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Post by Herbert von Krolock on Jul 1, 2017 11:28:59 GMT -5
Herbert gestured at him furiously, but it looked a little spastic, not self-righteous. "You don't even know what you look like, do you!" he demanded.
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Post by Graf von Krolock on Jul 1, 2017 11:32:38 GMT -5
"No," said Johannes. "I prefer to wait, lest I cast myself into another transport of gloom."
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Post by Herbert von Krolock on Jul 1, 2017 11:37:16 GMT -5
"'Transport of gloom'-"
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Post by Graf von Krolock on Jul 1, 2017 11:38:16 GMT -5
"I am capable of managing my emotions!" Johannes bellowed.
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Post by Herbert von Krolock on Jul 1, 2017 11:41:42 GMT -5
"You want to leave the country after five months just because humans came to your party and a girl you don't even know has gotten married - to the man she was engaged to when you met her!"
Herbert had at least as much lung capacity as his father did, and at least as little restraint.
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Post by Graf von Krolock on Jul 1, 2017 11:50:10 GMT -5
"This city has poisoned your mind further than I believed," Johannes said heatedly. "Have you not noticed the scorn with which we are treated? I, who once held an entire valley in my thrall, am to be subjected to the derision of prying children when I so much as venture beyond the threshold of my own home? If I am to be nothing but some forsaken leech, bypassed by the outside world, at least grant me the dignity of doing so in my own domain-"
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Post by Herbert von Krolock on Jul 1, 2017 11:50:58 GMT -5
"That's just New York!" Herbert gaped. "All the children are rude to everybody!"
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Post by Graf von Krolock on Jul 1, 2017 12:01:04 GMT -5
"Bah," Johannes said dismissively. "That is of no concern to me. It is not too much to ask to not be treated as vermin, is it not?"
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Post by Herbert von Krolock on Jul 1, 2017 12:02:38 GMT -5
"You aren't treated as vermin- vati, vati, laws change. Things are already changing. Everything is so different now - there was a Cold War, and now it's over. You haven't been here as long as me, you haven't seen the differences. We live so long, vati," he pleaded with bright eyes. "Just wait it out, and you'll see, everything will get better in time-"
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Post by Graf von Krolock on Jul 1, 2017 12:05:55 GMT -5
"Herbert," he said, gesturing at himself. "Look at me. Look at your father. You cannot believe I am suited to this place."
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Post by Herbert von Krolock on Jul 1, 2017 12:06:40 GMT -5
"You just have to accept it's not 500 years ago anymore and no, father, saying you accept it and then never moving on is not accepting it-"
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Post by Graf von Krolock on Jul 2, 2017 10:56:19 GMT -5
"Move on to what? What am I to move on to?" Johannes said desperately, albeit with great dignity as he straightened himself up. "It is easy for you, you are young, and I..."
When he gestured at himself again, it was a slower, more presentational gesture than before.
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Post by Herbert von Krolock on Jul 2, 2017 11:00:39 GMT -5
"Vati, you're only fifty years older than me. Technically - technically, because you made me when i was very nearly twenty, you're only thirty years older than me," he went on doggedly, stubbornly.
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Post by Graf von Krolock on Jul 2, 2017 11:18:49 GMT -5
"That is an entire lifetime of difference," Johannes said bitterly. "Come. I will help you collect your things."
Despite his general attitude, it was hard to miss that Johannes' clothes were new, though, and his face was less drawn. Even what was left of his hair was filling in darker and less dry than before, though that was harder to tell. His hairline and habit of keeping it pulled back from his face had long prevented it from seeming like anything but an additional layer of neglect, and the choppy remnants did not seem as much of a jarring absence as they might have on a man who had ever prided himself on long hair in the first place.
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Post by Herbert von Krolock on Jul 2, 2017 11:21:52 GMT -5
Half an hour passed where Herbert was more than usually subdued, without seeming to be particularly distressed. Most things had been taken care of; Herbert had gathered all his immediate clothes and everything of Alex's first. What remained was largely what his father had brought from home - things that, truth be told, Herbert didn't necessarily want or need anymore, but he couldn't hurt his father by telling him that.
"Vati, are you really leaving?" asked Herbert quietly, when it seemed finally appropriate.
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