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Relief flooded Alex as Yin nodded, his eyes showing his forgiveness. If things had been different he might have wrapped his arms around the other boil now to just...hold him and know that he wasn't going to lose him, but things weren't like that at all so he let his hand slip away and fall back down into his lap. "You don't have to if you don't want to." He mumbled, though he thought it would be more then nice if Yin would come downstairs with him. But Yin seemed intent on getting out of the room, and that lifted Alex's spirits a bit as he watched his friend, nodding to him before he left.

While Yin had slipped off to the bathroom, Alex decided now would be a good time to change his clothes, though he had only manage to throw on clean, unwrinkled pants and was only just pulling on his shirt when the weremantis returned. The dizziness he was still experiencing to some faint degree was making the simple task of doing up buttons a little more difficult, and he fumbled at the buttons like a child, agonizingly slow.

"I'd much rather you came downstairs with me, actually." he said, as his fingers slipped over the third button up on his shirt. "Since, you know, I think I already made it pretty clear that I didn't want to be hear without you, so it wouldn't really make sense for me to abandon you in the bedroom for the day."

Since this was taking him forever, and Yin was just standing there waiting, Alex asked, "Would you pick out a tie for me, please?"

Alexander knew better then to protest when the weremantis looped his tie around his neck and started doing up his buttons for him. This was more then a little embarrassing for the zomboil, but he let his hands fall to his sides regardless so that Yin could go about his work. Once Yin was finished, Alex set about the task of tying up his tie, which after years of experience and having done it on a daily basis was easy, even if his fingers did fumble a little. The tie was a nice one, and Alex noted that Yin had good taste, though when almost every tie in the closet was one Alex had bought or picked out for himself, he supposed it would have been difficult for the weremantis to choose wrongly.

"Thank you." He smiled, his first one of the day, though it was a weak smile that came no where near the intensity he could normally muster.

"No, I'll be fine, I just..could maybe use some fresh air and to get out of the heat of this bedroom for now." He began making his unsteady way towards the door, intent on being able to do this himself. He managed to walk in a fairly straight line, and didn't trip over his own feet, so he considered the trek a success.

Now to just make it down the hallway and the stairs, through the living room and out the door.

Easy!

Making it down the hallway without falling over was a struggle, but the wall was Alex's friend and as long as he leaned against it, he was ok. It meant that he had to go slower then usual, however, and though the dull ache in his head was beginning to intensify and he could feel himself getting more and more irritable as a result, he didn't even get annoyed with Yin for speeding on ahead.

There would be getting no annoyed with Yin. Yin could have anything he wanted from Alex for the rest of the zomboils unlife without argument as far as Alex was concerned.

Once he got to the top of the stairs, he grabbed ahold of the railing with one hand while reaching up to rub at his forehead with the other before answering the weremantis. "Outside..uh, through the living room, it's faster." he mumbled, as he took that first step down the stairs, then the next, and the next. Good, good, not falling down yet, now to just keep going.

"I'll meet you out there, if you want." He called down to Yin, though his own voice caused pain to shoot through his brain. This was, quite possibly, the worst morning ever.

"Alexander?" A voice called from the dining room, and he grimaced. Nonononononononononono, not noooooooow. He moaned to himself inwardly as he thudded down another couple of steps and his mom came to stand at the bottom of the stairs.

"Good morning, Yǐn Cáng." She said warmly, though she may have looked a touch surprised at seeing the weremantis up and about. She then turned her attentions towards Alex, even as he made his way down another step.

"And good morning to you too! Have a good night last night? Oh, Alexander, you don't look well, is anything the matter?" Her voice might have been laced with mock concern, but that evil sparkle in her eyes and the smile on her face spoke volumes. She knew all about what Alex had been doing with his cousins last night. She knew everything. How did she always know everything??

"I'm fine, mom." He said, taking another step down, "Absolutely fine. Never better. Thank you for your concern though." Another slow, deliberate step.

