Chapter 456: Father Figures are Complicated
Kat had finished up with Kamiko for the time being and the pair were making there way up for tea. Kat found out that they had basically a television screen in each of the sisters' rooms that could transmit video from other places in the house and Kamiko's dad had called them up to eat tea with him. Kat wasn't sure how much she would eat, but that was fine.
What wasn't quite so fine were her current thoughts. Aslena, as difficult as it was to decide if she required punching, didn't actually require that much thought overall. It was very easy to just class her as somebody not to like and deal with it as things went. It just wasn't a super immediate problem for Kat, and even after they inevitably met, still wouldn't be a major point of concern. Her father was a different matter now that Kat was thinking on it again.
*I just don't know how to deal with him. I can objectively say Aslena is kind of a bitch. She has few redeeming qualities from my perspective because I don't care at all about clothing, and am honestly glad I have such a lovely outfit I can wear all the time with the excuse that nothing else will fit around my wings. I also haven't met her, so she's had no time to endear me to her at all. Finally, even if I wasn't Kamiko's friend, I have a long track record of disliking bullies. She is a bully, and one who directly terrorised a friend of mine. Sure she's also said friends sister, but really that's just an extra detail at this point.
Trigrath though… he's more of a problem. I don't exactly have a lot of gold male role models, and I certainly have no proper father figure in my life. Well, that might be a bit harsh, I do think of Gramps sort of like a father, and he does fill that role but… but it's very different.
Gramps is more a father to me then any other orphanage child because I lived with him for a decade and a half unlike most of the others. Inevitably we got closer, and he'd favour me when he could, and probably a few times where he shouldn't. Without knowing too much, he might have also tried to have other kids be more proactively put up for adoption instead of me. No proof of that one, and if it was the case I'd give him a hug because the orphanage really was my home, and still is a little bit.
Anyway off topic. Despite what Gramps has done for me, there was always the understanding that he was the head of the orphanage first and a father figure second. He did what he could, but it isn't the same I don't think. I'll never resent that, but it does make it really hard to figure out how I feel about Trigrath.
The sort of behaviour coming from Gramps would be utterly unacceptable. He'd have failed as both a father figure and as the orphanage director if he let something like the fashion show happen under his watch. On the other hand, he has much more distance from a lot of the kids. He'd have checked with both of them, both because he knows kids can be little shits, and that they can LIE.
Now, one could argue that Trigrath should know his daughter better then that, but I also know that people are wilfully blind when it comes to their family. Heck, take Lily's dad. He was more than willing to throw me under the bus to keep his wife happy. I don't even know if I can say that's the wrong choice and I'M the one they targeted.
So what the heck am I supposed to feel here. Both of them are his daughters, and I think, my gut tells me he is majorly at fault because as a father he should take care of his daughters, and know Kamiko well enough to realise she'd never want to go up on stage, and know Aslena well enough to realise she'd do anything to further herself. Probably should also know about the bullying.
The hard part is of course that Kamiko still likes him. Loves him in fact. Also, she hasn't really shared much of the good he's done. I'm sure there must be, because otherwise she'd talk about him in a much worse light. From what I can gather it's more… disappointment? That might be right. Loves him, knows he means well, but ultimately doesn't follow through?*
Kat disguised her sigh with the rushing of air as she was launched back to ground level for their meal. Kamiko was now happily skipping ahead of her, quite literally. After the girl had finished crying, she perked up quickly and Kat could see that it wasn't fake. Many years of practise from watching kids let get a sense of when a smile was put on, and Kamiko bounced back well. Sure, it took her about ten minutes after the crying to get there, but Kat was going to count that as a good time.
*On the other hand, I could probably just punch him, and when he ask why say 'for Kamiko' and he'd accept it. Seems like the sort of backwards thinking he'd go along with. He wouldn't bother with the why I was punching him, just accepting it was for a good reason once he established, I was doing it for Kamiko's sake. Of course, unlike Aslena it wouldn't hurt him.*
Now Kat was back to considering the implications of punching Aslena and what power level would be best along with where. Kat was tempted for a moment to pull her thoughts back to Trigrath but seeing him standing behind the ready made meal smiling allowed her to move on from that particular spiral.
*So, I don't know how strong Aslena is, but I doubt it's any higher than four, and even three is unlikely. If she's level two, punching her in the face might be a bit much. However, I doubt she'd die, and Nira can be called up to solve that issue. Hmm, maybe I should think about this more.*
Kat took her seat at the table as she let that thought percolate through her mind but it wasn't really giving her any new answers she hadn't thought of before. The meal was a simple affair really, Trigrath had made up three pizzas for them to eat alongside a large bowl of what looked somewhat like fries, however they were bright green. Clearly not natural, but it looked very close to being a vegetable of some kind if you only looked out of the corner of your eye. The pizzas were sprinkled with normal looking cheese, a golden coloured base, and various toppings.
Kat grabbed a slice of the nearest one after Kamiko grabbed the same piece. It seemed to have the least number of toppings. The main topping was something like salami but greyer and had a slightly wrinkly appearance. It did not look appetising at all but Kat found herself not caring. Biting into it, Kat found it was actually quite good. Whatever the grey stuff was, she found it very salty, but mixed well with the rich sauce and the strange meaty taste it had. It tasted a little like salty jerky but it was very supple and easy to tear into.
"So what do you think?" asked Trigrath
"Iss rely goosh dad" said Kamiko with food still in her mouth. Trigrath smiled thinly at this as if he was fighting a war between telling her off because it was rude, or enjoying how cute it looked because Kamiko had stuffed her cheeks full of pizza with one overly large bite.
Kat actually waited till she swallowed to say "It is indeed quite tasty. Whatever topping this is, isn't something I've tried before but I like it. The sauce is good as well." Left unsaid was that the cheese was honestly rather standard, nothing outstanding, but Kat supposed it might be a little strange it really was just normal cheese anyway.
"I'm glad" said Trigrath taking a slice of one of the other pizzas that had the same grey things as well as a few blue pineapple looking slices and a fine dusting of… something on it.
*Think Kat think. What can you ask to keep the conversation off Kamiko. I can already tell Trigrath is wanting to go back to that.* "So… what do you think we'll end up doing at Sloth?" managed Kat.
Trigrath stopped, pizza halfway to his mouth as he considered the question. "Well… if I'm honest I think it's most likely that they'll get you to do something interesting"
"Interesting?" asked Kat
"Yes. They do love their normalcy. Settling into a routine is one of the great joys of a sloth demon. So… whatever disrupts that is a problem. They'll send you after them."
Kat didn't really know what that meant exactly, but she was already forming several good guesses.
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