as she remains invisible to the room; no one else is likely to notice her at all, as she moves to that side of the waiting room. It is best that she need not erase memories of what comes next.
There will be no body left behind, but she will have a coat and an ID which will seem to match her presence.
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Dispersal has posed.
Cascade nods, eyelids lowering over her gaze. "Sure," she agrees, vaguely, as at once she decides that fateful alleyway encounter isn't much worth talking about -- much less thinking about.
Doctor Kumar looks at Elisa, and nods. "Of course." Stepping aside, into a quiet space -- his sister will be distraught, when she hears of it, but he did have an awfully stressful job. If only he'd phoned more often.
And a lab coat and an ID badge go a long way, in a sterile place like this.
The door leading further into the facility is locked, but not to Elisa. Moving with purpose is worth quite a bit; she's stopped, now and then, only for the too-inquisitive souls to wave 'Dr. Kumar' right through.
There are... a few studies, being continued, in this place. But one experiment takes up so much of their attention, as she'll find, when she comes to a records room.
This is nothing less than the current front of the Renascence Orchid Project, a team founded under the shadow of the Titans.
And their primary subject -- indeed, their only surviving subject, their unique subject --
... is Yuliana Dian, codename Dispersal.
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
His sister does not exist in Elisa's sight.
Further, further. Elisa goes, wearing a labcoat now; she is not entirely shadow, not anymore. Instead she moves forward. All is fine. All goes according to plan, thus far, until Elisa reaches the records room. There, she makes a single concession to gross physical reality; a small device, onto which she copies the data she finds.
All of it.
"Dian..." A small smile. "Hmhmhm."
"What secrets do you have for me...? Let us find them quickly."
She flips through, recording data on everything relating to Yuliana that she can get.
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Dispersal has posed.
It was a Cyber-Newtype project, with one particular twist -- mysterious cells, from a benefactor which these records don't go into. (Expunged data. Elisa's familiar with it, surely.) The REA hoped to create powerful Cyber-Newtypes in order to deal with the instability of the '0080s. Yuliana Dian -- daughter of Sashenka Dian, nee Morozov, and Colonel Tri Darma Dian -- was one of the talented recruits chosen for the experiment. She came to it of her own free will; that the subjects chose to enter into the Project, apparently, was quite important.
But the experiment was a catastrophic failure.
Most of the subjects, on exposure to the Orchid Cells, perished. Yuliana had a violent reaction to them, as well -- but hers was emotional. The world around her closed off, an empathic dead zone tearing into existence around her. She became markedly unstable, afterwards; she required years of rehabilitation before the military would consider employing her, and even started her out as a mechanic, not a pilot.
'Rehabilitation', of course, is a gentle word for it. While she did certainly have some doctors working to restore her equilibrium -- notably, amongst them, Dr. Hsieh Baihe -- the Project continued probing the depths of Yuliana's condition. It was this very push-and-pull, one of the record notes concedes, which may have led to Yuliana's incomplete recovery.
Those experiments have continued, aside, throughout the eleven years of the Project's existence. Much effort was put into cloning Yuliana -- only to find that those clones tended to have potential as Newtypes, rather than the anti-Newtype capacity they desired. They've pinpointed the Orchid Cells as a necessary final ingredient to her ill Awakening -- but efforts to replicate them from where they've bred and dwell in Yuliana's cerebrospinal fluid haven't been very fruitful thus far. Even these copy cells, unfortunately, kill people who aren't Yuliana.
They have put additional resources into figuring out how to amplify her powers -- but unfortunately, their last avenue was a failure. While they have learned a way to unlock the full potential of the Orchid Cells, all projections predict that it would spark a runaway effect which would lead to over-replication... and a painful death.
That the Cells are not of this world is, at least, something the Project established long ago -- which is why research into Yuliana has been so slow. They're working from first principles to learn anything at all.
What is clear is that Yuliana is unique, for all their efforts to change that fact. Her life is valuable, to the Project. Of course, the details of many of these experiments make it clear that her wellbeing is not so highly valued. While they do monitor her instability, their efforts to stabilise her with medication have much more to do with keeping her on the Republic's leash than it does with her own happiness.
(Dr. Baihe's notes are surely not so callous, but she... left the project, a while ago.)
