2024-06-23: Common Ground
- Log: Common Ground
- Cast: Yuliana Kafim, Calas Zelinn
- Where: Nuuk, Area 9
- Date: 2024-06-23
- Summary: Two old enemies meet by chance, as Yuliana sneaks out to bribe her wanzer parts through a port inspection and Calas comes to NUNE to do some sightseeing. They quickly come to a sort of peace over a discussion of their children, before Yuliana shares her own ties with the Titans in order to explain her reckless behaviour on the battlefield. Both of them agree that Titans science -- and the scientists behind them -- are best erased from the world, but Calas is retired... even if Yuliana apparently isn't.
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
After the battle at Luna, Yuliana's machine was... badly damaged. And while they have plenty of imports set up to go to the Castle -- there's been a delay, at Area 9's capital town, Nuuk.
There are questions being asked, at Customs, and so...
Ramlah Rasputina is here without her wife Jaria, today. Dressed in a modest lavender tudong headscarf and a robelike dress covering her warm undergarments, they're fisherwomen from a more remote village who like to keep to themselves -- until they need something from the city. (Not that Nuuk would register as a 'city' to most people travelling here, with a population of around twenty thousand people.) All their papers are in order, and they have allowances from Britannia to travel outside of their Area, should they require it.
Today, though, she's in sunny Nuuk -- not that the sun ever sets, at this time of year. She exits the government building, finally, after hours of negotiations... the officials finally bought her story, so the ship is clear to keep sailing.
Tragically, she does smell like fish.
She makes a note to kill Parminder for putting her up to these fake papers.
<Pose Tracker> Calas Zelinn has posed.
Calas Zelinn is here as herself; NUNE territory is easy for citizens of PLANTs to visit now, and she would admit if pressed to some curiousity about life on Earth. Not that she wants to switch--she definitely doesn't--but it's something she hasn't experienced much.
Calas is without her husband, or her husband's 'friend' for that matter, walking alone right now. She is not wearing a headscarf, but she is wearing a heavy coat and a hat given the weather. She's not entirely watching where she's going, either.
A short, brown-haired woman, there is no immediate sign that she is a Coordinator and a former member of ZAFT, at war with this world just years ago.
She's brooding, is what she's doing. And she's on a collision course with 'Ramlah'!!
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
And Yuliana -- sorry, Ramlah -- is too occupied with thinking about her own troubles to realise that Calas is drawing too close to her until it's almost too late. Until --
"Excuse you," she sniffs, haughty, as she steps aside before Calas can accidentally shoulder-check her... with the kind of reflexes which don't really suit a fisherwoman, for those with the experience to notice. "Watch where you're walking!" Now, was Yuliana watching the road, strictly speaking?
This is not about that.
<Pose Tracker> Calas Zelinn has posed.
Calas is ready to apologize for almost running into someone--before that haughty reply. She looks up, lifting an eyebrow--and then it registers. That voice. Those reflexes.
"I will," she says.
"I wouldn't want to run afoul of someone who likes flamethrowers," she says dryly.
"It's you, isn't it? That pilot in the Tiandong." She may or may not realize that Yuliana Kafim is a wanted criminal, since she never caught her name. But that's not important right now.
"Who didn't like Spacenoids much. Strange to be at peace, isn't it?"
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
"Ch--"
It's time for Yuliana to get up in Calas's face, now, endless eyes narrowing behind her scarf and her scarring. "So you recognise me," she says, her voice a low hiss and her gloved hands lifting in readiness. "Stupid of you. What do you want?"
Of course Yuliana wouldn't kill a woman in the street, don't worry!
She'll get her to a secondary location, first. She's not an idiot.
<Pose Tracker> Calas Zelinn has posed.
"Sounds like you've seen trouble since we last met," Calas comments. "All I want from you is some conversation, now that I have you."
"I don't know your name and I don't want to know it," she points out. "I don't need whatever trouble you have, and I'm not here on 'business'. I retired again. As far as I'm concerned, you can go wherever you want on this lovely planet." There might be a little sass there.
Calas is not going to go to a secondary location.
