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 Posted: Tue Feb 07, 2012 5:17 pm
Yin thought about it for a moment. "It was rather rude of you to push her out of the way like that," he admonished lightly. "But I did not expect her to get that angry with you," he shrugged before adding on one last explanation. "Ghouls."
Could not live with them...could not live near them. Something like that.
Of course, what was probably obvious to every other boil there was not something that Yin would pick up on. If he had known what exactly a stray meant he possibly would have put two and two together, but at the moment everyone just seemed related to everyone else, and it was rather rare and unspoken of for family members to bond. So he simply kept eating, savoring the last few cubes of meat on his skewer. And then...he waited. Surely the zomboils had something that they usually did, and he was really just along for the ride. Being in a group of all zomboils was not that bad actually, he felt fairly relaxed. Hopefully they did not intend to go back inside soon.
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Posted: Tue Feb 07, 2012 5:43 pm
"Pffft, rude. She's not normally so..huffy about things." He glanced back to where she had stormed off back towards the house, feeling a little bit badly but not enough to go after her and find out what was long. Besides, his comment had just caused another round of laughter from the other zomboils.
This was seriously putting Alex off of his dinner right now.
"Whhhhhaaaaat?" He demanded, narrowing his eyes at the group. "Tell me what's so funny or I'll invite the twins out here to hang out with us." He wouldn't really. Never in a million years, but the threat seemed to be effective as the grins wilted from everyone's face.
"Don't even say that, Alex. They stayed at our house last night and I had to lock myself in my room the entire time so that I wouldn't have to talk to them." Justin shuddered, and Alex could understand his pain.
And then Daniel spoke up again. Olivia actually lived with his family so perhaps he could shed some light on the situation. "She likes you, you idiot. She has since the first time she met you, but you've never paid any attention to her. I think she thought that when you left you would realize how much you needed her or something. Like your friend Yin said, Ghouls, right?" he shrugged.
Alex just stared at his cousin in bewilderment. "She...likes me? But that's just...weird." He made a face to show just what he thought about that. "She's practically a sister! Or closer to a brother, the way she acts..." He shrugged. "Well, whatever, she'll get over it." He looked down at the plate of food Yin had given him, suddenly not even very hungry but not wanting to let it go to waste either. He slowly picked up a few pieces and popped them into his mouth before offering the plate back towards Yin to see if he wanted the rest.
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Posted: Tue Feb 07, 2012 6:05 pm
The threat intended for the zomboils was rather effective on mantodae boils as well it seemed. Watching the other boils' reaction to the thought of the twins was simply adding to his fear of the ghouls, and he had yet to even meet them. He was dragged out of his thoughts by Daniel. Olivia liked Alexander? As in...she would like to bond with him? But Alexander perfectly voiced what he was thinking. That was weird. But the zomboil did not need to be quite so dismissive, if the ghoul had feelings for him than Yin felt badly for her. How awful it would be to like someone so much merely to have them be oblivious or not return those sentiments.
Alexander seemed to be finished with the food but Yin was not about to let it go to waste. He quickly devoured the remaining pieces of meat before standing. "I shall go return this to the kitchen," he said simply and strode off toward the back door. While he was in there he could check and see if any more dishes had accumulated and wash them now so that Alexander's mother would not be quite as stressed later on.
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Posted: Tue Feb 07, 2012 9:28 pm
Alex watched Yin leave, almost yelling out to him 'Be careful!' but thinking better of it in the last second. If all he was doing was washing a few dishes, then he would surely be safe, and yelling anything like that to the other boil would just make him uneasy. Everyone in the house was probably only just sitting down to actual dinner right now, anyways.
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Meanwhile, inside the kitchen..........
As Yin opened the door he would have seen the kitchen was empty, all of the noises of laughter and talking still coming from Dining room and lounge, though most of the sounds did to seem quite distant. The food that Alex's mother had made was all gone, moved to the other room for the zombies to feast upon.
As he made his way into the kitchen, closing the door behind him, he might have noticed a ghoul standing in the shadows of the corner nearest the door, or he might not have, though her eyes flashed in the dimness.
