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“Wow,” Bob gasped, more to himself than to any of his coworkers. “Great turn out.”
And it was. It had started as an offhanded, very simple suggestion. A cast and crew costume party. There was fun music, fun snacks, and of course, a lot of fun costumes. Bob himself decided to dress as a tourist on vacation. A loud hawaiian print shirt about a size too large, big sunglasses, sunscreen on his nose completely unblended - it was easy. It was silly. And it was perfect for this occasion.
He turned, slightly, as he was approached by Nezzer and Lunt - dressed as Doc Brown and Marty McFly, respectively - “You should’ve grabbed some maps!” Marty-Lunt cried. “It would really help sell the outfit. But it’s a great costume!”
“Besides, Bob,” Nezzer nodded “I think you deserve a vacation. You work harder than the rest of us.”
“Heh,” Bob smiled sheepishly. “Maybe after the holidays. We’ve got some big shows coming up, I can’t just-”
“No business talk at the party!” Lunt interrupted. “This is about having fun and chillaxing, remember?”
Bob tilted his head slightly, confused “Chillaxing?”
“Yeah man!” Lunt smiled. “It’s what the kids are saying.”
“Like the skippy toilet?” Nezzer asked, confused.
Lunt sighed. “Why must I be so tragically hip?”
Bob couldn’t help but dryly chide “You really are ahead by a century, huh?”
“Huh?” Lunt echoed.
“Never mind.”
Meanwhile, across the room, Larry stalked in the shadows. Or, at least, he tried. He kept tripping over his dramatically large cape.
Instinctively, Archibald helped his friend back up. “You really ought to have tailored the cape before the party.”
“How was I supposed to know?” Larry groaned. “Besides, I only got the box in the mail last night. How come you aren’t tripping over yours?”
Archibald’s wife, Lovey, dressed as Broadway's Christine Daae, answered on his behalf “Oh, we’ve had these for years.”
“I see.” Larry noted, looking at the pair and their Phantom of the Opera costumes. “Well, maybe I can be a vampire again someday.”
“You could always pitch a script to Bob.” Archibald sarcastically teased.
Larry, however, did not get the facetious tone. Eyes lighting up, he beamed “Thanks Archie! That’s a great idea!”
“I…” he stammered out. But it was too late. Larry was gone. “Oh, never mind…”
“Groovy party, casanova!” Jimmy Gourd, dressed in a full 70s disco outfit grinned as he passed Bob a cup of punch. “This sure isn’t a jive turkey joint!”
“Thanks!” Bob smiled, thought it faltered as he followed up with a quiet, less sure “I think.”
“Nice party.” Jerry, who was dressed as Star Trek’s Mr. Spock, complemented.
The pleasant small talk was quickly overturned as Larry cried “Aha!”
“Ahh!” Bob cried, spilling his punch on his fun vacation shirt. “Larry, don’t sneak up on me like that.”
“Who is this Larry of whomst you speak?” Larry spoke in a thick, fake Translyvanian accent “I am Larracula! Creature of the night! And I thirst.”
Bob smiled. “Oh! If you’re thirsty, let me go get you some punch.”
Manning the punch bowl was Pa Grape, who wore a wizard cap and long blue robe. “Need another fill?”
“New cup, for Larry.” Bob explains.
“Let me see if I have a sippy cup,” Pa starts digging in his supplies. “He’s been tripping over that cape all night.”
Bob can’t help but laugh. “I know. The last time I’ve seen him this clumsy was…”
“...The Princess and the Pie War.” Pa fills in automatically. “Boy, that was a hoot. Neither of them could string out an unscripted sentence.”
Bob shook his head, slightly chuckling at the memory. “Where is Petunia, anyhow?”
Petunia was in the bathroom, dealing with what Megan deemed a party ending emergency.
The redhead, dressed as Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz, held an icy blue thread in her teeth as she carefully stitched the needle.
“This is a disaster!” Megan cried. “My poor ensemble…”
Petunia made a few more stitches before pulling it through “Done!”
“At what cost?” Megan lamented. “I’m supposed to be an angel. Perfection personified!” Petunia bit her lip, wondering if the term should be personified or veggiefied, or perhaps in Megan’s case, fruitified. She decided that didn’t matter, listening to the wails of “The whole night is ruined!”
“It’s so dark out there.” Petunia tried to comfort. “No one is going to notice my slightly askew sewing job.”
Megan sniffled slightly “I suppose you have a point. At least it’s not completely falling apart anymore.”
“That’s the spirit!” The redhead grinned.
With a deep, steadying inhale, Megan declared “I am going to go out there, and I’m going to have a good time!”
Petunia followed behind a few moments later, cleaning up the remains of their small sewing setback. As she left the bathroom, she was surprised to run into Nezzer and Lunt. “Oh!”
“Didn’t mean to scare you.” Nezzer smiled sheepishly.
“Did you try the punch yet?” Lunt asked amicably.
“Not yet.” She shook her head. “We had a wardrobe malfunction.”