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
"Rrrgh..." Yuliana sinks back on her heel, her arms crossing over her chest. She's certainly on edge, for some reason. (Some trouble or another.)
"Fine," she snaps out, fingers drumming against the fabric of her arm. "You're useless to them if you don't know who I am, anyway." Without explaining who 'they' even are, she shrugs a shoulder. "You're that family woman, aren't you? Retired to focus on your family? Fine. Respectable enough."
Sniff. She could say the cold is aggravating her nose, and it's not an expression of her haughtiness, but... "Since you're not here on business, I suppose I'll let you in on a layer of yours you weren't privy to, back then," Yuliana allows, generous enough to make some conversation, since that's all Calas wants. "I was secretly loyal to Celestial Being, by then. That footage they were able to distribute of the Federation's crimes...? I made sure they got it. Of course, I had to play along, or else they'd get suspicious of me... but how pleasant you were able to get home to your family, afterwards."
It's a little cool, but the argument can be made that she's trying.
<Pose Tracker> Calas Zelinn has posed.
'Them'. Calas could ask, but she'd rather not. If she's useless to 'them' then they're less likely to bother her.
"That's right," Calas confirms, fine enough with being called a family woman. "With the PLANTs at peace, there's nothing in particular to keep me away from them now."
Calas is pretty hard to rattle, so she doesn't react to the sniff. Instead, she listens to a layer she indeed didn't know about. "Is that so?" she asks, thoughtful. "Glad you did that, then."
"The Federation had a lot of crimes to expose. But you knew I'd think so; I was ZAFT. For a while after that I kept being. It was only when the war ended that I could step back again. ...When they can nuke your colonies, it's worth coming away from home."
"Well, now I can ask about your family instead of just sassing you about it," she decides. "You mentioned a wife. Any kids?"
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
"I suppose you did have children back there," Yuliana sighs, on the topic of the Federation nuking their colonies. She has no love for Spacenoids, but she does have love for children, so she can at least sympathise about that.
(What? All Spacenoids were children, once? Citation needed, honestly.)
She pauses, for a moment -- and Calas surely doesn't need to be a Newtype to tell that she's evaluating whether it's safe to talk to her family to a former(?) enemy. "I'm... not able to have my own," she settles on, after a moment. "But we adopted my nephews, after their mother passed. They're five and eight, so they're of the age to start deciding what they want from the world... one loves machines, while the other's taken more after my wife, all in all."
<Pose Tracker> Calas Zelinn has posed.
"Yes. It was the same back in the 80s," she says. "When the Titans were gassing us." She's calm about that, but there is no lack of feeling in her.
Well, most Spacenoids were children once.
Calas can tell, and she waits for it; if Yuliana decides it's not safe she may not press. But she does, so Calas nods. "...I have a lot of friends with fertility problems," she says, and while it's not cloyingly so, it is sympathetic. "My condolences. Glad your nephews had family to take them in. Those two... My oldest is a little older than yours. He's really into old-style books. Asks for them special instead of books on his tablet."
Machines... "Hm. So they go after each of you. That's nice, when it happens that way."
"Boys can be a handful, can't they?"
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
"Mm..." Yuliana scowls, the drumming of her fingers stilling. "... I have no love for the Titans, either."
At least they can agree on that, though there's clearly a story, hidden behind her resentment.
"Oh? Perhaps I ought to try getting my eldest some real books of his own," she says, tilting her head. "We do have a library, after all... and he's quite keen on fairy tales, right now." Of course he's allowed to enjoy fairy tales; Yuliana forsake the Republic, and that means she's letting her boys have feminine interests if they want. Even if he's having trouble adjusting to the new expectations.
She actually laughs, though, when Calas asks after the trouble of boys. "They certainly can be!" She exclaims, shockingly good-natured for how she's always come off beforehand. "They're too young to really evaluate danger, and too curious not to get into it -- we've always got to watch them. Luckily, we have plenty of eyes for that, since our grandparents are helping us raise them. You know, a three-generation arrangement -- plus the family friends staying with us, of course. They'd not let them come to harm, either." She has had specific words to Parminder over how dead he'll be if he lets Makar choke to death because 'it was funny'.