"Good! Then you won't mind helping me in the kitchen today when everyone else goes hunting." He smiled, still waiting at the bottom of the stairs for her oldest son to finish his painfully slow decent, watching him with a faint amusement.

Alex felt like just sitting down right then and there and refusing to move in some kind of childish protest.

Ok, Alex was half way down the stairs when Yin made his way outside. Alex couldn't help but think that this would have gone faster if he'd just let himself fall down the stairs, and was seriously considering doing it just to save himself from furthering this slow torture. But his mom was still watching him, so he had to continue pretending to be absolutely fine, so he finally picked up the pace a bit, straitening his shoulders and looking her in the eye as he made his way the rest of the way down, a little sullenly.

"When are we going to talk, Alexander?" She asked him once he was at the bottom and standing next to her. "I need you to tell me what happened last night. Everything that happened. You know I picked up those cider soaked towels and broken glass last night." She gave him a warning stare, as though daring him to try and weasel his way out of it.

"We can talk..in the kitchen." He sighed, resigning himself to this ghoulish (literally) fate. "Where are the twins?"

"They've gone to a friends for the rest of the weekend. Alexander I'm..I'm sorry if they did anything to hurt your friend." Her face, her composure that was always so impregnable...it was crumpling before his eyes. She just looked so tired, and sad, and yes, even a little old.

"It's ok mom." He hissed, even though it really wasn't ok. "Like I said, we can talk about it later. Right now I just want to go outside...please?" he asked, and she nodded, biting down on her bottom lip as she closed her eyes and composed herself once more. He gave bent down to give her a quick kiss on the cheek before straitening up and moving towards the door to go outside.

Once out the door he found himself surrounded by family, mostly the male zombies that were likely waiting around to go for the hunt. He had practically run straight into Yin's back when he came stumbling out of the door way, and reached out to grab the other boils arm to steady himself.

As Alex regained his balance, he let go of Yin's arms, slightly embarrassed that he had grabbed a hold to begin with. Several of his uncles and cousins greeted him with a friendly "Good morning, Alex." and he waved to them, somehow finding a smile to face them all with, even after all of the stress of last night and his wonderful hangover this morning.

He shuffled past Yin, hands digging into his pockets as he clumped down the steps off of the deck, and promptly collapsed to the ground, flopping over onto his back to gaze up into the sky, then deciding even that hurt so he brought up an arm to cover his eyes.

He fervently hoped they weren't leaving on their hunt now, since Alex really just needed some time to rest and not think about awful things anymore.

Alex's dad was on the porch, and he stood up now, reaching out to pat Yin on the back a couple of times with a large and beefy hand. "We will go soon. Waiting for everyone to be ready. You are coming?" He asked, his grin splitting his face in half

How long had Alexander been able to just lay on the ground, resting in the outdoor air before everyone began making there way off of the porch and towards the forest, including Yin.

Have fun. Have fun?? Really? He shifted his arm off of his eyes and while it was the last thing he wanted to do, he smiled up at Yin before calling out, "You too!" and then rolling onto his stomach with a small groan. As his dad went past, he made a comment down at Alex with a grin.

"Long night, son?" He asked, with such good natured and sweet innocence that it almost made Alex's teeth hurt.

"You could say that, dad. Look after him for me, ok?" He asked, assuming his dad would know who he meant, and pushing himself to his feet finally. He was close enough to the porch that he could grab a hold of the railing for support. His headache was starting to feel better, but he was still unsteady, more off balance then usual.

No more cider, ever again.

He turned to watch the last few straggling zombies stumble off into the forest, a group of the slowest ones that he would normally have been a part of. That he enjoyed being a part of. But that small bit of enjoyment that he might have had today was being stripped away by his mother, who wanted him to help in the kitchen, of all places. He tried to cheer him self up about it by telling himself how much delicious food he was going to be able to sample while he was in there. He had no thoughts that it was only a ghouls place to be in the kitchen, but he would have rather have made the decision to stay behind by himself, rather then have his mom tell him that he had to.

