[Hotel] Beautiful
Mar. 18th, 2009 09:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
crankyoldmanCharacters/Pairings: Julia/Caraway
Fandom: FF8
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Real romance is as much about compromise as it is about fuzzy feelings.
Notes: I think the relationship between Julia and Caraway is probably the least explored in the entire game. Here's kind of how I see it.
Song: Preview only!
Previous Parts: In the list here.
Come on baby,
Come on girl,
I love you baby,
I love you now.
The wedding of Fury Caraway and Julia Heartilly was extravagant even by the ancient Centran terms. While Galbadia liked to pride itself as a nation of discipline and power, there were always the small lovelies underneath. In the art and the music especially, which seemed to attach itself to the buildings and seep into the streets of Deling City in particular.
There were fireworks and everyone took their pictures.
Caraway had wanted to wait until the war ended, in all actuality, but it had been the President's idea to bump the date up. He was enough of a politician to understand the move, but despite the public--and was it ever public--nature of the event, he managed to keep her away from open places where a well-placed Estharian sniper could make quick work of his hopes and dreams.
Julia herself probably didn't even know the extent of his sappy and stubborn love.
---
"I hope you don't my me... talking about this with you."
"I said I was your friend, Julia, no matter how many bits of frill they put on my uniform."
"But you always seem so...polite. And I'm not sure what to talk about in polite society."
"You can't have been a musician so long as to have really forgotten polite society isn't polite at all."
---
The papers would later try to paint it as a typical princess story; the struggling musician meets the handsome general and they buy a castle and proceed to rule the world. But the Heartillys and Caraways had never been invisible families in Galbadian history, and in both their youths there had been times the press caught up with their growing pains. The fact that neither of them ended up as just another old money child drinking their trust funds and burning their estates for parties was part of the reason he had probably always been a little silly over her.
Julia was no commoner; she was as royal as the modern age allowed. And he certainly was no looker.
And reputations always lead in the front, so when he first heard of Julia, he actually didn't like her. The only daughter of the old time Heartillys wanted to be a musician? It seemed flippant. Caraway had spent years trying to live up to his brothers, only to give up and join the army as soon as he was old enough.
Of course, hearing about someone and meeting them were entirely different things.
---
"When did you become so..."
"Forward? Well, we're actually talking like friends now. I suppose that's the best thing to do."
"What sort of dreams do you have, Fury?"
"To see the end of the war. And you?"
"To sing, of course. And to..."
"To see the romantic again, right?"
---
It was a cliche, love at first sight. And he didn't love her; he still knew that she was the moony and dreamy daughter of a family as old and powerful as his. But she was beautiful and oddly... oddly sad. And he wanted to know why, really. Fourteen years old was too young to look that sad. She had both her parents, no missing siblings. She was afforded all manner of luxuries, and yet. Julia was a very tiny Lady Sorrow. A petite version of the blues.
He kept an eye on her, from afar, because he was in all the advanced classes, when she made as much room as he made for advancement for music. They were in the same literature class, and he could have sworn he saw her doodling notes on a staff instead of words.
Caraway was too old to imagine himself as a champion, but he was maybe just a little jealous of people that could make her smile.
But he was secretly happy that the first time they met--not just the rehearsed speeches in his head for the pretty girl that everyone noticed--she laughed.
"You look so serious. It's kind of funny."
---
Look at us we’re beautiful,
All the people push and pull but,
Let’s just go out and ride,
Talk about the things we’ve tried.
---
The difference between them wasn't dreams; she had to understand he'd use up all the money and influence he'd gained to make her smile. And that was really frightening to him sometimes, to think that he'd throw anything away for a woman that might not even like him. But even the General Caraway took risks, after weighing the options.
No, the difference between them was dedication. Once a man realized that Julia Heartilly's only love was her music, they couldn't be jealous.
---
"You know how rare it is for people to connect?"
"I'm very well aware of that."
"We connected."
"And what do you think would come of it?"