<Pose Tracker> Calas Zelinn has posed.
"Good," Calas says. "Then we still have something to talk about."
Old style becomes 'real', of course. Calas lets it go for the moment. "A library... that's a good resource for children. We use the local, mostly." The PLANTs have good things like that. "Fairy tales are..." She considers. "More interesting than most people give them credit for."
The laughter is welcome; Calas gives a small smile. "Yes," she agrees. "It's just like that for mine, too. Not that the area isn't safe for the most part... But kids can always find trouble."
Grandparents... "Hmmm. Lucky," she agrees. "Mine have a... family friend," she says, just a tiny bit awkward, "Who's helping raise them. They like him a lot."
Parminder will Parminder.
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
"Do we..."
Yuliana will think about that.
Of course what is older is more real; she doesn't think about those implications. "We don't have a local, I'm afraid," Yuliana sighs, shaking her head. "... but it's good that you do. And they are, aren't they? I suppose it's how he's come to understand my wife... his mother always did tell him I'd married a witch!" She laughs; that doesn't necessarily mean it's a joke. "Though he gets along much better with her now -- it's been a few years since we took them in."
She doesn't question the awkwardness in Calas's family friend; when her nephews' family unit includes not only their family but their royal court, not even she can judge. (Well, she probably could, she's great at judging people, but she doesn't. See? She's being nice.) "It's always nice when everyone gets along," she agrees. "Though one of mine really must stop teaching the boys about the latest mee-meys." Memes. She's talking about memes. Surely she must know it's pronounced memes.
Surely.
<Pose Tracker> Calas Zelinn has posed.
Well, Calas doesn't know all of what Yuliana's been up to. On the other hand, what would that change? Maybe nothing, maybe a lot.
"Hmm," Calas vocalizes. 'A witch'. One would usually assumme that that's metaphorical. But Calas can't really be sure of much with Yuliana.
Anyway, "Oh, they'll find those regardless," Calas assures Yuliana. Calas doesn't take Parminder's psychic damage for him, though she shakes her head in that way one does at a bad pun.
"My students are always sharing the latest," she further says. "It's part of open media, I suppose."
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
"I suppose that's true," Yuliana sighs. "Though we don't let the boys go on the 'net unsupervised, yet... if they don't know that thin ice is dangerous, what hope do they have for figuring out whether people are safe?"
This is, of course, just standard good parenting, for children who aren't even double-digit years old yet.
She pauses, for a moment, a hand lifting to brush at the edge of her headscarf. (She can't very well tuck her hair behind her ears when her hair is hidden, after all.) "But you mentioned the Titans," she decides to bring up, at length. "You fought them, I suppose?" Calas does look old enough for that.
<Pose Tracker> Calas Zelinn has posed.
"Wise," Calas agrees. "I don't allow it for my own, either." She doesn't pick up on the fact that thin ice is a real example that's directly relevant, for now. Indeed she only recognizes it as dangerous due to context!
If the situation were different she might even ask.
But for now, Yuliana pauses and asks a question. It's different from their easier talk of children... But Calas is willing to give Yuliana a few real answers on this topic.
"That's right," Calas says. "I was in the AEUG."
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
It's an important danger to be aware of in a place like this; tilt your head and squint, and Yuliana might have even been warning Calas about the danger to stop her from having a bad time.
(She's more self-centred than that, though.)
"The AEUG, huh," Yuliana says, gaze drifting to a distant building. "I was otherwise occupied for most of that... I didn't turn 18 until '85. But, back then... there were scientists in the Titans who realised 30 Bunch was the writing on the wall for their longevity. Some of them even split before it happened..."
Her fingers fall back to her arm, and start drumming, again. "... like Dr. Divya Devi," she decides to say, a moment later. "She knew it was coming, so she used that to get in the REA's good graces... by starting a project which could capitalise on the media blackout. A project which -- as it happens -- made me. And they were quite proud of their fortuitous mistake... for a while." Their mistake... in making her, or..?
She shakes her head, and clarifies, instead: "Dr. Devi is dead now, too."
