Room 421, Friday, Late Afternoon

[angelo_wings]

Rinoa had been having a long argument with herself, back and forth, about this. She hated that she was going to be the one to call. They hadn't spoken in months, which was perfectly fine with her. Except.

Except she'd heard rumors that General Caraway was gaining power in Galbadia. It wasn't necessarily a bad thing -- as much as she hated him personally, he'd be a better president than Deling, or anyone possessed by Ultimecia.

And if she really wanted to free Timber, then ... unfortunately, what Squall had said months ago ........ was right. Diplomacy was the best move, and she was in a position to make use of it. When she had been another member of the resistance movement, nobody had paid much attention to her. But she was the Sorceress now.

He had to be high in the political ranks of Galbadia by now. If not the President, then close to it. He'd been the General before the army had been taken over, and he was highly thought of. He'd survived, and not many in the power structure had.

So maybe she should ... suck down her pride and call him. And ask if he was willing to talk about it, and invite him here for a visit. Next weekend. Which was ... coincidentally ... Parents' Weekend, since ...... he was sort of her father and all.

She called the first number she had for the offices in Deling City, not really expecting an answer. People had gone home for the weekend, right? Right. She'd try to call and no one would answer and then she could say she'd tried and chicken out and hang up.

(For an NPC phone call. Door closed, post can be open afterwards.)

Comments

[angelo_wings]

Wait, what? She had been sitting and playing Transfer Whack-a-Mole and was fairly certain she was going to get disconnected, in between bouts of listening to the worst hold music she'd been subjected to just about ever. She had just been ready to hang up and pretend she'd made a good-faith effort when he had picked up.

Really? Not a secretary or something? Just bam, him?

"G-- General," she stammered, all her recited opening lines deserting her. "Is this --"

She clamped her mouth shut. She was not going to ask if this was General Caraway. He had said it was. As if she wouldn't have known just by his voice.

She had to stop talking before she said something ridiculous like 'hi.'

[estranged-dads.livejournal.com]

Seriously? He picked up the phone just to be stuttered at?

...Again? He'd never had problems like this with his underlings back when Deling was in charge.

"Well, OUT with it! I haven't got all--"

Hang on. He knew that voice.

"...Rinoa?" he asked, softly, daring to hope. "Is that you?"

[angelo_wings]

Typical Caraway. It was not exactly easy of her to call, and he was already being a dick.

Of course, she was keeping him away from more important things. Such as: everything that wasn't her.

"... yes," she said. Why had she thought this was a good idea? "You didn't have to yell."

See? It had to be Rinoa. No one else could manage to start fighting with him that quickly.

[estranged-dads.livejournal.com]

She had called him! She had actually wanted to talk to him, for the first time in years! And he'd managed to upset her already... how had THAT happened?

"I didn't know it was you when I yelled," he explained. "I'm a very busy man. I'm sorry."

[angelo_wings]

"You didn't care," Rinoa insisted. It was petty, and entirely unfair, but she didn't feel like being fair. "You're right. You're a very busy man, so I'll stop bothering you now."

Hynedammit, she really had meant to be mature about this, but him snapping at her and then reminding her that he was a very busy man wasn't helping.

If he was this busy, he didn't have time to bother with stupid things like Timber, anyway. Or Parents' Weekend.

[estranged-dads.livejournal.com]

Caraway put the report down and winced. "I'm not too busy for you. I promise, I'll never be too busy for you anymore. I just meant... I have to yell on the phone, sometimes. It's the only way to get things done around here."

Technically, it wasn't the only way, just the one that worked best for him. The empire hadn't fallen ALL of the way apart, yet, so that was something.

[angelo_wings]

... okay, that was new. Had someone written that for him? Maybe he had paid an underling to come into the room and hold up cue cards.

"You don't have to yell on the phone," she sulked. Because she couldn't let her guard down just yet. "Maybe you could try being a nice boss and they'd work harder because they liked you."

So, if he was wondering if his daughter was still an insane idealist, there was that.

[estranged-dads.livejournal.com]

No, no one had written it for him. He'd just had a LOT of time to think about what he'd done wrong.