The transcript of their efforts to understand this latest development may be of particular interest to Elisa -- the way a Dr. Ajit Patel interrogated Yuliana over the Fold Crystals, only for her to flatly deny their demand to know where they came from.
It seems these crystals are the subject of the latest battery of intense examinations... and why Yuliana hasn't been in contact, lately. They openly suspect a foreign researcher of interfering with her progress; they're still trying to get to the bottom of it. And to the bottom of the mystery of how these crystals can hold a sub-threshold negation field -- something which is very exciting to them, it seems. The REA is ever trying to work at scale, with quantity.
... apparently, Dr. Vivek Sharma, in studying the green crystals, has gone a little strange himself. These notes are far too clinical to use the word 'raving', but Elisa can surely translate.
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
Elisa's familiar. She doesn't stop to think of why she's familiar with that particular set of details, but she reads, and reads, and records, and records. It is all useful data. What she feels about each fact will be an exercise left to no one, because she does not display or share her emotions about it. But indeed, she notices the differences in the notes, in how they are used, in what's so slow, and in what... would project further.
she will have to get sme of these.. copy cells.
And she will have to talk with a certain other Doctor Hsieh Baihe.
But first... "Hm hm. So they've discovered my little presents..."
She finds their suspicions fair, but inconvenient, and searches for... a particular researcher who would be useful in this. On working on it. She gets names, for each of them, and then finishes copying out her data. she looks first, however, for...
Dr. Vivek Sharma.
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Dispersal has posed.
The head researcher of the project is Dr. Divya Devi, a Tamil woman who may have had some influence moving the Nega Force to this particular location. She's working today, even! Her office is deep in the facility.
The copy cells are stored in a cold storage room; it's not so hard to stop off and get a vial or two. Which is to say -- it is very hard, but Elisa has an ID badge and a bevy of tools to get past tougher checkpoints.
Dr. Vivek Sharma, meanwhile, is in one of those laboratories. Stark white, chrome tools. One crystal is in a storage container on the table; another is held by delicate claws up to a laser. The third stone from Yuliana's necklace is...
... currently in use elsewhere.
(But it's not time to fetch Yuliana, yet.)
"Of course," he laughs, a hand to his hair -- it hasn't been combed, sticking up at strange angles -- as he reads the spectral data from the monitor. "The ultimate absorption! But where does it GO? If it doesn't transmit, then -- is this destruction of energy? Hahaha..!"
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
Dr. Divya Devi will be her next stop, likely. Elisa makes a note of where her office is, and of possible routes there. She then stops off for the difficult task of picking up a couple of vials for herself. It is best not to dwell on how she does this, because she certainly has the tools.
But Dr. Sharma... yes. He is here, and it is not yet time to fetch Yuliana. it is time for this, instead. As he laughs, as he reads the data on his monitor, he is so close, so close to seeing what Elisa sees. But he cannot. Not yet.
So she appears behind him, and he will not cry out.
"It is beautiful, is it not?" she asks. "Would you like the blessing of knowledge, Dr. Sharma...? Or shall I instead show you what lies on the other side?"
"You may choose. But what 'was' is over regardless."
He really can choose. But not to raise the alarm. If he is not cooperative, Elisa will have another bite of power for the day.
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Dispersal has posed.
A chill rises up his spine. He's not totally gone, yet.
Dr. Sharma turns, with widened brown eyes, an expression which can't be called a grin insomuch as a widening of his features to expose his teeth. "What? You -- you're not ffrom around here. You...!"
His breath comes between his teeth, laboured and loud. "You can see? You can see? Then show me!" Scientists, as ever, are greedy for knowledge, but...
... can eyes which aren't green hope to see such a thing without being blinded?
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
"I'm really not," Elisa answers him pleasantly. There, his breath--he is not yet totally gone. But he is greedy for knowledge. He wishes not merely to know, but to see... and so Elisa makes her decision, based on his decision.
"Here."
Elisa reaches out to his shoulder, and there is a flash of green from her eyes, before there is a flash of black all through his body.
There will be dust left. They can analyze that. And perhaps some essence of his will travel beyond. Or maybe he's just dead, and his last sight was the dark enlightenment he craved.
Elisa doesn't especially care. She has another doctor to go see....
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Dispersal has posed.