"I don't know."
"Neither do I with you, sometimes."
---
Not all of the press bought into it, of course. Especially during their honeymoon--or rather, her tour--as she finally got what she wanted. Anyone can turn an angle ugly, even if they're not the loudest voices. He liked to burn those articles, the ones talking about how she'd married him for her career, or that she had lovers on the side.
Funny how no one accused him of being a rebound.
But how could they know what the song was about? It was the kind of song that anyone could turn into their own, the kind of song that sometimes he wondered if he could maybe turn around to be about him. Hadn't he been there for years, trying to get up the courage to ask her to stop looking so sad? To tell her he understood her when she thought she was invisible?
Those kinds of stories don't make the papers.
---
"I want to marry you, Julia."
"Why?"
"Because I'd hate to see you pine away over something so brief."
"Not because you love me?"
"Isn't that a little irrelevant?"
---
He'd had to change out of his uniform to get backstage, and her piano was just striking out the last notes of her famous song. The sounds the crowd made nearly shook the rickety scaffolds for props of some long forgotten play. He had security everywhere, and yet, he'd let her go on.
That flushed look, the surprise that registered in her eyes as she saw him, her husband, just a man, that was enough.
Only the types of security he knew best ever got backstage. Part of him hoped they would take a picture, sell it to the press. Show that Mr. and Mrs. Caraway really weren't playing to the cameras when they embraced. It was all a matter of knowing his place.
"You came."
"You know I always love to hear you play."
---
Look at us we’re beautiful,
All the people push and pull but,
They’ll never get inside,
We got too much to hide
Fandom: FF8
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Real romance is as much about compromise as it is about fuzzy feelings.
Notes: I think the relationship between Julia and Caraway is probably the least explored in the entire game. Here's kind of how I see it.
Song: Preview only!
Previous Parts: In the list here.
Come on baby,
Come on girl,
I love you baby,
I love you now.
The wedding of Fury Caraway and Julia Heartilly was extravagant even by the ancient Centran terms. While Galbadia liked to pride itself as a nation of discipline and power, there were always the small lovelies underneath. In the art and the music especially, which seemed to attach itself to the buildings and seep into the streets of Deling City in particular.
There were fireworks and everyone took their pictures.
Caraway had wanted to wait until the war ended, in all actuality, but it had been the President's idea to bump the date up. He was enough of a politician to understand the move, but despite the public--and was it ever public--nature of the event, he managed to keep her away from open places where a well-placed Estharian sniper could make quick work of his hopes and dreams.
Julia herself probably didn't even know the extent of his sappy and stubborn love.
---
"I hope you don't my me... talking about this with you."
"I said I was your friend, Julia, no matter how many bits of frill they put on my uniform."
"But you always seem so...polite. And I'm not sure what to talk about in polite society."
"You can't have been a musician so long as to have really forgotten polite society isn't polite at all."
---
The papers would later try to paint it as a typical princess story; the struggling musician meets the handsome general and they buy a castle and proceed to rule the world. But the Heartillys and Caraways had never been invisible families in Galbadian history, and in both their youths there had been times the press caught up with their growing pains. The fact that neither of them ended up as just another old money child drinking their trust funds and burning their estates for parties was part of the reason he had probably always been a little silly over her.
Julia was no commoner; she was as royal as the modern age allowed. And he certainly was no looker.
And reputations always lead in the front, so when he first heard of Julia, he actually didn't like her. The only daughter of the old time Heartillys wanted to be a musician? It seemed flippant. Caraway had spent years trying to live up to his brothers, only to give up and join the army as soon as he was old enough.
Of course, hearing about someone and meeting them were entirely different things.
---
"When did you become so..."
"Forward? Well, we're actually talking like friends now. I suppose that's the best thing to do."
"What sort of dreams do you have, Fury?"
"To see the end of the war. And you?"
"To sing, of course. And to..."
"To see the romantic again, right?"