"I'm a fair boss," Caraway sighed. "I don't have time to be nice. Galbadia is falling apart."

Arguing about his management style wasn't going to help anything. "I'm sorry. Look. I... I'm honored and pleased by your call. To what do I owe the pleasure?"

[angelo_wings]

"It doesn't take any more time to be nice than to be mean," she said, very primly. "I ... if ... if you r-really are busy, I can call back."

She'd mean to, anyway, and then probably not, but if he actually was busy, then she didn't want to keep him.

[estranged-dads.livejournal.com]

"I need a short break, anyway," Fury told his daughter. "And I can make time, for you. It's good to hear your voice, again."

[angelo_wings]

"... Thank you," she said, awkwardly. It was nice to hear his, as well, in some strange way, but she didn't know how to say it back. "I, uh ..."

She cleared her throat. "I wished to ... speak with you on matters of State. If that's all right."

Yes. This was a professional call. You could tell from the tantrum she'd just thrown.

[estranged-dads.livejournal.com]

"...Matters of State?" he repeated, not really following. What little State there was left was being held together by chewing gum and a prayer. What could she possibly want to discuss? "Is this about the trade deal with Garden? I'm speaking with Commander Trepe again tomorrow, but we really can't afford to lower our asking price."

[angelo_wings]

"Quistis?" Rinoa frowned. "No, I -- didn't know Galbadia had a deal with Garden."

She'd need to share that tidbit with Squall. Seifer, too. Not that it mattered, but it was interesting gossip.

And this was sounding less and less professional all the time, so Rinoa straightened her spine and tried to sound like a Sorceress.

"This call doesn't concern Garden," she said. "I ... know that you are in a position of power at the moment; in fact, I think the woman who answered the phone referred to you as the Interim President. And as you know, I have long been concerned with Galbadia's occupation of the sovereign nation of Timber."

Please, do not let him blow up at the word 'Timber.' Please, do not let him think she was just bringing it up to jab at old wounds. Please.

"As the Sorceress ..." she began, before trailing off. Wait. Why did being the Sorceress give her room to approach Galbadia on the topic of Timber?

This had made a lot more sense when she had picked up the phone.

[estranged-dads.livejournal.com]

"As the Sorceress, you wish to discuss the future of the Galbadian Protectorate of Timber," he replied, reframing the issue. She may have gained tremendous magical power, but she was still his daughter, and her negotiation skills were lacking. If she wanted to play politics, he'd humor her, but she would need to come up with more compelling arguments than just insisting on her way and pouting. "What are you proposing?"

[angelo_wings]

"Yes," Rinoa said, hoping she did not sound nearly so relieved as she was. (She did, easily.) "Galbadia's occupation of Timber is neither legal nor moral, and --"

Now was not the time, Rinoa. Okay.

She cleared her throat again. "I propose that w-we ... sit and talk about it." Going for broke. She could do this. He wasn't even being mean right now, and like Squall said, it was for Timber. "O-over dinner."

[estranged-dads.livejournal.com]

She... was offering to have dinner with him? To visit? Was he really going to get his baby back after so many years?

"Very well, I accept," he told her. "My calendar is full, but I can make time for someone of your... importance." Importance to the world in general, sure, but more importantly, importance to him.

[angelo_wings]

"I-is next weekend free?" she asked. "I know you have to be busy, but there are festivities here. I thought m-maybe you could ... come in, and stay, although ... I don't know if that's ... too long to be away, with everything going on. But dinner, at least, and ..."

She bit her lip, hard. Why was she suddenly feeling nervous? It must be his fault. He was being nice to her and it was throwing her off. She should be cranky again but she couldn't seem to manage it.

"It's Parents' Weekend."

It came out all in a single breath.

[estranged-dads.livejournal.com]

It was. He had it circled on his calendar. He had been debating whether to show up unannounced this year like he had last year.

But now she was actually inviting him?

"I would love to," he told her.

[angelo_wings]

"O-okay then," Rinoa said. Good. Right. She hadn't expected it to be that easy. Had she?

The hard part would be convincing him. All she had done was get him to show up. Which he had done last year without an invitation. But. Still.