He screams, but not for long. He might be dead, now -- but he got what he wanted, didn't he?
Another body thrown into the machines of progress. It's the way of the Republic.
The crystals, if she cares, are easily collectible.
Dr. Devi's office is in a central location to the laboratories -- so that she can easily head to any part of the facility. A dark blunette, her hair bobs at her shoulders; it's not tied back, which is the first clue she's more administrative than clinical. Hazel eyes read through a report on her computer monitor, aided by a pair of half-moon glasses.
When she hears someone approaching the office, she says, "Enter.", without looking up.
Type, type, type.
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
Elisa does care to collect her crystals. They are already primed, after all.
But Dr. Devi's office is her next destination, and Elisa, when invited, does enter. An invitation is so lovely, after all. The door closes behind her before she says anything. And then she smiles. It is colder in the room than it was before she entered. And indeed, the door... locks.
No alarms will function.
"We need to talk, Doctor. I have a proposition for you."
She reaches out, and in her hand are two green crystals, the very same she just collected.
She is cloaked in shadow, but visibly wearing a labcoat of her own.
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Dispersal has posed.
The room chills; the door clicks with a lock. Dr. Divya Devi frowns, as she looks up to Elisa, finally.
She does press the panic button on the underside of her desk -- with her leg, of course, so as to be subtle about it. It's not designed to make noise, so the fact that the alarm hasn't sounded won't be obvious for a few moments, yet.
"And who are you?" Divya asks, frowning. "I know everyone on my team, and you..." She does not remember hiring any shadows in lab coats.
She looks from the crystals, to Elisa; her frown deepens. She re-orients from demands to keeping her talking, until security can arrive. "... what's this proposition which you couldn't have made an appointment to make, then?"
Of course, security won't arrive.
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
"No one you know yet," Elisa answers. "But I would like to change that." Her green eyes are visible, now. They gleam, faintly, with stolen energy.
"I am the one you are looking for. I am the one who gave Captain Dispersal the crystals you see here."
She closes her hand over the crystals, for now. Only for now. "And I can unlock their secrets for you. But it will not be free. We must reach an... understanding."
Security won't arrive. And no recordings will note Elisa's voice.
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Dispersal has posed.
"You -- you're the one who's been tampering with MY WORK!" Divya points, angrily, and the anger in her voice is so casually dehumanising that it's surely a cultivated skill. "How did you seduce my subject into ignoring the very simple guidelines for interacting with the world I laid out?!" That whole clause about not accepting outside medicine Yuliana made reference to here and there, surely.
She settles back on her seat, smoothing her fingers through her hair, with a deliberate deep breath. "All right... all right. I'm sure you've raided the facility enough to realise they've captured our imaginations. Let's say -- theoretically -- what do you want?"
Whether she intends to entertain the idea is an open question; she's still waiting for security.
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
"Yes. That's true."
Divya points, and Elisa smiles more widely than before. Her teeth even show. It's nice that way. "Hm hm hm." How did she do it? She doesn't answer that for now. Instead, she notices that deep breath, and keeps up with her smile. "Oh, I would not be so gauche as to start with my own demands. How rude would that be! Ah, hahahah. No, no."
"I can offer you the secrets of these crystals. I can take your research farther than you even know is possible. And when I am ready to do so, I can even bring you back in, to settle the culmination of your work with your own hands."
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Dispersal has posed.
Her research...
Dr. Divya Devi has devoted over a decade to this project, with frustratingly few results. Her tongue darts out, briefly, over her bottom lip; a little gesture of vulnerability which she can't quite tamp down.
"All right," she starts, a little less sharp, as she looks over those eyes, that smile, with teeth. "... I'm listening. But I need to know what you want."
When researchers reach her age, they've spent many years, in the politics of academia. It's a cutthroat world, as they all know -- which means that Divya absolutely believes this isn't free.
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
Elisa sees it. Elisa says a lot of things. But now that she is listening, Elisa is willing to speak. She knows, of course; she knows that it is not free, and that Divya knows that it is not free. So the good Doctor answers her...
"I want you to maintain the Dispersal project as it is. I will solve the matter of your serum that will advance her powers, without killing her. I want you to keep her alive, and intact."
"But for my own projects, I require her as she is. Her current state is what allows me to unlock the power of these stones, and thus, you to use the power of these stones."
