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

[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.