"Do you ... need the information for the hotel?" she asked. A sudden thought struck her, and she bit her lip. "I ... I should probably tell you. Seifer's here."

[estranged-dads.livejournal.com]

"I know," Caraway told her. "I was informed when he went. He... hasn't caused any trouble, has he? I've got enough to worry about, as it is."

[angelo_wings]

"No," she said, impatiently. "He came here to get away from people being terrible to him in Garden. What happened to him isn't his fault, Daddy. He was under an evil Sorceress's spell, just like I was. I'm the one who freed Adel. Is Galbadia going to hold me responsible?"

It wasn't until all of that had spilled out that she realized that she had called him "Daddy," and not "General Caraway," for the first time in ... she didn't honestly know how long. Years, easily.

[estranged-dads.livejournal.com]

"Of course not, Angel," Fury consoled her. "Not you, not him, and not any of my soldiers who deserted, either. The past is past, and we need to look to the future." He paused and shuffled a few papers. "Which reminds me -- you wouldn't happen to know what happened to a Lieutenant Biggs and a Private Wedge, would you? I received word they made it off the Lunatic Pandora before it was destroyed, but they haven't returned to duty."

He harrumphed. "Never mind. The point is, I didn't trust Mr. Almasy before the recent war, and I've been told he has a bit of a bad reputation."

[angelo_wings]

"What they do to SeeDs at Garden isn't right," she insisted. "They take orphans and make them soldiers. Of course they're going to be messed up. And you never liked Seifer because he was my boyfriend."

[estranged-dads.livejournal.com]

"No, I didn't want him to be your boyfriend because I didn't like him," Caraway countered. "It's entirely different."

He sighed, trying to figure out how to put it all into words. "Sometimes, you need to take orphans and make them soldiers. The world isn't perfect, or fair. But Seifer... he's not soldier material."

[angelo_wings]

"I'm not going to sit here and listen to you insult him," Rinoa said. She was tempted to say something that would make her father's blood boil -- possibly about how great a kisser he was. (Just kisser. Anything priest-related might get Seifer killed.) "Or listen to you talk about the world not being fair and it being okay to make children into soldiers and -- how can you even think like that? It's horrible. I can't believe I'm related to you. It's like you don't even have a soul."

[estranged-dads.livejournal.com]

"I can't change the world, Angel," her father told her moodily. "Not without a lot of hard work over a long time. You always see the best side of people, and that's wonderful, but I can't afford to think like that."

[angelo_wings]

"Mom did, too," she said quietly. She knew that would get her into trouble. He always yelled, when she mentioned her mother.

He liked to pretend that Julia had never existed, and that was what she hated him for most of all. She had been too wonderful, too loving, too special to be forgotten.

[estranged-dads.livejournal.com]

And there it was.

Julia.

He'd had time to really sit and think about where he'd gone wrong with Rinoa, and enough time had passed that Julia's loss wasn't quite the stabbing pang that it used to be. And he couldn't just end the conversation and lock Rinoa in her room this time.

So this time, the yelling was different.

"So you should KNOW, then!!!" he shouted. "Get it through your head: the world. is. CRUEL! Bad things happen!"

[angelo_wings]

And there it was, like clockwork, striking her in the face. She mentioned her mother, the source of all that was good and loving, and he shouted until she stopped.

Tears had already sprung to her eyes.

"The world isn't cruel, Daddy," she insisted. "You are."

And with that, she hung up. She had invited him. She would even be civil to him if he showed up. But she didn't have to sit there and listen to him any more.

That was why she had run away, after all. So that when she flopped onto her bed and cried herself to sleep tonight, at least this time, it wasn't as his prisoner.

[estranged-dads.livejournal.com]

Fury Caraway sat and stared at the phone in his hand until it started buzzing at him. "I know, Angel," he told it softly. "I have to be cruel, to keep you safe."

His secretary knocked on the door and carefully opened it a crack. "Sir? There's a riot starting outside a bar in the market district. The lieutenant on-scene wants..."

She didn't get to finish the sentence. Fury growled and hurled the telephone at the door.