"...And it is a significant power. You could study all your life and never find such a power on your own. But I offer it to you..."
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Dispersal has posed.
"Her current state?" Divya demands, with scepticism. "We've noted her psychological decline for four months, now -- let alone her physiological responses! Why do you think we'd place her into an environment full of Newtypes?" The party -- it wasn't only to keep the Daughter of Bridges in line. "As we thought, exposure to empathic fields is overwhelming her medicated baseline. It's your damn crystals, I'm sure!"
Divya frowns, brushing back her hair, again. "Your own projects--! You can't just come in here and steal away my life's work with -- with some Fleet huffenanny! I've spent eleven years on this! I will not be scoped by some young pup with danger rocks!"
Even so, her fingers curl, in her hair.
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
"What is eleven years, compared to a century?"
"Of course it's my crystals. Do you think it is easy, or trivial, to soak these crystals in emotional energy? Do you think it is simple to render her state into a power that can be wielded? Of course not. You know better; you have studied for... eleven years."
"Eleven... long... mortal... years. I offer you, Dr. Devi, something greater than eleven years. I offer you respite from death itself. And you do not believe me?"
A laugh, then, a long, melodious laugh. As Elisa pulls a gun--and then shifts her grip on it, to offer it to Divya.
"No one will hear you discharge it. Go ahead. Tell me what you think of my offer with more than words, darling."
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Dispersal has posed.
Dr. Devi is an old woman, at this point. She's devoted her life to science -- and perhaps that's why it stings so much that her capstone project is so obtuse. She understands, at least, that nothing regarding Yuliana Dispersal is easy or trivial.
Her fingers tighten, when Elisa makes that offer. Her eyes narrow. A gun --
"You fool," she says, as she takes it. She's a researcher, but it fits easily, into her hand. "You wouldn't be the first. You might not even be the last." Publish or perish is a game which becomes so much more perilous, when someone has skin in the game.
Her finger curls on the trigger. A single shot, sighted through those half-moon glasses, into Elisa's centre of mass.
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
Elisa is not. Elisa looks young, and vibrant--well, what of her is visible through this terrifying shadowy aspect. She understands the sting, though. She does. She really does. Her own dealings with science are--
- static*
"Hahahahahahahaha," Elisa laughs when Dr. Devi calls her a fool. She laughs, through her pointing the weapon. She laughs, when she fires that single shot into her center mass.
It hits. It clearly hits somewhere important, smashing into her form and splattering blood all over the door. The impact jars Elisa, and for a moment, it might seem that she was as foolish as she seemed.
...Until she straightens her back, and passes a hand over the wound. "Tsk, tsk... So little faith," she says, and a coil of black extends from her fingers, mending the wound as if it had never been there. "Care to try again?"
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Dispersal has posed.
It hits. It clearly hits. She should be choking on her own blood from the exit wound, where her air should be -- Divya is a medical doctor, she knows these things. Anger, shock, and disbelief cross over her eyes, in quick succession.
It shouldn't be possible. It ISN'T possible.
"You-- you--!" Click-BANG, she fires again -- again -- again. By the time the gun is only clicking, without the retort of a bullet from those empty chambers, her hand trembles in its grip. "What are you..?!"
... it isn't possible, and yet, it's right in front of her eyes. She lowers the gun Elisa gave her, teeth pressing in, against her lower lip. Horrified -- but convinced.
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
"Hahaha--" BANG. "--Ahahahaahaha--" BANG. "HHHAhahahahahah--"
Click, bang, click, bang. Elisa should be dead many times over. And yet she is not. She stands, still, when the bullets are expended, blood covering the door. It, too, begins to fade, dripping down, down, down into nothingness.
"I am she who will open the gate."
"I am a witch, darling. And I am immortal. This, I offer to you... and you will accept. You will accept, and you will begin sending me your reports, and in return, you shall live. You shall see the void to come and it shall embrace you as a lover."
"Because you are chosen, Divya. It was not by accident that this project fell into your hands. All is as it must be."
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Dispersal has posed.
"The gate? Those ramblings, you..?" That Yuliana's madness may be something other than madness isn't plain, to a scientist. It was always so obvious to her that Yuliana was manic, psychotic -- psychologically compromised by all her experiments. If there's some other explanation...
