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Post by Herbert von Krolock on Oct 15, 2016 14:45:13 GMT -5
"Yes?" he asked dubiously, unintentionally guarded.
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Post by Graf von Krolock on Oct 15, 2016 14:49:56 GMT -5
Johannes gestured at the crowded room and the many, many distinct, crisp reflections of decidedly human partygoers.
"Next time, please remind yourself of the difference between a vampire and a fashionable be-bopper-"
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Post by Herbert von Krolock on Oct 15, 2016 14:53:23 GMT -5
Herbert was startled into a raucous laugh.
"Be-bopper-"
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Post by Graf von Krolock on Oct 15, 2016 14:58:12 GMT -5
"Herbert, most of your guests are alive-"
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Post by Herbert von Krolock on Oct 15, 2016 15:01:44 GMT -5
"Well, those are the ones who like the idea of a vampire party the most," said Herbert with an enormous shrug. "Other vampires don't really want to come."
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Post by Graf von Krolock on Oct 15, 2016 15:21:40 GMT -5
"Herbert-"
Johannes touched his own temple for a long moment with his eyes shut, taking unnecessary deep breaths. He opened his eyes a long moment later.
"Well," he said. "I suppose greater numbers won't hurt-"
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Post by Herbert von Krolock on Oct 15, 2016 15:22:43 GMT -5
"I can't do anything right for you, can I?"
Herbert didn't notice he was being looked at, although given that at this point it was merely a few surprised, short glances, there didn't seem to be any reason to either.
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Post by Graf von Krolock on Oct 15, 2016 15:26:41 GMT -5
"Herbert," Johannes sighed, "it was... it was an innocent mistake, yes? You tried, and while this is certainly not, er, ideal-"
He smiled.
"We can make this work. I'm grateful for your efforts."
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Post by Herbert von Krolock on Oct 15, 2016 15:31:05 GMT -5
The room felt strange and cold, and the sound almost muffled, even though the speakers were not far off. Everyone around them was having a great time - see? he wanted to say, feeling strangled, you wanted a party, didn't you, and guests came, they're having fun, this is what a party is supposed to be like; and then underneath that in a whispered scream, I've thrown a better party than you have in four hundred years! - but Herbert was so far removed from it he had the actual sensation that he was underwater and the partygoers were not.
"I have to find Alex," he said in a weirdly thick voice, and he hurried past his father so quickly that he had dipped into using vampire superpowers to do so.
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Post by Graf von Krolock on Oct 15, 2016 16:20:20 GMT -5
"Herbert-"
Johannes bared his teeth involuntarily.
"All right, out! The lot of you, out-"
Humans and vampires alike looked up, startled and- to Johannes's disgust- largely indistinguishable.
"The party is postponed. Come back next week-"
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Post by Herbert von Krolock on Oct 15, 2016 16:27:18 GMT -5
It felt like walking through a dream, with things going on all around him but none of it touching him. People looked at and saw him, but he didn't notice or hear them, even if they spoke to him and tried to get his attention - and since most of those who tried to do that were humans, most of them also recoiled to see him, as he, unwittingly, had his fangs bared animalistically, eyes seeming bright and frightening. By the time he found Alex, in a panicky state from the confusion, the party was obviously over as the music had been turned off, and people were finally starting to leave.
Herbert had bright tears in his eyes, and he was mad.
"Of course we finally have a good party and he cancels it!" he said in a whispered shout. "You'd think he was jealous, he's never pulled anything like this off in his entire unlife-"
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Post by Alex Regan on Oct 15, 2016 16:36:20 GMT -5
The muddle of people either leaving or trying to figure out why other people were leaving made his head spin -- he didn't know any of these people, no more than Herbert did, and if he wasn't exactly sad to see them go it didn't mean it didn't give him pause to see Herbert ploughing through the crowd while it parted for him, a straight-up Red Sea situation.
At least Daddy Krolock hadn't flicked the lights on and off. It could conceivably have been more mortifying.
Alex more or less collided with his boyfriend, up on his toes and trying to lace his arms around him even if it was a big reach. "What happened? Did somebody--" The sentence turned to a wheeze in his mouth before he could ask if somebody died. "Are we relocating? What the fuck?"
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Post by Herbert von Krolock on Oct 15, 2016 16:38:57 GMT -5
"Oh, it's just not good enough, nothing ever is-"
He had his big hand on Alex's back and was hurrying him into a hallway and out with the crowd before his father could - hopefully - notice him leaving or intervene. It didn't occur to him to pack or that Alex would protest; all he could think of was the getting out, and how if they didn't hurry, they might be stopped before they left.
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Post by Alex Regan on Oct 15, 2016 16:41:27 GMT -5
Keeping up with Herbert was an exercise in tripping over himself but it wasn't hard to tap into the impulse to hustle both of them along.
"Oh, buddy, you know that's bullshit, it was a great party--"
It had been officially a Happening Party, until all the air went out of it. Funny how quickly it became a party in the past tense.
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Post by Herbert von Krolock on Oct 15, 2016 16:50:05 GMT -5
Some people stopped in the street and started making arrangements to go someplace new, and Herbert and Alex were invited.
"Oh, no," Herbert said with weirdly dissonant cheeriness. "I think we might be all right. Aren't we, Alex? Are you all right?"
He squinted down at him. Oh, his damn glasses were still in the house - He'd have to go back for them. His heart squeezed at the thought. He felt claustrophobic at the prospect of going back inside, suddenly - as if his father might keep him from leaving again. But there wasn't anywhere else to go.
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