2024-05-30: .always will i tell you everythinG
- Log: .always will i tell you everythinG
- Cast: Yuliana Kafim, Elisa Kafim
- Where: The Photon Powers Labs / The Silent Castle (video call)
- Date: 2024-05-30 (ICly 0099-05-27, following 2024-05-27:_?and_may_we_still_dance_for_the_love_of_movemenT)
- Summary: They may be distant, but it takes much more effort to keep Yuliana and Elisa Kafim separated. Yuliana tells Elisa all about her busy day at the Photon Power Labs... and about Dr. Kimura's concerns. Elisa has nothing to worry about. Rena falls into their sights, as Elisa asks Yuliana to locate her -- and assures her she'll lend their cousin her protection.
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
Yuliana is, of course, constantly calling her wife while she's sojourning to the Photon Power Labs. And, as it happens, texting her:
> I really do adore how the Japanese treat breakfast as dimmer (... with a photo of her and her food, some grilled fish and miso soup and salad.)
> Just got out of PNT it went ok
> Had lunch with Yaka!
> Tests this atfernoon they called Renalle in
> They said dancing doesnt invite HEr I will tell you all about it later
> Therapy with dr Kimura he was asking very rude questions about our misconnunications but I set him right
> Alectros is trying to teach me a new song to play
... Elisa never needed to insist that Yuliana update her with every minute of the day, apparently. She's happy to do it with zero prompting! (And surely without having learned anything from how they used to do it.)
But when the day ends, and she's changed into her pyjamas, she's draped on a bed with PPL branding on its corners; she sets her phone up on the bedside table, as once again, she calls her wife. Leaning back on Plyushokrova, she smiles warmly, when it connects. "Elya!"
The symbolic acts she's able to do here, in these bedtime chats, is to remove her scarf while Elisa is watching; surely she actually has to tie it back around her neck after she's changed, but the point is that she's the only woman who gets to see her in a state of indecency, since her door is tightly shut.
"I missed you," she sighs, reaching out to the screen, though she's been speaking to her throughout the day. "How was your day? And how have the children been, zhenushka?"
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
Elisa Kafim accepts these updates. They are appropriate. She is glad to know what Yuliana is up to hour to hour, and keeps her phone with her whenever possible to view these updates even as she is working. And she does have things other than her work to contend with as well.
When the screen turns on, Elisa is seated on a comfortable chair in her robes, Sokrova sitting beside her. Elisa pets him idly. "My Yuliana," she greets her.
"It is lovely to finally see you."
A pause, as she reaches as well, touching the... screen? Is it just a mirror, actually?
"I have missed you as well. But my day has been productive and positive. The children are hard at work on their schooling, and our family is well." Pet pet. She is lounging.
"I was most interested in what you had to say to me about your day," she says. "Please, tell me more about how you are feeling, what you are thinking."
"Did you learn your new song?"
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
Elisa is a busy woman, and yet she always has time for her wife. Isn't she just wonderful?
Yuliana thinks so.
"Haa, the day was so busy, I had so little time to call..." Her smile softens further, as she looks beside Elisa, finally, to Sokrova. "And who's a good boy!" She exclaims, brightly. "Who's a good boy? Have you been a good boy? Have you? Have you?" She reaches up to scratch Plyushokrova behind the ears as she baby-talks their cat, as if to demonstrate what she'd like to do if she were there.
If Elisa views her through a mirror, that's no worry of Yuliana's at all. Her wife has such clever magical technologies! And surely it would be easier to see Yuliana through a mirror than a little phone screen, wouldn't it?
Even though her own screen is smaller, though, she still sees the way Elisa lounges, and her own smile widens, entirely pleased. Her wife lounges so luxuriously when she's happy, after all. (Which must be differentiated from brooding upon her throne, something which speaks to far more troubles. There are many ways which Yuliana's wife can dominate her space, and Yuliana, shockingly, cares enough to actually know what they all mean. She really deserves some kind of medal for being so attuned to her wife's emotional expressions, because she's definitely doing something abnormally thoughtful by bothering to pay attention.)
"I'm so glad they're working hard," she smiles, settling down against Plyushokrova. "And that your day was well! Did that professor get back to you, yet? I could still pay him a beating, if he's not being responsive enough..." She says it with the exact same cadence as 'visit', but the joke for her wife is saying the quiet part out loud.
