"Eh, no big deal. Asteria Diamond asked us to come."
If VLAD MASTERS raised his eyebrows any more, they would have disappeared into his NOT QUITE RECEDING HAIRLINE.
“Fascinating,” he vaguely responds, face giving away nothing. “If you’ll excuse me, there’s a few other guests I need to find.”
He walks away, leaving you more than a little confused.
“What was up with that?” you ask.
GRUNKLE STAN facepalms, just barely hiding his obvious frown. “Kid, you went too strong right outta the gate. He thought you were fucking with him, so he ducked out. Pride, you know? It didn’t look like you were taking him seriously.”
He does have a point, that was a pretty outrageous thing to say. How exactly were you going to explain that anyway? Did you think just talking about AZ would make him show up to prove your point?
...Ah.
So you did.
Oh well. There goes THAT BRIDGE BURNT.
“Hey, wait up!”
The YOUNG MAN FROM THE FRUIT PUNCH TABLE (DANIEL, WAS IT?) taps you on the shoulder. His eyes are just as cold as DR. MASTER’S, and for a kid who only just looks old enough to be in college, he’s got a lot of white in his black hair.
But instead of sharing DR. MASTER’S calculating stare, he seems intrigued. Excited, even.
“Sorry, sorry. Just heard you chatting up Vlad- did you say Asteria Diamond?”
>[“She’s at the party. You didn’t know?”]
>[“What’s it to you?”]
>[“Yeah, xe was a collaborator on this thesis we’re working on. You know the one?”]