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Post by Graf von Krolock on Jun 29, 2017 10:36:07 GMT -5
"Take it with you, then, if you are so determined to leave me."
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Post by Herbert von Krolock on Jun 29, 2017 10:40:13 GMT -5
His giant shoulders sagged. "It's not like that-"
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Post by Graf von Krolock on Jun 29, 2017 11:02:05 GMT -5
"I know, my boy. I know."
He smiled in a way clearly intended to be comforting, but it looked strained and ghoulish instead.
"You must... go your own way, as they say, yes? Please come out of there."
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Post by Herbert von Krolock on Jun 29, 2017 11:11:34 GMT -5
Herbert hung in the doorway.
"Vati, it's uneven. You can't go out like that."
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Post by Graf von Krolock on Jun 29, 2017 11:14:46 GMT -5
It actually took a moment for it to register what Herbert meant.
"Ah- never mind that, my boy. I don't intend to go out for some time."
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Post by Herbert von Krolock on Jun 29, 2017 11:17:36 GMT -5
Herbert slunk out of the room and leaned back against the doorway, folding his arms. He was enormous enough that this tended not to look like sulking when he had his shoulders back.
After a moment, where he ran through all the available ways to say "well, see ya" and found none of them would work for his formal, sullen father, he asked pointedly, "Father, why do you want to leave? The longer you stay away from the world, the harder it's going to be to join it. Don't say you'll be happier this way. You've never been happy."
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Post by Graf von Krolock on Jun 29, 2017 11:20:07 GMT -5
"Then it makes no difference, does it not?" Johannes retorted. "There is nothing for me here nor there, but there I do not have to oretend."
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Post by Herbert von Krolock on Jun 29, 2017 11:20:49 GMT -5
"If you learn how to do it naturally, there won't be any pretend-"
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Post by Graf von Krolock on Jun 29, 2017 11:34:16 GMT -5
"I do not wish to if I am to be alone in it."
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Post by Herbert von Krolock on Jun 29, 2017 11:35:13 GMT -5
"Stop it," said Herbert a little desperately. "I want to be out of your house, but I don't want to be out of your life-"
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Post by Graf von Krolock on Jun 29, 2017 18:39:20 GMT -5
"Is that not what you have always wanted?" Johannes said, lifting his head sharply to look up at Herbert from beneath his brows. "You were the one who decided you would cross the seas and see this wretched place for yourself- and fool I was, I allowed it. I cannot keep you from your degradation, and I will make no move to do so without your assistance. My old heart can no longer bear to be at your mercy, Herbert-"
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Post by Herbert von Krolock on Jun 29, 2017 19:45:54 GMT -5
"Don't make me make a choice!" Herbert pleaded, but because he was enormous, it was a bellow. Still, there was more than a little whine to his voice. "Just because you don't like it - just because the girl you wanted got married-"
Yes, her; she was the reason his father was so out of sorts. Johannes would have handled everything nicely if he had not, crawling from the mouth of his cave, pinned all his hopes on some mortal girl he chanced to meet right afterward, and wouldn't have decided to reject the whole world if she had not rejected him first. But instead of flinging the accusations of degradation at her, as he might once have done, Herbert felt a peevish protectiveness of her - she was nice to him, and, after all, she really had liked vati. It seemed to Herbert that this was his father's own fault: he had pursued a taken woman, and done it in the worst way possible, why, he'd been so much smoother with Sarah. He'd been smoother with other girls he'd liked less than Sarah. Herbert's own part in this, his initial insinuations that his father could drive the couple apart and Herbert and Alex might swoop in to possess the other half of the equation, was conveniently pushed away. He was fairly certain he hadn't pushed any of that too far or too seriously, not when he and Alex were so serious. The blame became the graf's alone.
"Dammit, vati, you knew she was engaged, I told you, it isn't even a surprise!"
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Post by Graf von Krolock on Jun 29, 2017 21:18:17 GMT -5
"And who are you, boy, to lecture me on the proper handling of romantic disappointment?" Johannes snarled. "You and your damned starry eyes every time a well-fitting pair of trousers crossed our threshold, your tears in my lap like a spurned maiden-"
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Post by Herbert von Krolock on Jun 29, 2017 21:29:44 GMT -5
Herbert's eyes were more tearful than starry, a response welling up in them as one provoked by hay fever - tedious and miserable. But the tears didn't spill down his face.
"Not anymore," he said, and his voice only wavered a bit, then grew stronger as he found his footing. "Not since I realized it wasn't the boys I was crying for-"
He stopped. The realization he was speaking of so thunderously loudly was actually only just now occuring, and it spread over his brain with more horror than wisdom.
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Post by Graf von Krolock on Jun 29, 2017 21:36:03 GMT -5
"Well? Out with it, then!"
It was remarkable that Johannes could seem imposing even in his current state. He grit his teeth and momentarily grabbed the side of his head.
"Never- never you mind that. I'm sorry. What were you going to- yes, perhaps I can let you tend to me after all. We are, after all, family, my boy..."
He reached forward to touch Herbert's face and brush the barely-shed tears with his thumb.
"We need each other, you and I."
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