Nezzer let out a few small ‘tsks’ before chastising “You’re almost as bad as Bob. You gotta relax. Unwind.”
“You’re working hard.” Lunt agreed. “When you should be hardly working.”
“I’m not Bob-levels of workaholic,” Petunia bit her lip, nervously fidgeting with one of her braids “Am I?”
“I think that would be mathematically impossible.” Lunt nodded sagely.
Speaking of, Bob was bringing Larry his promised sippy cup of punch. “Here ya are, buddy!”
Larry opened his mouth to protest in his vampire character once more, but faltered, sheepishly smiling “thank you.” before taking a sip.
“You’re usually so good with your costumes on set,” Bob notes. “Why do you keep tripping over this one?
Larry sighs. “I didn’t have time to get it tailored.”
“I see.”
Larry’s previous sigh soon turned to a wide eyed, bright grin, however, as he exclaimed “Oh! That reminds me! What if I could get this tailored?”
“Then you would have done so.” Bob replies logically.
“No no no,” Larry shakes his head. “I could be a vampire again! In one of our shows!”
“A vampire show?” Bob asks, his voice both kind and apprehensive. “I don’t know, that might be a little scary for the kids, dontcha think?”
“Alvin and the Chipmunks did it!” Larry was quick to assert.
Bob, however, shut him down. “No they didn’t. They did Frankenstein and The Wolfman. They never did a vampire.”
“Huh.” Larry pondered. “Weird. We should’ve got Simon as a vampire to complete the trilogy.”
“I agree. Especially since the Wolfman had such a good message about being kind and being yourself. They could’ve done something really great.” Bob nodded.
Larry’s eyes sparkled with excitement. “And that’s where we come in! A great vampire story with a great lesson!”
“Vampires?” Came the voice of one Lovey Asparagus. “I daresay, that is a novel idea. I always have had a taste for the dark romance of the era.”
Bob seemed confused. “Is Dracula a romance?”
Archibald, shaking his head, deadpanned. “She’s talking about Twilight.”
“That’s perfect!” Larry beamed. “Robert Pattinson and I have both played a Dark Knight type, I’m the perfect typecast for Edward!”
Archibald gave him a knowing look, “And you’re not just saying that to have romance scenes with a certain someone as Bella?”
Larry didn’t seem to follow, until Archibald tilted his head towards where Petunia was chatting with Pa at the punch bowl. “...no comment.”
“That’s unlike you,” Megan, rolling her eyes playfully, chided as she joined the group.
“Megan!” Bob smiled.
“Robert.” She replied.
“Pattinson?!?” Larry excitedly gasped, looking around.
“No.” Bob, Megan, Archibald and Lovey all spoke at once.
Back at the punch bowl, Pa noted “Well that sounded unanimous.”
“Right-o brother.” Jimmy tipped his cup.
Jerry, hearing ‘brother’, turned “Huh?”
“Not you, Jerry.” Jimmy kindly explained.
This did little to help Jerry, however, who simply furrowed his brow. “I’m your brother. Only brother.”
“Oh my,” Petunia laughed nervously. “This seems like a family matter, I oughta let you sort that out…”
As the redhead did, in fact, take that moment to head out, not all was done with Jimmy, Jerry, and Pa. With a curious tilt of his head, Pa asked “so where’s your costume?”
“I’m Spock.” Jerry’s brow furrowed, as to him, it was obvious.
“No no, I knew that one.” Pa assured the taller brother. “Jimmy, you just look fashionable.”
Jimmy looked aghast “For 50 years ago, maybe!”
“Has it been that long?” Pa stared out wistfully.
Meanwhile, Larry was pouting. “Vampires shouldn’t need sippy cups.”
“I guess that just makes you more unique.”
“Ah!” Larry cried, dropping his cup, illustrating his need for the sippy cup in the first place. “Petunia! Don’t scare me like that.”
“Sorry.” She giggled in response. “Didn’t mean to startle you. Besides, you’re the one who ought to be scaring people, dressed like that.”
This caught Bob’s interest. “Why did you pick something so scary anyway?”
“Well it was part of the original prompt the author saw.” Larry explained metatextually. “But in universe, the answer is simple…” he paused for dramatic effect. “I’ve done so much already! I’ve been a cowboy twice, Indiana Jones twice, my own OC superhero more times than I can count, a butler, a king, a duke, a prince and a scribe, a viking….oh my gosh, and a pirate. I’ve been a pirate a bunch of times too! And that’s just scratching the surface. I’m running out of options, Bob.”
“We could always give you less leading roles…” Bob smirked teasingly.
“Hold on,” Larry spoke in a low, serious tone “Let’s not be rash.”
Megan giggled, teasing “He does love the spotlight, no?”
“Like you’re one to talk!” Bob responded immediately.
Archibald rolled his eyes lightheartedly, a deadpanned “Cut from the same cloth, the two of them.”
Larry looked at Megan incredulously. “Are we related?!?”
“Think about that for a minute.” Bob instructed.
“I’m French?!?”
Bob sighed, shaking his head “Wrong conclusion.”