"Hi there." A sweet sing song voice accompanied by a flash of perfectly white teeth as the ghoul stepped forward, effectively blocking the exit back outside for the weremantis. She held her hands clasped behind her back, her long brown hair was tied back from her face in an pony tail that left the soft curls bouncing behind her head. One of her arms was skeletal from the shoulder down, and she was wearing a simple black lacy dress that you might dress a doll or a small child in. But she did not look like a child, though she was not exactly tall, she was...curvy.
"You are...Alex's friend? I saw you in the living room but never got to introduce myself, and I never did hear your name" She held out her skeletal hand to the boil. Her eyes were a little odd..such a pale blue they almost appeared to be blind.
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Posted: Tue Feb 07, 2012 9:39 pm
Walking into the house Yin was greeted with a peculiar noise, but a good one. There was a happy babble of talk and laughter from the other room, and he was so intent on his mission that he completely missed the ghoul in the shadows. When she spoke he had to fight to keep from whirling around, though his hand did tense. Thankfully it meant that he did not drop the plate on the ground.
She was between him and one of the exits, but with the entrance to the dining room he did not feel too nervous, merely surprised. "Greetings, I am Yǐn Cáng. I am sorry that I missed meeting you earlier Miss." He was not sorry, he really was not. He would have been fine meeting half as many zombies. He shifted his plate to his other hand and reached out to shake hers, mentally noting that it was skeletal, and how in some odd way he was getting used to seeing skeletal body parts.
But there was something about the ghoul that was slightly unnerving. Perhaps it was the way she smiled at him, or her oddly pale eyes. Or, more likely than not, the fact that she seemed so very...ghoulish. Her clothing screamed ghoul, she had curly hair, and her voice was very ghouly. Then again, Miss Xiu-Ying was very ghouly and she was quite nice. But there was that odd feeling of confusion, just where had she come from? "Did you need something Miss?" he asked, slightly puzzled.
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Posted: Tue Feb 07, 2012 9:48 pm
The zombghouls smile brightened at his name. "That's an interesting name! Does it mean anything?" Her hand closed around his, gently at first, but if he had tried to pull away it would have tightened, as she refused to let go.
Slowly she leaned forward while simultaneously trying to pull Yin closer to herself so that she could whisper in his ear "My name is Ava...perhaps my darling brother has told you about me?" She pulled back, blinking with wide eyes as her smile continued to gleam and her hand continued to grip his tight, almost painfully so.
From the other side of the room, in the entrance towards the dining room, was a slight movement, perhaps a darkening of light as though somebody were standing in the way, but nothing more.
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Posted: Tue Feb 07, 2012 9:57 pm
That was actually the first time that anyone had bothered asking him about his name, and he felt a small twinge of a mixed happy and sadness...and if he had known what it was he might have even labeled it homesickness. "To conceal," he said, and tried to remove his hand. And was met with resistance. Confused he glanced down and then suddenly she was pulling him down until her mouth was right next to his ear.
Ava. Ava.
His mouth went dry and it was as every last bit of heat had decided to escape, and he had to fight not to tremble. Her grip on his tight enough that it was starting to hurt ever so slightly, but that smile. He was thinking about the clan again, but this time with absolutely no fondness. No, this was much closer to the feeling of when the ghoul had smiled at him and pressed a carrot into his hand. Something was not right. Run. Alexander had told him to run. He tore his eyes from his face, glancing toward the door out of the corner of his eye, but it was almost as if there was something there. "He did mention you," he said, his voice suddenly sounding hoarse as he had to force the words from his lips. "You have a twin."
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Posted: Tue Feb 07, 2012 11:09 pm
Ava just continued to smile. "Ah yes, that's good! I'm glad my darling Alexander chose to tell you about me! I'm almost flattered. I'm sure Shae will be flattered too." Her gaze only flickered to the other doorway for an instant before she was moving, around Yin, pulling on him. "Come now, you must come with me. Any friend of Alexanders...welll..." Her eyes narrowed now. "You'll see exactly what we think of friends of our brothers."