For just a moment, Divya Devi feels afraid.
And then she just looks engaged.
"Eternal life, is it...? The things I could do -- the people I could prove wrong, with just a little more time --" Perhaps it's the cruelest gift to offer someone like her, who sees the twilight of her research rising.
It's also remarkably effective. All Elisa's tools are, really.
"You're an arrogant woman," Divya tells her, quite directly. "But you're right. I accept!"
And just like that, she releases her gun to extend her hand to Elisa, instead. The traditional handshake, a vital ingredient in any agreement.
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
There is another explanation. ...Oh, to be sure, some of the other is true too. But the full truth is...
Well. Elisa smiles at the way Divya Devi looks engaged, and finally considers the possibilities of her offer. It is a cruel gift indeed, but effective. Elisa does not keep tools that are not effective, as a rule.
And Dr. Devi is direct with her answer. Elisa smiles at her. "I am," she answers, and does she mean arrogant? or right? or both? Regardless, she extends her hand in turn, to shake Divya's.
Her flesh is freezing cold.
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Dispersal has posed.
Does that mean she has a warm heart?
No. Probably not.
Divya shakes her hand, firmly, and turns her attention back to her terminal. "I'll release the subject from her current battery," she accedes, as if to demonstrate that she'll follow through her end of the bargain. "I suppose Dr. Petrov is still with her... no matter, she won't ask questions."
She gestures, vaguely, with a hand. "Down the hall, through the doors, the ward to your left. If you've gotten this far, it won't be an issue for you, I'm sure." Will she be cross, when she realises her team is smaller than it was? Well, no matter. These things happen, in science.
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
It really doesn't.
"Good," Elisa answers. She demonstrates it. "And also good." She smiles, and Dr. Divya gestures. Elisa is pleased enough to incline her head. "Indeed it will not."
"I will be in touch. Your newfound powers will take some time to develop... but I will be there to instruct you in their use. But do be careful. People are so... very... fragile, as you well know, but it is all the truer now."
She moves to leave. And to make her way, finally, to Yuliana.
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Dispersal has posed.
"Fragile people don't concern me," Divya remarks, with a casual sort of callousness. She doesn't realise the warning for what it is in the slightest. "Very good. I'll speak to you later, then, witch."
The wards where they keep patients, of course, are carefully sectioned off by many a locked door -- to keep people out, or to keep people in? It's a chilling sort of question... or it would be, for someone who could feel chilled.
Luckily for Elisa, Dr. Kumar held a high station in the facility -- using his keycard, she's able to make her way through. Stark white halls, stark white rooms. To her left...
Yuliana Dispersal is in a hospital bed, headboard all tilted up. Her wrists, thankfully, are not held in the straps to either side -- right now. There's the typical clip on her finger. Her shirt-cuffs, of course, are unbuttoned; as is the collar of her typical dark suit. One sleeve has been rolled up, to reveal veins with tell-tale pricks. Her hair hangs limp and lifeless, without much care; it's been pushed aside in several places to make room for sensor leads, all stuck to her scalp and the base of neck to feed electronic data back into a machine by the side of the bed.
She looks tired. The result of procedures at all hours, perhaps.
"What is this?" Dr. Taisiya Petrov asks, as she holds up the dark green crystal, moon rising outside the laboratory window now the sun has set.
"Echoes," Yuliana replies, all sagging against the bed, head lolled to one side. She's trying not to look at the crystal. "Echoes in the abyss, I keep telling you! Emptiness emptied, it desires remembers her, the comfort of a familiar grip!"
"Look at it," Dr. Petrov insists, her gaze flicking to a monitor display beside the bed. "Focus, and tell me... what is this for?" Fold crystal could, theoretically, be an effective spying device; but all the data they have are on purple fold crystals, which have a starkly different behaviour to these.
"Too much of me," Yuliana insists, voice thin. "I see-- I see--! Key and lock, it's temporal delineation, that's all! That's it! Oh, don't make me look so closely," a pleading edge to her voice, as her eyes shut tightly, face turning away. "This is a personal matter... besides, I shouldn't think you'd catch me."
