“Isn’t there anything you want me to send home from the states darling? There must be something,”

“You know you don’t have to send me anything, right Dad?”

“Well I don’t have to, but I want to, what’s the point of being in a foreign country if not for the souvenirs?”

“I don’t know.... learning something?”

His daughter had always been so smart, Stolas would envy her if he wasn’t so damn proud of her, though the notion that he was at Luxe to learn anything couldn’t help but make him laugh

“Please darling, as if I could ever learn anything here, how are your studies going though? Are you taking those extra classes I suggested?”

“Astrology and witchcraft? Yeah, but I don’t really see why you’re so insistent on them,”

Stolas could tell her... but she’d probably think he was superstitious at best, outright crazy at worst

“Oh... I don’t know my little owlette, they might just come in handy one of these days,”

“Right..... listen, Dad, it’s getting late here, we’ve got an early flight in the morning, I need to go soon, did.. you want to talk to Mum?”

Oh, what a sore spot, if Stolas were a gambling man he’d bet any amount of money that his soon-to-be-ex would just scream at him the moment he got on the phone with her...

“I... think it’s better if your mother decides when she’s ready to talk to me, rather than the other way around, my darling,”

“Ok.. well, you have... fun... at University, I really-”

“Wait! Wait... Via, can’t I send you anything? Anything at all?”

Even to his own ears it sounded a little desperate, but Stolas was desperate, he’d do anything to patch up the rift in his relationship with his daughter, things had already started getting rocky once she hit those pesky tween years but since the separation they’d only been getting worse, and now that he was so far away from her wile her mother got to keep her close all the time.....

He just didn’t want Octavia to forget about him...

“I guess America has some cool Halloween shit... I won’t get to decorate this year, since Mum and I are traveling, maybe send me something spooky?”

“Ofcourse, my precious little starfire, anything you wish,”

“Thanks Dad, but Mum is calling, I’ve really got to go ok? Talk to you tommorrow,”

“Ofcourse, Via, you have my heart and soul, goodbye darling,”

“Bye Dad,”

Stolas swore that everytime he hung up, a tiny part of him just fucking died.... he could feel the ache turning into a blistering burn in his chest, like acid slowly rotting away what little heart he had to begin with, but as though the fading of his heart brought a sixth sense out in him, he felt the presence of someone behind him and quickly turned around, forcing a smile faker than plastic flowers at the stranger

“Can I help you with something dear?”