He started around the house towards the back door, trying to enjoy his tiny bit of freedom outside in the open air before he was detained, feelings of jealousy towards all those out on the hunt right now making him a little sullen. By the time he pushed his way through the back door, he was looking miserable, even though he was feeling, physically, better then he had before he'd spent some time outside.

"Alexander." His mom greeted him with a smile, as though they hadn't just seen each other not that long before. As his gaze swept the kitchen, he saw that he would be keeping company with three of his aunts and 4 of his female cousins, not including Olivia, who he was a little surprised to see. Normally she would have been out on the hunt as well. Maybe she was being roped in to kitchen work as punishment as well? But if that was the case, where was everyone else who had been out in the forest drinking cider last night.

Come to think of it, Olivia was looking..different today. She was dressed more like a ghoul, for one, and not wearing a hat, for another, so her hair was hanging down loose around her shoulders. What was even happening? She looked up at him and gave him a small smile and a wave, before diverting her gaze.

If his mom thought he was going to talk to her about everything that had happened last night with so many gossiping ghouls around, however, she must have been crazy. He slouched the rest of his way into the kitchen. "So, what do you need me to do?" he asked, with a sigh.

And after that it was easy. Just do absolutely everything his mom told him to do and not say a word. Cut this meat into cubes, mix these spices together, beat this steak with a mallet, mix this ground beef with these ingredients and roll it into balls. What he refused to do was go anywhere near the oven, which his mom did try once, but only once, then gave up as he shook his head stubbornly.

After a while, he started to enjoy himself a little more, to relax, and while he still wasn't feeling one hundred percent, he was feeling much better then he had earlier in the day. He found himself laughing along and joining in the conversation around the kitchen and smiling more, and getting to know some of the members of his family a little better that he previously barely spent any time with at all. When your family was so large, it was hard to divide your time equally amongst them all.

A sudden knock on the back door caught his attention, and while he wasn't the closest one to the door, he said "I'll get it." grabbing at a nearby towel to wipe his blood stained hands on as he shuffled towards the door, opening it to see who was on the other side. He had assumed it was going to be somebody carrying a large dead and skinned body that Alex could help manhandle into the large fridge, so what he certainly hadn't expected was his weremantis friend standing there clutching some small creature that Alex did not at all recognise. He frowned, then glancing behind his shoulder, stepped the rest of his way outside and shut the door.

"Uh...hi! What is that?" He pointed to it. It...had a familiar look to it, almost like one type of creature he had seen before and a little like another as well. He couldn't help but notice that it smelt a little bit like death. Or maybe that was Yin after he had killed a few creatures. Either way, the smell of blood and death was strong, and this creature was being held out towards him like he should take it.

Finally, he hesitantly reached out towards it, something about it making Alex want to hold it.

It was so weird. It struggled a little in Alex's grip but then it sniffed at Alex and seemed to just, calm right down and press it's head up against his chest as though it was the most normal thing in the world. It had short hair over most of it's body, though it was a little more thick and fluffy around it's chest. It's mouth was a seamed line that ran verically across the top of it's head rather then on it's face and it had a horn on each side of the mouth.

Creepy.

Alex instantly wanted to keep it as a pet.

"It...smells weird." He finally managed. "I don't want to eat it, and I think it's just a baby." It was certainly small and bony, as though it hadn't quite finished growing or filled out yet. He wondered if he had anywhere he could put it, like a small kennel. What had his dad used to bring his pets to the school for him in?

"I'm uh..going to find somewhere or something to keep it in. Do you mind? Did you want it for anything?" He hadn't even thought that maybe Yin had brought it back to eat for himself until now and was hurriedly trying to backtrack his thoughts just in case. Though it would have been such a shame....the way it was snuggling against him.....

"Ya, everything's fine. Mom's teaching me how to actually make food...which I guess is kind of cool because it means I can make myself stuff to eat when I get back to school." Why did talking to Yin feel so awkward now? Like he was afraid to say anything in case it was the wrong thing and he upset the other boil.

"Hey, maybe I can make you things to eat too! Er..sometime back at school that is..if you want..." Ya, not awkward at all.