"Does someone usually catch you?" The doctor asks, and Yuliana is silent, hand curling at her chest. "All right," the older woman sighs, putting the crystal aside. "Let's try this. Has anyone else drawn your blood? With a needle," she specifies, standing and taking one from the cart nearby. "Like this."
Anger crosses Yuliana's face, and she lashes out, with a hand, finger-clip flying from her as she knocks the needle from the woman's hand. Her limp hair flies, in the motion. "I know your damnable tools, doctor!" She yells, as Dr. Petrov backs up.
"Calm down. We can always restrain you again, Captain." The reminder shudders at Yuliana's chest; her arm falls slack, as her shoulders impact the back of the bed again.
"No. No," she repeats, drawing in a deep breath, looking away. Her trembling fingers tighten and release, against her palm. "That won't be necessary. Doctor... please, you've got to give me something," she insists, a little more composed, with a starkly plaintive edge. "My blood's on fire! The pills, I... I'm breaking to bits. I'm in a bad way. I ate too much, I --" her breath hitches, catching herself before she mentions what else is unsettling her, worse still than her appetite.
They don't know -- what she means to do, to humanity. They don't know that it happened, an entire universe consumed. A story so like hers... a story, like hers...
"I need help," she whines, low, and this at least is entirely honest. "Help me. Help me..." She feels such a pitiful wretch, saying words like that, but the world is too RAW and too REAL. The wound she tears in reality threatens to tear her apart, just the same; there are things man was not meant to know, things man was not meant to be.
And her doctor is still.
"It's vitally important we investigate this thoroughly," she explains, sympathetically. "Something has happened to you, Captain, regarding these crystals. We're all quite concerned."
A chuckle rips through Yuliana's throat, dry and weary. "For my sake... and the Republic's, surely," she remarks, with a yielding sort of bitterness.
She nods, and pauses, as she feels a buzz from the pager at her belt. "That's right. Now -- I'll be back in just a moment, Captain. Do think about my questions. It would be... easier," she adds, fingers curled on the doorframe as she looks back, "if you cooperated." It would be hard to feign the frown on her face; she's worried about something, at least.
"Mm," Yuliana hums, despondent, as she looks down at her shaking hands. She doesn't bother to watch Dr. Petrov step out; they'll be here again soon enough, her or someone like her. Her fingers come to rest, delicately, on the bruises at her wrists -- where she's wrenched her arms against her restraints.
It would be... easier, yes, if she gave Elisa up to the Republic. They even have some claim to it, she supposes; they were quite clear about the restrictions around accepting medical help from outside sources. Certainly, she won't see any relief until she gives them what they're looking for. Yuliana has conducted enough interrogations herself to understand that the stick comes before the carrot.
But even if she betrayed her -- the scientists would still want to explore this new avenue to exhaustion. The REA's scientists, Yuliana supposes, are motivated entirely by progress. Oh, she's sure they'll keep her alive just so long as she can't be replaced -- but her welfare is secondary, and they all know it.
And more than that -- more than that --
Yuliana doesn't WANT to double-cross Elisa.
She loves Elisa. She loves her home, too. A clash between them would end in a poor result in Yuliana's eyes, no matter what happened.
She swallows, and tries to ignore the damp tracks leaking down her cheeks.
... at times like these, Yuliana Dispersal hates being such a unique asset.
Meanwhile, outside the closed door to the ward, Dr. Petrov checks her pager, holding that unnerving crystal in her other hand. "What? Dr. Devi is releasing her?" She murmurs, to herself. "Someone's coming to... collect her? Has -- has she gone quite mad?" She frowns, in frank confusion.
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
Elisa is not particularly concerned with who Divya kills so long as it is not Yuliana. It is not her problem; the gift is its own reward. ...And a reward for her, too. Not that she's giving the other doctor all her tricks. But a taste is enough. A taste, which will become another, and another, and another...
But enough of that for now. Right now:
The door opens, and Elisa says, "She has not." A smile at Dr. Petrov. "My crystal, if you would."
"And then a reason to let you live, if you'd like. I am listening."
Dr. Petrov will find that she is rooted to the spot, and cannot speak above a conversational tone.
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Dispersal has posed.
Taisiya Petrov is one of the younger scientists here; she's only recently been let into the inner workings of the Project. She is entirely in over her head, as she realises there's someone in the hall with her. "Help, there's --" she tries to call out, only to find her voice far too quiet. "W-what..?" Taisiya stammers out, horror crossing her face, and -- she'd love to run away, but she finds she suddenly can't.