She continued to pull him along, her grip tightening any time he tried to pull away. Past the island, past the kitchen sink, past the stove...the shadow in the other doorway was moving now, appearing in the darkened light of the kitchen. Ava was pulling Yin into the small hallway that led to the walk in fridge, and Shae, for who else could it be? Was moving to the front of the hallway to block the exit, arms up on each wall. She was identical to her sister in every single way, except that she wore her hair down, in a loose tumble of curls, and her dress was a deep red.
"What are you doing, Ava?" Her sister said, in a hushed tone. "You'll get us in trouble again!" She was moving down the hallway now, reaching out to grab Yin's shoulder from behind, hand squeezing gently, almost as though she were trying to reassure him. "Let him go!" She hissed.
Ava just smiled sweetly back at her sister. "But why? I haven't even got to chat with him yet. He simply must tell me all about him."
Shae just looked at her sister, eyes narrowed for a moment before she spoke again, her face breaking out into a grin. "Well in that case, please continue."
And with that, he was surrounded, without any help from anybody.
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Outside not much time had passed at all, so Alex really had no reason to worry about Yin yet. He was sitting around, joking with the other boils when a noise behind him made him turn around and look. "Izzy? What are you doing out here? Did mom send you?" She just shook her head, her petite hands clenched into little fists at her sides. Alex frowned at her, "Then what is it?"
The ghoul opened her mouth as if to say something, and then clamped it shut, looking at the ground. Alex rose from his place on the ground in his usual clutzy way, and walked over to her, concern clear on his face. "Tell me what's wrong?"
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Posted: Tue Feb 07, 2012 11:27 pm
The words that the ghoul was speaking sounded nice enough, but she was just...wrong. He could not pinpoint what it was, but she was giving off vibes that did not mesh with him. Plus there were the reactions of everyone that knew the ghouls, both from Alexander and the other zomboils. "Would that not be nice?"he questioned hesitantly, trying to be polite and trying to gently extract extract his hand. When she began pulling him along he pulled harder, but he had experienced the grip of a zombie once before and this was no different...it was almost impossible to get free of.
She was pulling him toward the room that they had taken the hallow deer too, the cold room that was surely a torture chamber, and he was balking, trying to resist as the zomghoul demonstrated how strong her species could be. Then her sister was there, squeezing his shoulder in her cool grasp so very much like Alexander would do. The very gesture was somewhat calming. Maybe the zomboils were wrong about both of the sisters.
Then with a simple why from Ava the ghoul was won over and the tides had turned. And not in his favor. "I do not think this is necessary," he protested, trying to weigh his options. There was very little he could attempt to do without actually hurting the ghouls, and whatever Alexander thought about them these were his sisters. Ghouls and part of his best friend's family.
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Posted: Tue Feb 07, 2012 11:51 pm
Shae's grip tightened on his shoulder, and she used it to turn him, then moved her hand to his collarbone and pushed him into the wall, even while Ava still held on to his hand tight. She cocked her head curiously at Yin, eyes sweeping him up and down. "He's cuuuute. And he's got really nice.." Her gaze raised up. "Antennae." She giggled, still pushing him up against the wall.
"Do you think his blood is red or green?" Ava giggled as well. "Oh Alex, you thought you could keep your new toy away from us, but look how sloppy you were..leaving it out for just anybody to pick up and play with." She leaned in close to Yin, eyes staring straight into his.
"Did he tell you why he dislikes us so much? He didn't, did he? I hope he didn't, that would ruin the surprise"
Shae took up the words next, laughing silently to herself and almost unable to speak, as though it were too funny to even tell. "We...we cut off his head." She had to clamp her free hand over her mouth now to stifle her laughter, lest it be too loud and somebody came to see what was going on.
"That's right, we did." Ava smiled sweetly. "It didn't really hurt him though..or maybe it did...but mom was able to sew him back up again good an proper." She suddenly pouted out her lower lip, as though that was the worst thing that could have happened.
