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 Posted: Thu Feb 09, 2012 1:33 am
The zomboil seemed happy. Focus on that, and not the fact that he was wasting his time barricaded into his room with Yin. The chime that Yin was beginning to associate with Alexander's eyephone sounded and suddenly the large tome was filling his lap. But rather than looking at it he tried to peer over Alexander's shoulder, hoping for another glimpse of Princess Eva. There was writing on the screen, and as he watched Alexander's fingers began moving, and more writing appeared. Odd. Apparently the message indicated a party back at the school, but even if he had left he would not have made it in time.
He tried to listen to the zomboil as he seamlessly read through the story, but with no images to focus on the mantodae began to get...twitchy. He finally settled with a rhythmic leg twitch that managed to make the springs of the mattress groan, but to prove that he was still engaged with the story he made noises and remarks like hums of approval, "Oh so that is how that works!", and once, when he was rather upset with how long it was taking Sally to insert a letter into the mailbox "just shove it in already!" Asking Alexander to read had been a wonderful idea.
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Posted: Thu Feb 09, 2012 6:13 pm
Alex was trying hard to concentrate on the words written in front of him that he was attempting to read to his friend, and was doing quite well until Yin started fidgeting around. Was the weremantis losing interest in the story so quickly? Alex glanced over to Yin, but the other boil seemed to still be paying attention, and was nodding along, so Alex figured he might as well continue on. A familiar buzzing sound and another chime proved that Alex was somewhat popular tonight, so he paused in his reading and picked up his phone yet again. His eyes widened in surprise at the message he received, and he very rapidly began punching tapping a message in reply with his thumb before dropping the phone back on the bed beside him.
With a small shake of his head, he went back to the task of reading to Yin, and had to try very hard not to laugh anytime Yin made one of his comments, which made it even more difficult to read at some points. It wasn't long before his phone was chiming again, but this time he reached over and turned the phone off. He'd already told Michi he'd explain things later, and she could wait until later.
It was very shortly after Yin's 'just shove it in already' comment that there came a light tapping on the door, and a familiar voice. "Alexander...are you in there? Is everything ok?"
He looked up from the book towards the door, then glanced towards Yin, then back to the door again, debating how to answer her question or whether he should go out into the hallway. It was probably a fairly long pause before he finally called out. "Ya..just a second mom, I'll be right there."
He slowly passed the book off of his own lap to Yin's, and began scooting off of the bed to make his way towards the door. He turned towards Yin before he left and said "I'll just be a minute or two, ok?" Before unlocking the door with an audible click and slipping out the door into the hall.
His mom was there, a very worried and concerned expression on her face. She spoke in a hushed voice, but it was clear that she was a little distraught. "Isabelle told me that...something happened? She wasn't sure where you had gone, and the twins are no where to be found...Is everything ok?" She was repeating herself, a sure sign that she was upset.
Alex was pretty upset himself. He wanted to blame somebody for what was happening, he wanted to be able to direct his angers and frustrations on whoever was available...but he couldn't do that to his mom. She may have kept herself ignorant of what was going on, and it may have partially been her fault but..no, if anybody was to blame, it was Ava and Shae, and he could only hope that they would eventually get what was coming to them.
"No, everything is not ok mom, but just....can we talk about this later, please? Maybe..maybe when Yin goes to sleep. But I don't have time now, I have to get back to him....I promise I'll tell you what happened but just, not now."
She was wringing her hands and looking down at the floor. He didn't think he'd ever seen her so distraught ever. He moved forward and put his hands on her shoulders, and she looked up. Something in his face must have reassured her a little, because she finally nodded. "Ok then. Ok..We can talk later." She looked like she wanted to say something else, but eventually she just gave a shaky smile and began backing away.
"If you need me for anything, come and find me."
He nodded, then reached over to open the door to his room again, and slipped back inside, closing and locking the door behind him again before leaning back against it, resting his head against the door and closing his eyes with a heavy sigh.