---
It was a cliche, love at first sight. And he didn't love her; he still knew that she was the moony and dreamy daughter of a family as old and powerful as his. But she was beautiful and oddly... oddly sad. And he wanted to know why, really. Fourteen years old was too young to look that sad. She had both her parents, no missing siblings. She was afforded all manner of luxuries, and yet. Julia was a very tiny Lady Sorrow. A petite version of the blues.
He kept an eye on her, from afar, because he was in all the advanced classes, when she made as much room as he made for advancement for music. They were in the same literature class, and he could have sworn he saw her doodling notes on a staff instead of words.
Caraway was too old to imagine himself as a champion, but he was maybe just a little jealous of people that could make her smile.
But he was secretly happy that the first time they met--not just the rehearsed speeches in his head for the pretty girl that everyone noticed--she laughed.
"You look so serious. It's kind of funny."
---
Look at us we’re beautiful,
All the people push and pull but,
Let’s just go out and ride,
Talk about the things we’ve tried.
---
The difference between them wasn't dreams; she had to understand he'd use up all the money and influence he'd gained to make her smile. And that was really frightening to him sometimes, to think that he'd throw anything away for a woman that might not even like him. But even the General Caraway took risks, after weighing the options.
No, the difference between them was dedication. Once a man realized that Julia Heartilly's only love was her music, they couldn't be jealous.
---
"You know how rare it is for people to connect?"
"I'm very well aware of that."
"We connected."
"And what do you think would come of it?"
"I don't know."
"Neither do I with you, sometimes."
---
Not all of the press bought into it, of course. Especially during their honeymoon--or rather, her tour--as she finally got what she wanted. Anyone can turn an angle ugly, even if they're not the loudest voices. He liked to burn those articles, the ones talking about how she'd married him for her career, or that she had lovers on the side.
Funny how no one accused him of being a rebound.
But how could they know what the song was about? It was the kind of song that anyone could turn into their own, the kind of song that sometimes he wondered if he could maybe turn around to be about him. Hadn't he been there for years, trying to get up the courage to ask her to stop looking so sad? To tell her he understood her when she thought she was invisible?
Those kinds of stories don't make the papers.
---
"I want to marry you, Julia."
"Why?"
"Because I'd hate to see you pine away over something so brief."
"Not because you love me?"
"Isn't that a little irrelevant?"
---
He'd had to change out of his uniform to get backstage, and her piano was just striking out the last notes of her famous song. The sounds the crowd made nearly shook the rickety scaffolds for props of some long forgotten play. He had security everywhere, and yet, he'd let her go on.
That flushed look, the surprise that registered in her eyes as she saw him, her husband, just a man, that was enough.
Only the types of security he knew best ever got backstage. Part of him hoped they would take a picture, sell it to the press. Show that Mr. and Mrs. Caraway really weren't playing to the cameras when they embraced. It was all a matter of knowing his place.
"You came."
"You know I always love to hear you play."
---
Look at us we’re beautiful,
All the people push and pull but,
They’ll never get inside,
We got too much to hide
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2009-03-19 10:21 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-03-19 12:26 pm (UTC)Besides, he wouldn't have spoiled Rinoa and been completely scary protective if he didn't love his wife and at least have SOME love in return. Logic. XD
(no subject)
Date: 2009-03-19 12:28 pm (UTC)I can see that. I tend to think that she did love Laguna, but more for the "absence makes the heart grow fonder" kind of thing than the OMG TWU WUV 4EVA thing (because, seriousy...just no.)
(no subject)
Date: 2009-03-19 12:32 pm (UTC)I feel like such a jerk when that happens, but seriously. It kind of makes me want to write MORE in this fandom to counteract the DUMB.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-03-19 12:39 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-03-19 12:40 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-03-19 12:47 pm (UTC)I am less antagonistic toward Rinoa now than I used to be, and I always thought Cid was kind of geeky awesome. (I still ship Rinoa/Growing Up and Squall/Therapy though.)