Shae seemed to have gathered some control over herself as turned and opened up the fridge door behind her with a free hand. "I noticed there's a heater in Alex's room now. You don't like the cold, do you? Why is that, I wonder? What happens if you're left in the cold too long?" She smiled, then began pulling him as she stepped back into the fridge, her sister reaching out to push him from behind.
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Izzy swallowed heavily as she stared at the ground. "I'm not supposed to tell you.." She whispered. "They said they'd do something awful to me if I told but...Alex, you have to go to the house, now."
Alex just stared down at his sister, confused. It took a little while for her words to make any sense, for him to understand.
They?
They.
He knew who she was talking about, and if he needed to go to the house now...
A look of absolute horror flashed across his eyes. "Stay here, Izzy." He said to her before he scrambled off, for once in his unlife just wishing he could move a little faster.
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Posted: Wed Feb 08, 2012 12:12 am
He knew this feeling. He knew this feeling all too well. Being sized up like a piece of meat, pondering if he was good enough. No matter how much he pulled against that hand she just gripped all the harder until he no longer had the strength in it to keep fighting her over it. He never would have thought that two small ghouls could be that physically strong, but now that they had him backed up against the wall he was realizing just how much of a factor strength was. A race? He probably would have beaten them every time. This? This was like fighting Roch.
The words that they were saying...he needed to just block them. Block them all out and everything was okay and they were just ghouls and he did not need to be afraid of ghouls anymore. His heart was pounding, blood and adrenaline coursing through him. If he could just reach his Fear...
His eyes snapped up to hers as she started talking about what they had done to Alexander. It was like watching a train wreck, there was a sick, morbid and twisted part of him that was curious, what could they have possibly done?
They had cut off his head.
The scar around his neck. The one he had never asked about. They had done that to their own brother.
And they were laughing about it.
He was furious, and he was scared. They were pulling him toward the room, the cold room as if this room was not already cold enough, and between the two of them no matter how hard he fought they were propelling him forward. He reached for his fear, trying in vain to grasp the power but it was like his first attempt at meditation...the harder he sought it the more it slipped away. There, but always just out of his grasp.
Alexander's sisters or not they had beheaded him, and they were taking Yin to a place that he would probably not survive for long. Desperate he suddenly stopped resisting, trying to get enough momentum to kick the ghoul in front of him. Just...catch her around the knee, trip her, deal with them one at a time...anything. Do not go down without a fight.
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Posted: Wed Feb 08, 2012 12:32 am
Why did it take so long to just move? One foot in front of the other, that's all it took. So now just do it faster! Anytime he tried, he would stumble and almost fall, his balance thrown off too easily if he even attempted to use any amount of speed.
But he did it anyways, because something was wrong. Izzy would not have told him to go inside if things had been just fine. Did he fall down a couple of times? Yes. But he kept going, pushing himself up almost as rapidly as he went down, and making it to that back door faster then he thought he could have possibly ever done. He threw the door wide and stumbled inside, his skeletal foot making a rapid scrabbling sound against the floor as he slid into the kitchen, and stopped.
There, that laughter, he'd recognize that sound anywhere. It haunted him whenever he had flashbacks to his childhood, the way they had laughed. His eyes were flinty cold, his hands curled in to fists. He had told Yin not to go near them, and this just proved that he had been right. He had told his mom to keep them away from his friend, and she had just scoffed it off like they wouldn't possibly hurt anybody. They'd outgrown that sort of thing she had said.
In that one tiny instant, he could have actually hated his own mother for not taking him seriously, and for not believing him
For that one tiny instant, he hated himself for not being more careful, and for not preventing his from even happening.
He could have called for help, but he didn't. Instead he made his way into the hallway, only to see what he had known he would face, and that was his two demonic sisters trying to force his best friend into the fridge, which would have likely killed the other boil. What he hadn't expected to see, was that Yin was fighting back, and the ghouls were having to struggle.
Unfortunately Ava was on the other side of Yin, and Shae was already in the Cooler. He could see that Yin was lashing out at Shae, and that she was gritting her teeth against his strikes. Alex moved in to the hallway as far as he could go, and Ava looked up at him with a smile. "Oh Alex, have you come to play too?" She asked, but Alex just reached around Yin and grabbed for her arm. Her skeletal arm, that would be just so easy to break if he just squeezed his hand.