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Posted: Thu Feb 09, 2012 7:51 pm
The sudden female voice at the door shattered the peace that was finally beginning to come over the mantodae. Belatedly he realized that it was simply Lady Van Rotte, but the scraps of security had already fled. This was ridiculous. He nodded at Alexander as he left. Just for a minute.
He closed his eyes, trying to at least spend his few minutes productively. Meditation, all about soothing, just reach for his fear, concentrate on his breathing. His heartbeat. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. The grip on his hand was getting tighter, pulling him along. His heartbeat was getting faster, an almost frantic pace and the door opening again finally broke him out of that train of thought. His eyes snapped open, darting over to the zomboil. Had it only been a few minutes since he had left? He looked...troubled. Yin was still keeping him from his family.
"If...you need to go out there to be with your family feel free." He said quietly, determinedly not looking at the zomboil. He did not exactly trust himself to not beg the zomboil to stay with him if he locked eyes with him.
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Posted: Thu Feb 09, 2012 8:16 pm
Alex opened his eyes, and shook his head, finally pushing himself away from the door.
"No, I don't need to be with them. They'll be here all night and probably all day tomorrow as well so I'll have plenty of time to spend with them later." But it's not everyday one gets to be locked in a room with their best friend, right?
He crawled back on to the bed, flipping on to his back once he was next to Yin again and staring up at the ceiling with his hands resting on his stomach. "Do you want me to keep reading?" He tilted his head to the side a little, shifting his gaze to Yin.
"Or would you like to do something else now?"
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Posted: Thu Feb 09, 2012 8:28 pm
The zomboil had not really positioned himself for reading, so it was probably a sign that he was done and just asking to be polite. He glanced up at the ceiling just to make sure there was nothing up there (one could occasionally find mirrors in the oddest places after all), before looking back down at the zomboil.
"Anything is fine really. I am unsure of what you like to do in your room other than watch skeevee and look through your tie collection. Either of those are acceptable activities unless you have something else in mind?" He truly did not care what it was that they did, so long as it remained just the two of them and they stayed locked in Alexander's room. Honestly at that point he would have been content to just lay down next to Alexander and make up some stupid game to play like trying to figure out what shapes the shadows made on the ceiling.
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Posted: Thu Feb 09, 2012 9:48 pm
Alexander continued to gaze up at his friend, unable not to smile when he said he was unsure what Alex would do in this room rather then watch skeevee or look through his ties. "You didn't seem all that interested in the skeevee last time I had it on." He reminded Yin, as he finally started to sit up and scoot back so that his back was resting against the wall.
"Other then reading and, uh...looking through my tie collection..." He laughed, " I usually just play video games. But I don't know if you'd be interested in that and-" He looked at Yin's oddly long fingers, "I don't know how easy it would be for you to do. But you're welcome to give it a try, if you want? You might even like some of the fighting games..."
He had only assumed that since Yin didn't seem interested in the skellyvision that he would also not be all that impressed with playing games on the hexbox, so Alex hadn't bothered suggesting it before that.
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Posted: Thu Feb 09, 2012 10:48 pm
Video games? Were those not what Ulmuka had been telling him about? He had mentioned something about fighting games as well. They must be a fairly popular activity, and it was true that he had no real interest in skeevee. But he seemed slightly reluctant at the same time and was staring at Yin's hands. If video games required extensive use of his hands then it probably was not the best idea.
"Perhaps you could try the "video games" and I shall watch? Maybe I can try later." Even the most flamboyant of games had turns usually, and he would rather have the zomboil show him what he could do with his hands rather than just jump in and make a fool of himself right away without having a single clue of what he was doing. Who knew what it was he would have to hold or touch, and if Alexander was worried about his hands there was always the danger of him scratching something accidentally. No, far better to let the more experienced of the two give a demonstration.
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Posted: Thu Feb 09, 2012 11:04 pm
Well, watching video games wasn't all that different then watching skeevee, in Alex's opinion, but he'd let the weremantis decide for himself it was something he would be interested in. Alexander began making his way off the bed again to go over to the skeevee and get everything set up.