"Your... here, take it," Dr. Petrov says, in a hurry, handing the crystal over. "What are you -- are you the -- I don't understand," she insists, upset. It is, of course, a quiet kind of upset. "Is this another of Dr. Devi's schemes? Why-- why are you threatening my life? I didn't do anything," she insists, shaking her head. She has long blonde hair, but it's all tied up in a bun, right now. Clinical.
"What did you do? Let me go... please. Whatever I've done, I, I'm sorry, really, just tell me what I've done and I won't do it again. I'm just a medical doctor here... I'm just here to talk to our patients. I've followed all the guidelines," she insists, and, indeed, Yuliana's notes do specify that a detached style works better for handling her. "Whatever this is, I -- I'll do what you want."
Not all of them can be firecrackers.
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
It would be kinder to Petrov's horror to imagine that Elisa savored it in some way, that she enjoys her fear and her terror. Alas; it is not so. Elisa doesn't really care one way or the other about how afraid Dr. Petrov is, though it is certainly convenient that she is so willing to do exactly as she's told at the moment. A little fear is useful, in that way. "It is not," she answers pleasantly. "It is one of my schemes. I am the one who owns this crystal, and I am the one to whom you will release Captain Dispersal."
She considers Yuliana, inside. She considers Taisiya, here. "You are sorry and yet you do not even know what you have done. Ah, yes. It is the nature of those 'she' hates... Are you one of them, I wonder? You must not be; they would not have such a being as her doctor. And yet..."
"Mm, no. I will have one who is untainted."
Dismissively, Elisa lifts her hand, and a black bolt erupts from her palm. It will be enough to extinguish the light in those frightened eyes.
"Now," she says, "It is time."
"Darling~!" Elisa calls, letting the doors seal behind her as she walks into the room. "I am here!"
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Dispersal has posed.
Dr. Petrov's eyes widen as that black bolt lances out, before all at once the light dies; her posture sinks, for a moment, before she straightens and nods. "At once," she defers, without fear, and makes her way down the hall.
She's... probably not fine. Don't worry about it.
The door opens --
In that first instant, Yuliana doesn't look up. It's only when she hears that familiar voice that her gaze snaps to the sealed doors, to the woman who came through them. "Elya...?" She gasps, a hand clasping, by her heart. The despair on her face crumbles, arched brow and parted lips, under the weight of her relief. "Oh, Elya, I..!"
Her mind catches up to her heart; she realises a great many things, in the second beat. She shakes her head, with a shaky smile, hand reaching up to scrub hurriedly at her face. "... come now, I... I'm embarrassed to be seen without my makeup..." She doesn't actually wear much. That's not what she means, anyway.
"How did you know?" She asks, hand lowering, only for a pressured breath to drag through her chest. "N--never mind that, you-- you can't be here. The door's a wall, the steps rehearsed! This terpsichorean pacing is auditioned and observed! Surely you've given too much, to interrupt!"
She's worried about Elisa. How sweet.
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
"Hm hm hm~!" She's definitely, definitely not fine, but she may survive. Pity about her memory of the last few months, though. If she's strong enough to withstand the direct power, then she will lose that. ...If Elisa doesn't just kill her when she's done.
Yuliana looks up finally, and her hand clasps. Ah, yes. Relief...
Elisa smiles, and there is something almost kind in it now, definitely is something fond in it. "I will not tell if you do not," she says of being without her makeup. But then the question--Ah, never mind the question. That's convenient. She doesn't feel like answering a bunch of questions yet. "And I shall not be here for very long," she says. "Your doctor is collecting your medicines."
"Do you like this doctor?" she asks. "No reason."
"I have arranged a trade. Your superiors will no longer object to my presence, though we shall keep it our little secret as much as possible, yes?"
"You shall leave with me today, and go back to your work once you have recovered."
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Dispersal has posed.
"Better than most of them, I suppose," Yuliana answers, honestly. Unwittingly, this answers the question of whether she's particularly sensitive or not. "Some of the doctors here... enjoy their work rather too much."
Elisa has the context to know what that entails, now -- Yuliana leaves so MUCH to implication, when she makes dimissive statements like that.