"Let him go, Ava." He all but snarled.
"My, we are possessive, aren't we?" She hissed, though her hand released Yin's quickly enough. Ava cast a glance at Shae as she backed up away from Yin, and Shae, though her teeth were still gritted and she looked supremely pissed off, backed off as well.
He hoped Yin had dealt some decent damage on her.
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Posted: Wed Feb 08, 2012 12:57 am
Even when Ava spoke he did not realize that Alexander was actually there. He was in complete survival mode, doing whatever he could to fight back though centimeter by centimeter they were pulling him forward, the colder air beginning to wash over him, sapping his energy even more rapidly. No, he was not aware of the zomboil until he spoke up, and even then almost did not recognize the snarled tone. Suddenly the hands were releasing him, the ghouls backing off and giving him room to just breathe.
After a few quick, shallow breaths he slowly looked up to see Alexander. Alexander, who had just found him fighting with his siste--
He he been fighting ghouls. Not just a spar like with Lady Hel. Not even like his fight where he had been willing to harm her somewhat. No, he had been prepared to do whatever was necessary to those ghouls. He had thought about using his Fear on them. He had wanted to. He opened his mouth to say something, anything, but there was nothing to say. His eyes probably said enough.
He had been willing to commit the worst of crimes and his best friend had walked in on it.
Yes he had been in danger. But one did not attack ghouls. That was the rule. The first rule. Do not harm ghouls.
He ran, half stumbling out the back door, the self-loathing that he felt was so intense that it was physically making him ill. He made it around the corner of the house before he vomited, like his body felt that maybe if it purged enough that it could get rid of the disgusting part of him that was willing to do such a thing.
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Posted: Wed Feb 08, 2012 1:12 am
Probably the last thing Alex was expecting when he'd gotten the twins to let go of Yin, was for Yin to look at him, and then run away. Well, no, maybe he half expected it. After all, Alexander was the one who brought him here, was the one that allowed this to happen in the first place.
He gave his sisters each an icy glare laced with pure venom. "Don't you ever, ever touch him again. Don't talk to him, don't even look at him, because if you do, I swear to Jack I will make sure you both regret it." He hissed, as a cold and empty feeling working it's way from his stomach up to his chest. He'd let his happen, it was his own damned fault.
And now he had to go and find Yin and face the consequences.
He backed down the hallway a few steps before turning and walking away from the two ghouls, who made no move to follow. In all the years that they had been tormenting Alex, he never once fought back or stood up for himself. This was new to them. This almost..frightened them.
Alex made his way through the back door, which was still open. He could hear retching noises and he winced. Was that Yin? He rounded the corner and saw that indeed it was. He had moment to decide what to do, but ultimately did what his first instinct told him, and that was to get down on his knees beside his friend, reach out, and tentatively rest one hand on his back, unsure of how he might respond to the physical touch.
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Posted: Wed Feb 08, 2012 1:30 am
That hand was beginning to grow familiar to Yin as he felt its familiar presence on his back and relaxed slightly. The heaving had mostly subsided, though as he tried to steady himself ever so often another one would rack his body. Trying to bring bile up but nothing else, the contents of his stomach long emptied at this point. When he had finally conquered his physical body and it was mostly calmed down he realized what exactly was happening and moved away from the hand slightly, forcing himself shakily to his feet.
He stared down at the ground, trying to find the words to say and wishing that Alexander was not there, that he did not have to try to come up with something to say. "Thank you," he started as he began to edge away. Now that he was speaking he spoke quickly, trying to just get it all out there at once though his tone was somewhat flat and hollow. "Pl---please pass on my sincerest apologies. There is nothing that I require in your room so I shall not intrude upon your hospitality any longer."
Yes, that should be enough. It did not even begin to cover the atrocities that he had almost committed, but it would be a start. "I am sorry," he whispered once more, voice cracking.
He had overstayed his welcome. He knew how to get back to the train station, and perhaps there he could figure out what was necessary to catch the next train back to Amityville.
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