It wasn't until then that Alexander realized that his hexbox wasn't even in his room. He frowned, wondering why he hadn't noticed this before. Obviously the first thing he thought was that Nathaniel must have gone into his room and taken it, so now he was going to have to go to Nathaniel's room and get it back.
Little brothers, such a joy.
"I'm going to have to leave again.." Alexander said slowly. "It'll just take me a few minutes..." this was getting a little repetitive, really. At least there was still a small stack of games on the floor, which showed that Nathaniel hadn't taken quite everything with him. Alex bent over now to scoop those up then set them in the middle of the bed. "Here, why don't you just..pick one out while I'm gone? I promise I will not be long." He smiled reassuringly.
"Do you want me to grab a snack or anything..maybe a bottle of water..while I'm out?"
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Posted: Thu Feb 09, 2012 11:28 pm
Alexander was messing around with the skeevee, and Yin watched him curiously, wondering how the device worked. "Do not worry, I shall be fine," he said, starting to feel the tiniest bit defensive that Alexander thought he needed to not be left alone. Or perhaps it was just Yin's pride because his next question was quickly answered with a "no, just...its okay." Just what? Just come back quickly so I will not be all alone? Okay, so maybe he did need the other boil's presence. After Alexander left Yin sat down to look at the games to select from. What Alexander might not have thought about was the fact that if his brother was going to take his hexbox he was probably going to take the best games like Left 4 Live with him, and would have left behind those he was not interested in. The covers meant...basically nothing to the mantodae. Nothing until he found one that had a familiar figure. Jack! Alexander seemed to really like Jack, and he owned this, so he probably really loved this game. He peered at it, reading the first couple of words. Halloween High: Jack's Story. It did not sound like a fighting game but what did Yin know? He did not want to read all of the smaller text. So he kept it aside until Alexander returned before holding it out. "What about this one?"
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Posted: Thu Feb 09, 2012 11:54 pm
Ok, well this wouldn't take too long then since Yin didn't want him to go and grab him anything from downstairs. Still, Nathaniel's room was all the way to the end of the hallway so it stood to reason that it would be quite a long trip for the zomboil to make.
He left the room and shuffled down the long loooong hallway to the end and made his way into Nathaniel's bedroom. It didn't take him long to find his hexbox, since it was hooked up to the tv on the wall. He quickly undid all the appropriate cables and gathered his precious machine up in his arms. He noted with some distaste that Nathaniel had also chosen to take quite a few of his video games with him, so he bent down and grabbed those up off the floor as well before leaving.
He had too many things gathered up in his arms now to bother with trying to shut Nathaniel's door so he just shrugged and left it wide open. Served the little gnome right for taking Alexander's things to begin with, really.
He made it back to his own room unmolested, and shuffled back in slowly, barely managing to get his armload of things to the bed before they began sliding out of his grasp. He managed not to drop the hex box at least, but all of the games landed in a pile on the bed.
He looked over towards Yin when he held out a game, and Alexander looked at it for a time with a small frown on his face. What game was that? He didn't recognize it so he held his hand out to take it from the other boil and studied the cover. What was this even...was this one of his sisters games? Uggghghhhh, seriously? How had that even ended up in here?
"I don't really think either of us will enjoy this game that much, Yin." He said, while still looking distastefully at the video game clutched in his hand. "But if you really want me to I can put it on." He shrugged and tossed the case back on the bed and turned towards the task of getting the gaming system set up.
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Posted: Fri Feb 10, 2012 12:09 am
The smile that had returned with the zomboil faltered. Had the game that he had chosen been that bad? Had he really just picked out possibly the only one that the zomboil did not like? He had almost looked disgusted at the suggestion. Yin reached up, hand rubbing the back of his neck as the zomboil messed with the electronic devices. "I do not mind which game you play I just thought..." he trailed off. Obviously he had thought wrong. It was something so insignificant, but it was just another thing that the weremantis could not do right. Not even pick a game.