Her eyes widen, though, when Elisa says she's made a trade. Of course, she hears the way she talks about her, but...
It's all about that kindness, that fondness. The guidelines the Project has built around handling Yuliana understood the letter of the message, but not its meaning.
She reaches out a trembling hand, to Elisa. "H..help me up, would you..?" She's embarrassed, but as she explains: "I've not had the pills since the party... I'm afraid I'm something of a wreck." Her addiction isn't the only reason she's a wreck, of course; she doesn't mention the procedures.
Her back hurts something terrible.
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
Elisa is not here to upend Yuliana's entire life... yet. So she listens to the answer to her question, and inclines her head. "Very well."
Elisa now knows well what that means. The twitch of her hand is the only sign of any emotion about this whatsoever aside from her usual bright pleasantness. She considers just how she expects the power will affect Dr. Devi...
Yes. This is a good trade.
"I will," she answers, and reaches out her hand. "So I see. They have treated you abysmally, and this will not stand." She doesn't have to have read a fully detailed list of the procedures in the notes to know that Yuliana is a wreck. But she is. And that's fine.
"Do you feel able to walk?" she asks. "The doctor will return with your medicines very soon." Elisa, as it turns out, is a strong arm to lean on; she can help Yuliana up easily, letting her move at her own pace. "All will be well. I will always come for you."
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Dispersal has posed.
Yuliana stumbles, rising to her feet -- but she can catch herself on Elisa, so it's fine. Believe it or not, even though Yuliana is the trained soldier between them, she's not the strongest woman in the room right now.
And certainly not right now, besides. What a miserable state to be seen in.
"Ah... of course, you're so convincing," Yuliana murmurs, grasping Elisa's arm as she finds her feet. She leans against her, for a moment, drawing in breath. "My dear Elisa... oh, I should have known." That she'd come for her, surely; didn't she say they'd go to Hell, together?
She's able to move out soon enough, and there's Dr. Petrov -- still remarkably neutral, but with not a spark of life in her eyes. She hands Elisa a sealed bag of medications, and steps back; it's quite full.
(She gives them to Elisa, of course.)
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
A miserable state indeed. But Elisa does not blame Yuliana for it, does not begrudge her her difficulty. She has done all that she has done for her with a smile, because that is who she is. It is necessary. It is what must be done.
"Indeed," Elisa answers to being convincing, allowing Yuliana to lean on her, and she notices when Yuliana uses her name and not the diminuitive. "And now I am here."
Dr. Petrov is there. She's still alive! That may even remain the case, as she hands over the bag of medications. "You will forget. But in one week, you will go to your home, and call..." She rattles off a number. "Further instructions will follow."
"Here you are, darling," Elisa says, pulling some of the medications to offer to Yuliana in turn. "When you are ready, we may leave."
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Dispersal has posed.
Yuliana is -- trying to be composed, at least. It isn't easy. She is utterly decomposed.
Her head cants, towards Elisa, as she watches her work; even in her current state, she can appreciate the way Elisa commands her minions so effortlessly. They're hardly her methods -- Yuliana takes a different approach to convincing the unwilling entirely -- but she does so love to watch Elisa work.
"Yes," Taisiya confirms, with a nod, and she leaves them.
"... you are such an artist," Yuliana murmurs, smiling in spite of herself. It's no surprise, perhaps, that seeing her treatment team suffer a little cheers her up; they've been making her life difficult for days now.
She takes the pills gratefully -- and in a hurry, shoving them into her mouth and gulping them down dry. "Oh," she sighs, with naked relief. "Finally, finally... it's too all around me..."
Yuliana is not open to the hearts of those around her. But...
"Elya, let's go," Yuliana says, voice a little smaller, all carved with a plaintive edge. "I want a real bed... away from these horrible devices."
Her fingers tighten, against her arm.
"Stay with me, won't you..?"
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
Exposure to that level of dark power is not at all healthy. But by the time it's a problem, it won't be Elisa's problem.
She smiles at the murmur and the smile in turn, and indeed it is rewarding to hear her speak this way of her work. "Ah, but what a muse I have," she says of art, and waits for Yuliana to take the pills. And that smaller voice...
"You shall have it," she says. "Soon."
'Stay with me, won't you...?'
"Always."