She laughs, shaking her head. (She does still keep her frills folded up behind her ears, just for politeness's sake.) "But I did!" She says, with a bright smile. "Alectros wasn't ever able to secure a saron or anything like that, but they were able to find a xylophone for me, so I've been adapting. I admit, Elya, it's a little frustrating... it's embarrassing not to be good at it. But... they say that the point is to express myself, so..."
She pauses, hugging Plyushokrova's paw to her chest, since she can't touch her wife. "They say I should find more ways to express how I'm feeling," she adds, "since when I bottle it all up, I just explode on everyone. I don't see how that isn't expressing myself, too..." Yuliana pouts, snuggling down against her stuffed tiger. "... but I guess this way is easier for them all. And... sometimes things make sense, you know, when I paint things, and I look at it all."
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
Elisa likes to be wonderful to Yuliana.
Sokrova is a good boy. Elisa will scratch him behind the ears for her wife. It's fine! Affection can be transmitted.
Elisa is indeed pleased, for the moment.
"Yes," Elisa says. "There will be no need to discipline him," she accounts, with another smile, because it wasn't a joke. It was still very humorous!
"I see...." A xylophone. "Any who complains that your skills are not yet adequate will have to say as much to me," Elisa says, and it has a light tone but it is quite serious. "One must practice, after all."
More ways to express how she's feeling... Hmmm. "You should," Elisa agrees, "Express yourself in as many ways as is pleasing to you. I see no reason that that can't be one of them, either, but you do have other options, I suppose."
A pause. Hmm... the way she paints...
"Tell me of this 'sense'," Elisa encourages.
"And I am also interested in this talk of dancing..."
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
Elisa is so wonderful to transmit her affection to their precious baby boy! Just another of the many wonderful traits of her wife.
"Good!" Yuliana chirps, smiling, and it's not a joke but it is still funy. "Just let me know, okay, boyevaya podruga? I'd be beside myself if those stuffy academics disrespected you." And this time, when she calls Elisa her combat friend, she's referring to the way Yuliana is at her side in all her conflicts.
(This is not to say, of course, that Yuliana thinks Elisa can't handle her own torture; she has only the highest opinion of her wife's capacity to terrorise people into remorse. But since she cares about her so much, of course she'd offer to handle it for her! ... besides, Elisa likes it when she's a terror.)
She smiles, snuggling in against Elisa's gift. "They should answer to you," Yuliana agrees, warmly. "But no one's criticised me for it, as yet. Really, Alectros was impressed I could transfer the skills, I suppose..." And so, they don't have to die today.
(But Yuliana is sensitive enough to not being good at something immediately that she immediately talks about it in terms of insults, even though she was really validated.)
"I do," she agrees, softly. "I have options. It's... relieving to have more options, Elya. I didn't really have any, in the Republic, so..." And it's the Republic where she was stifled, to hear her tell it. "But you know -- you remember the one I took a picture of for you the other day? The marionette?" Of course Yuliana shows all her art therapy projects off to Elisa; why wouldn't she want to share them with her? "I just realised, you know... the Empress was happy to leave me in the Republic until you found me, Elya. Just like they used me, with no regard for my wishes... She treated me the same way. I was just a possession, to move as they saw fit... and I defended both my country and my God all the while."
She sighs, glancing away. "It didn't feel good," she says, "but it made more sense. And... it made me all the more glad for you, Elya," she adds, with a delicate little smile, as she looks back to her screen and her loving wife. "You always cared about how I feel... what I want. We're partners, my darling. Even when you're taking care of things... you've always thought of me. You know, Dr. Kimura was worried about something I said, you know -- I suppose I stumbled over whether I'd always wanted to pilot Emptear before I realised the question didn't apply -- but I just told him, you know, even we disagree sometimes. Sometimes I'm thoughtless, or you worry too much... but it's normal. If things were like they were with the Empress -- there wouldn't be any misunderstandings, would there? I wouldn't even be free to say hurtful things. And you would never do anything you didn't mean to, either. I guess it's nice he's worried, you know, but I didn't like his implications. I suppose he's just scared of you..." She scowls, and adds: "But he assured me he just wanted to check in, and he heard how I told him it was totally different. So I let him go." Implying she'd do something else if she thought he was insulting her wife?