"Perhaps you should pick the game? I do not know them, and you would know what both of us would enjoy more than I would." Was he being a bit sulky and sullen? Yes, but if anyone pointed it out he would certainly take offense to it. He sat down on the floor, having sat for long enough on the bed and needing a change of scenery as Alexander finished setting up.
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Posted: Fri Feb 10, 2012 12:22 am
Yin sounded unhappy. Alexander stiffened, then slowly and methodically went back to what he was doing. Why didn't he just agree to play the silly game? He was trying to cheer the weremantis up and make things better, not make him feel worse! He finished up what he was doing and stepped back towards the bed, grabbing the jack damned sims game and opening the case.
He couldn't believe he was going to actually do this.
With a large smile on his face he pulled the game out of the case with a small clicking sound. "You know what, I changed my mind. We'll play this one for a while and then maybe switch to something else later if you get too bored with it." He smiled happily as though this were the best idea in the world before pressing a button on the hexbox and sliding the game inside.
He flopped down on the floor next to Yin, reaching out to grab one of the wireless controllers. "This is what I use to control things in the game. Each button does it's own thing, then there are these arrows to move around with, and the toggles." He said, then reached out and handed Yin the other controller. "Here just..look at this one. It won't do anything on the screen because this is just a one player game but you can still play with it if you want."
Meanwhile the game was firing to life on the skellyvision screen, and Alex was greeted with the start menu. He selected a new game and waited for it to load.
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Posted: Fri Feb 10, 2012 12:47 am
Little did Alexander know that it was the best idea in the world. Even better than the time that a child had realized that you really could have candy for breakfast.
Yin cheered up slightly when Alexander seemed to just out of the blue reconsider, and he was smiling widely, though it was almost as if Alexander was insisting that they would get bored. "If we are not having fun in a little while then of course we can switch." Well, all they could do was try it and see. He took the controller and held it somewhat awkwardly in his hands, trying to mimic what Alexander was doing. Buttons. Toggles. More buttons. Buttons with Arrows. It was slightly overwhelming to try to think about all of that and to get his hands to try to fit the controller.
When the game finally loaded he decided that he had had enough of the controller and set it down in front of him, instead looking between the screen and Alexander (or more specifically, his hands) to see what would happen. However, the opening sequence soon captured his attention, and he was grateful as the narrator spoke the words rather than him having to read.
Apparently for this game you were pretending to be Jack Skellington himself, and you were attending a new school, Halloween High. This was your first day of class and on the way to school you bumped in to a patchwork ghoul. The narration faded and there were just words on the screen. Yin peered at it, trying to figure out what was going on.
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Posted: Fri Feb 10, 2012 1:05 am
Oh look, a young Jack Skellington was going to 'Halloween High'. This game was just dripping with originality, wasn't it?
As the first screen of dialogue appeared, Alex sighed inwardly, his soul dying a little with every word that scrolled it's way past. He hit a button on the controller to make all of the words pop up at once instead of having to wait for it.
"Ok so apparently we have bumped in to Sally. So, basically in this game we can choose to try and interact with Sally in a friendly manner, we can have him actually flirt with her so that they end up together, or just be rude to her and have Jack find a completely different ghoul all together! What do you think Yin? Should Jack be nice or should Jack tell her to watch where she's going and get out of his way?" He grinned, because really, this was one of the silliest things he'd ever done, and it was weirdly amusing.
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Posted: Fri Feb 10, 2012 1:14 am
Yin had never seen a game like this...or really any video game, and it was exciting. Unlike skeevee this was something that you interacted with. So Jack and bumped into Sally. Alexander was going off about being friends or "flirting" (what was that? He would have to remember to ask later) or being rude. "Oh you cannot be rude to Mistress Sally," he said seriously. "Jack is bonded to her, so you must be nice. You would not want them to be apart."
It took him a while but he managed to read through the four options listed. "Oh well you most certainly have to ask if she is alright. After running into her Jack might have injured Sally, and that would be the first order of business." Yin had logic and he knew how to use it.
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