Firefly Ravine energy in space was the ultimate bad father

his eldest lotturo breaks the silence that settles over them, brief though it'd been, speaking of ceallach and eirlys. she had found them, she says. he knew, somewhere in the wilds, that they'd stayed. he knew it after seeing his youngest daughter; yet this news and that memory drudged up unwanted feelings. feelings that arturo did not necessarily wish to confront or process. whether reed had simply been cruel as children were wont to do or she truthfully did not recognize the name of her own father the gangster did not know. "good," the gangster says simply. it is good that the lotturos were slowly finding their way back to one another. "i know they're in the wilds somewhere," he comments, masking the pain he feels at the memory of his confrontation with reed with well practiced indifference. "i came across my youngest daughter a few months ago. she did not know me. not even by name," arturo admits, drawing his tongue across his jowls. "so i did not try to reunite with them." he's angry at reed and he's angry at hemlock and has come to the terms that his family is better off without him. they have gone their own way and he has gone his.

he has started anew; just as he assumes they have.

and then he comes up. or not him. riptide. the witchdoctor. the parasite went by many names. the devil that is the gangster no longer fears it. for what is a demon compared to the devil itself? nothing. a pale imitation. "chusi's betrayal of the family hurt me deeply, malliadh. the combined weight of lotte's death and chusi's abandonment was too much for me to bear. so the witchdoctor returned. you need not worry," arturo speaks not sure whether he is seeking to reassure or simply being factual. "he will not return." arturo concludes with a deep inhale and a deeper exhale. "and on the topic of chusi: i have disowned her from the family. i assume she knows it is the consequence for her choices but even if she does not i will not be the one to tell her because if i see her again i will kill her." and perhaps he has not sought her out because he still loves her and that is the tragedy of the whole damn thing. he may have disowned her and he may know that the next time they meet he will be the ruthless gangster; a side of him that he never allowed his children to see, but he still cares for her and there is conflict in the acceptance of that fact and the knowledge that he would tear himself apart to keep true to his word and the laws of teaghlaigh.

with nothing else to say he falls silent, watching his daughter for reactions to the truth of who he was and curious as to if, knowing what she knows now, she would find arturo or witchdoctor worse.