"Anyway," she goes on, hugging a plush tiger's paw, "that was when I was doing that experiment with them -- you remember, I said we were going to see whether I could still dance?" She was worried whether her dancing would invite the Empress to their side; she does so love to dance. "We called out that Renalle -- Rena -- you remember her? The one who is touched? It's nice that she volunteered to help. I even let her win the silly game they'd set up to test our movements," she sniffs, as if it were just charity that Rena was victorious. "She asked about things while we were dancing -- and I was distracted, you know, focused on the game, so I suppose I said a little more than I meant to. But they said that they didn't detect any Void activity while we were just dancing for fun. They supposed that I'd need intent to access the Void... since it wasn't just turning which did it." She pauses. "Not that they were willing to really test that, but I suppose I can't blame them. I might have gotten quite injured if I'd tried it without my armour on."
She pauses, and adds: "Rena's still connected to the Void, you know. I do wonder whether She'll give her a hard time, now She can't reach me... haa, do you think they'd be so unfair as to blame me for that, Elya?"
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
"I will," Elisa assures Yuliana, and it's even true. She said it. So Elisa continues to scritch Sokrova as they speak, and indeed she loves it when Yuliana is a terror. "Hmmm. Good," she says. "That is well." No criticism for Yuliana!
But... Options.
"I remember," Elisa says of the marionette. "...That is true. Despite the danger to you, She left you there." Nevermind that She couldn't act directly. She had given Ellisa plenty of instructions previous to that.
"Yes... Only that." But she is different. She cares. Elisa smiles. "I know so well how you are individualistic," she says. "At times it is troublesome... But I would not change it of you. It is part of who you are. It is important, that you have your own wishes and desires."
Not all of them need be fulfilled, of course. But it's so nice to want things.
"Hmmm... He is impudent," Elisa reflects of Dr. Kimura, "But he has treated you well thus far. I will accept his fear as is my right and due, but I am glad that you do not listen to such things."
"Renalle... Yes," Elisa recalls. "I remember her. More important, of course, is that you can dance. But the things she asked..." She considers.
"It is fine, to tell a few things to a cousin," Elisa says. "In her connection, I suppose she is... almost family."
"They could be so unfair. But even if they do not, we cannot have the Empress acting through this Rena. We must see her shielded, as well, for your own good."
"Would you find out where she lives, for me? I wish to speak with her, my darling."
She doesn't need Yuliana to find out. But it is so nice to include her.
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
Yuliana does so hate criticism. It's a terrible wound to her psyche! How could anyone do that to her?! Her loving wife would never do that to her.
Of course she is troublesome, but Elisa accepts her, understands her own desires. (And of course that means she respects them. Why would Elisa recognise her wishes without fulfilling them? If Yuliana ever changes her mind about what she wants or what's best for them, well, that was her decision.) "You know me so well," she sighs, fingers reaching out to caress the screen again. "And you're always asking... I'm glad you're always asking what I think, Elya. It -- it really matters so much -- how much you care." Because of course, Yuliana sharing all her innermost thoughts and feelings with her wife is an expression of how much Elisa cares for her; of course there's no other motive to be had in her interest and the honesty. Like this: "No one understands me better than you... you really see me, zhenushka."
It's one of the first things she established, when they started getting serious. Of course Yuliana remembers that.
"You're very patient," Yuliana praises her wife's even-handedness, smiling to her. "It does bother me that these people don't appreciate you, zhenushka, but I guess they all just want to make sure I'm well... since they're worried about me, I guess I can forgive them getting the wrong idea. But there's no way I'd listen to them insulting you! It's ridiculous they'd even think I'd be secretly complaining or something... honestly," she frowns, pouting, "if we were having a problem, I know I can talk to you about it. Why wouldn't I just talk to you about it? It's so unreasonable for them to think our marriage is sinister, just because we're forceful presences. It's very judgemental. If you ask me, we're being stereotyped." And she sounds awfully resentful about that. For all she's spoken warmly of the people in the Photon Power Labs, she's apparently not immune to sulking when they say the wrong thing. She does tend to be a bit black and white in her evaluations.