<Pose Tracker> Calas Zelinn has posed.
It would be nice if she had been! Calas will remember it, in any case.
Yuliana's gaze drifts, and Calas's stays on her. Calas is a little older than she is, but not that much. Mentioning 'scientists' in the context of the Titans is definitely something that leads dark places. Like a specific doctor.
"I see," she says. "...My sympathies. We were able to rescue some people who were put in 'projects' like that, back then. ...But not enough." She shakes her head.
"I hope you had the chance to have something to do with that," Calas settles on, after a moment. "But if you didn't, I'm still glad she's dead. Unfortunately, a lot of Titans aren't."
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
"Unfortunately," Yuliana scowls, "I was helping her, at the time... but I didn't much have a choice in the matter. Not that I could have stopped it... they were preparing to harvest my body, you see, so I was in no fit state to fight by then."
Her pupilless eyes close, briefly, and she shrugs. "Once my wife managed to break me from their control, though," she says, a moment later, "I was able to be much happier she'd killed them all. Or worse." She doesn't linger on that punctuated emphasis, even if she really should explain. "And there were other people fighting them, aside from my wife... even Spacenoids, so I hear."
See? They're not all bad.
"I should like to see the rest of them follow Dr. Devi's example," she says, and doesn't explain why that's more dire than it sounds, either. But Yuliana's labrat origins might better explain why she sounds so theatric as she mutters: "Wretched souls, the lot of them... so many disappeared into Britannian or Republic projects, with not so much as a hollow apology."
<Pose Tracker> Calas Zelinn has posed.
"I see," Calas answers, and she does. "All the better that your wife was able to help you, then."
In time, Calas will based on this new information put together the fact that the 'pilot with the flamethrower' is in fact Yuliana Kafim. But she doesn't have all that info yet. Right now, there's a few things she doesn't understand, but she doesn't particularly feel she needs to. She's got the important parts.
"That's good," she says, "That you were able to be happier about it. That's something to celebrate."
A pause. Other people, besides her wife... But mostly her wife. She'd been sensitive about her wife, too...
Calas doesn't show these thoughts; instead, she is stoic, and quiet about it. She doesn't even comment on the matter of Spacenoids.
This time.
"They will sooner or later," Calas says. "But I'm hoping sooner, too." A pause. "...Sounds like you have enough trouble on your plate. You gave me conversation, all right, and that's all I said I'd ask of you."
"But it sounds like we might not have to be enemies today, at least. So I'll take that for good enough, and let you get about your business if you want."
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
"Yes," Yuliana affirms, softly, and at least in her love for her wife she can be honest. "I owe her my life."
Which might explain how sensitive she was about her, if her wife was reaching her through all that.
And, she agrees, "It is."
(She thinks she's being nice, allowing that Spacenoids saved her, too.)
She sighs, though, bringing a hand up to her cheek. "What have I to fight with you about?" She wonders, tilting her head into her hand. "You've retired to be with your family... seems my only quarrel with you now is jealousy." Why would Yuliana be jealous of Calas's retirement...? ... oh. "Even an unstable woman like me," and perhaps it makes sense, hearing her put it so defensively, why Yuliana would tell Calas this story after how she regarded her battle strategy, "doesn't need to assault a mother for no reason."
She shrugs, and lifts her head, to wave her hand. "But I had best be going... it's better if I don't linger in public for too long. Do enjoy your stay."
... evidently, she's not retired.
<Pose Tracker> Calas Zelinn has posed.
Calas hears that honesty, and Calas has reason to be jealous of Yuliana in return in that moment.
"...Yes," she says instead, acknowledging rather than expressing.
But Yuliana sighs and Calas listens to her wondering. ...It's not a matter of survival today, that Natural and Coordinator divide. But Calas rememmbers when it was. It would be hard to entirely put away the way they spoke to each other before...
But doing it for now, at least, is doable. "If you can't think of anything, that's good enough for me."
She's not retired. Is she still doing work like she did for Celestial Being...?
"Fair enough. Take care. ...I'll try to do that."
It's not Calas's problem, today. The Federation is gone.
And there's peace. For now.