It's most important, naturally, that Yuliana can dance, and she smiles to think of that. She tilts her head, as she thinks of Rena. "She is," she agrees, at length. "Though I think she still resents me for that little disagreement we had, even though it was years back. Really, I dug up all kinds of information for her, so I don't know why she won't just get over it! Sure, I tried to scare her a little, but I was just venting!" And that's -- one way to describe Yuliana trying to ruin Rena's life and reputation, certainly. It's true to her. "Really..." She sighs, dramatically, as she leans back against Plyushokrova. "She'll just have to forgive me when we help her," she decides. "It would be completely unreasonable to still be angry after we protected her."
She smiles, reaching back to scritch that plush tiger's ears again. "Of course, Elya," she assures her. "She's stationed on the Ra Mari II -- but I'm sure she has a personal residence. I'll track it down for you, so don't worry about a thing." It's nice to be included, and it's nice to get to use her skill-set now and then; her saboteuring does tend to get a bit rusty, when she's sitting idle for so long. Now she's a house-wife (a castle-queen?), she doesn't, strictly speaking, need to pry into people's lives like this. That doesn't mean it isn't still fun.
"We really can't have the Empress influencing her," she agrees, naturally. "It would be bad for me if She reached me even now I've tried to cut it all off, wouldn't it? Well, and I suppose Rena would not have much fun with the task..." It took her a minute, but she at least remembered Rena might also suffer.
She deserves another medal for that.
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
"Of course," Elisa says of asking. "If I do not ask, how can I know? And I do care what you think." To a point. But that's just fine. "I will always see you," she says. "Seek and see, both."
Of course she is patient! It is because she cares. "Yes," Elisa says. "Anything, you can share with me. Everything. There is nothing you cannot tell me. For it is you who matters most to me." A pause. "We are forceful indeed. They are not prepared for us, I think... But they do their best. We can tolerate their small-mindedness."
Rena and that disagreement... "Who knows?" she says. "She is imperfect. But perhaps she will see reason, in time."
Scritch scritch. Sokrova seems happy, anyway.
"Thank you," Elisa says to Yuliana, and smiles. It is almost warm. She does have the correct number of teeth.
"Quite," Elisa says. "And you notice her. Yes... I will discuss the matter with her."
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
Yuliana smiles, her cheeks flushing with affection. "I know," she says. "No one could hide me away from you, Elya... even when the Institute tried, you subverted them to your will, just so they wouldn't mistreat me so badly. I can always rely on you!"
And she is only more flattered, hearing Elisa continue to reassure her. "They don't understand us," she agrees, easily. "But we're what's most important to each other... I love you so much, zhenushka. No one could change that." Of course she'll reassure her wife, too.
Of course Sokrova is happy; his mistresses are happy, after all. Look at how warm they (almost) are!
"I do," she says, snuggling into her plush tiger because she can't snuggle up to her wife. Clearly, she can just transmit the affection through Elisa's thoughtful gift. "She's really not perfect, but I suppose I was too hard on her, back then. Now she's one of us... thank you for protecting her, Elya. You're so thoughtful..."
She sighs, reaching out to the screen again. "I miss you," she repeats herself, gently. "But I'll be back soon, Elya... they do help me, here, but I can't wait to be in your arms again. I can't ever bear to stay away for long..."
Her fingers droop, as her hand falls at the edge of the bed. "Ah... but I'm tired, now," she says, as after that lingering moment she pulls her covers over herself, still turned to face her screen. As she does so many nights, she murmurs, "... watch over me, Elya," just as she'd normally do.
When they're apart, she does tend to keep blinking her tired eyes open -- just to look back to her phone and see her wife again, to remind her she's still there. Without the haptic reassurance, she has to remind herself some other way. But eventually, her eyes blink closed one last time, and...
The camera keeps rolling. Yuliana's sure to plug it in at night, so there's no danger it will cut out.
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
She is tired. Elisa watches her, as she is tired, and when she murmurs, Elisa smiles. "I will," she assures her.
When Yuliana looks again, her wife is still there.
Elisa is there all night, unblinking. Sokrova moves, eventually...
But not Elisa.