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 Posted: Wed Feb 15, 2012 2:33 pm
Tension that Yin had not even fully been aware of drained out of him, shoulders sagging slightly in relief as he met Alexander's eyes. He did believe him, though there was that small part of him that just whispered agonizingly that it was foolish to trust the zomboil. He wanted to hear him say it again, to make him promise over and over not to do anything like that and to not risk their friendship. Perhaps even go the childish route and ask him for a pinkie promise. He nodded wordlessly against the cool hand on his face. "Thank you Alexander."
He stood up, heading over to the closet. "I am afraid I have been a poor guest, and perhaps I should go be," he swallowed, not trying to show his distaste with the idea, "sociable." Plus, that meant that he would not be cooped up in Alexander's room with the zomboil. It was funny really, yesterday the room had been a haven he could have stayed in forever. Today it was a prison.
"I shall return shortly." He was armed with materials to clean his teeth and headed across the hall to the bathroom, though not without checking the hallway first for sinister ghouls. The walk into the hallway was unpleasantly cold enough, but when he returned he merely hovered in the doorway and waited to follow Alexander downstairs. "Unless you would prefer to spend more time alone with them," he added as an afterthought.
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Posted: Wed Feb 15, 2012 2:50 pm
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?"
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Posted: Wed Feb 15, 2012 4:38 pm
Really Alexander? Pick out a tie? If it was not something that was obviously so important to the zomboil he would never have walked back into the room. As it was he slipped back into the warm embrace that the heater offered, nudging the door shut a bit with his foot as he walked to the closet. The sheer number of ties was still staggering, but he began to look through them carefully, as if weighing their pros and cons. In reality he was just trying to find one that stood out to him. He finally settled on an entirely red tie with a nicely intricate pattern woven into it and turned to present it to the zomboil. Who was still not finished with his buttons. "Here, take this and let me just..." there was a slightly awkward moment as he passed over the tie, finally settling on just looping it around Alexander's neck, and then he went to work on the remaining buttons. Buttons were not precisely his friend with his claws being what they were, but the zomboil was obviously having issues and he was at least slightly more adept with his claws than a hungover zombie was with his fingers. He left the bottom one unbuttoned, having seen it left undone in the past before stepping back. "Are you sure you do not require rest?"
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Posted: Wed Feb 15, 2012 5:21 pm
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!
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Posted: Wed Feb 15, 2012 6:11 pm
His eyes darted over toward the heater but on an entirely selfish whim he did nothing about the temperature as he exited the room. Alexander was moving even slower than usual, and he stayed behind him to shut the door carefully, but as they began to meander down the hallway he could barely hold himself back. If they had been somewhere he had known better he probably would have just gone ahead and waited, and as it was he wound up passing him and waiting at the top of the stairs.
By the time Alexander had reached him he was bored with waiting and was already eyeing the bottom of the stairs. It was not too busy here, so he went ahead and headed down the stairs, lingering at the bottom obviously bored. Why could the zomboil not imbibe some substance to make him faster? "Where should we go?" he said, looking from the front door then toward the dining room.
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Posted: Thu Feb 16, 2012 1:51 pm
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.
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Posted: Thu Feb 16, 2012 2:08 pm
"Good morning Lady Van Rotte," he replied with a slight bow to her, before backing up a bit. Let her stand at the bottom of the stairs, he was perfectly find getting out of her way. He rather thought that Alexander's mother was being fairly nice. She had to know that her son was not an avid hunter, and was allowing him a chance to learn a valuable skill instead.
"Then I shall meet you outside? Unless you have anything you need for me to do Lady Van Rotte?" Ever the blossom of innocent perfection Yin glanced over at Alexander's mother, eyes bright with youth and energy as he waited for her response.
"Not at the moment, though you are welcome to join us in the kitchen later if you don't want to go on the hunt." Alexander's mother...well Yin did not know what she thought. But it was probably something along the lines of "oh how I wish that all boils were as wondrous and perfect as that weremantis boil."
"I believe I would prefer the hunt myself, though I thank you for your invitation." With that he fled to the door, figuring that Alexander could join him if he ever made it down the stairs. Perhaps his family was out in the forest already? But no, as he opened the front door it was obvious that a large group was on the front porch, though at least it was slightly warmer outside. "Good morning," he said as he stepped out on the front porch, suddenly self-conscious. So many zombies.
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Posted: Fri Feb 17, 2012 12:04 am
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.
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Posted: Fri Feb 17, 2012 12:48 am
The male zombies all seemed to be...waiting for something. Some signal or something and he could feel them himself being scrutinized. He was greeted by several, though no one really went out of their way to strike up a conversation this morning. So he just stood there until Alexander stumbled out and latched onto him. He noticed one male give them a peculiar look and turn to whisper into the ear of the zomboil sitting next to him, the two of them looking completely comfortable around each other. Family must be nice.
"Is it almost time for the hunt?" he questioned, not asking anyone in particular but assuming that Alexander would answer if no one else did. A hunt was just what he needed. Something physical to just burn off some extra energy, and in a proper hunt he would not have time to just sit around and think, he would be concentrating on stalking his prey.
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Posted: Fri Feb 17, 2012 1:15 am
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
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Posted: Fri Feb 17, 2012 2:24 am
The hand on his back almost knocked him forward a pace but he managed to keep his footing as he twisted his head back to look at Alexander's father. "If you will allow it I would enjoy accompanying you." He received a nod in response and then began the wait, not really sure if he should leave the porch and lay down next to Alexander or stay put. Alexander was not part of the hunt after all. After a short while the zombies simply began standing up and making their way to the forest, no words really passing to start things off. Alexander's father took pity on him, patting his back again and telling him it was time with another grin.
"Have fun," he murmured as he passed the zomboil, heading toward the forest and mostly keeping pace with Alexander's father. "How are we hunting today? On our own again? And is there a specific creature I should be hunting?"
"We split up. Catch what you can."
Well, those instructions were easy enough, and Yin enjoyed them more than any others. He began to move more quickly now, passing by several zombies and heading into the woods. There it was even easier to slip ahead of the horde, and when he was far enough away he shifted, though as he headed into the forest some of the faster zombies may have caught a glimpse of him in his natural form.
Today he headed deeper into the forest, figuring that slower zombies could easily track game closer to the house. He followed a stream for a fair distance, stopping to kill a stray magiban. It was then that he knew he needed to make a makeshift cache for his smaller catches. He found a fork in a tree that was easy enough to settle the corpse into, and out of the reach of most small predators and then began to work out from the area. He managed to add two more small creatures before coming across the trail of a larger creature. It seemed to have hooves, and though they were small the indentions were deep. Small feet, heavy body.
He began following the trail, eyes picking up signs that may have been invisible to most normal beings. Apparently having five eyes, even if three were mostly useless, was helpful. Tracking it took a little time, though it seemed to be a slow mover. And finally, finally it came into view. A lone, wild pigimp. He shifted downwind carefully, hunkered down and almost gliding from place to place. He was almost on the creature when something somewhere chirped and it looked around. It spotted him but he was already lunching ahead, claws outstretched. As it tried to bolt his claws snapped back, faster than a normal being could really follow.
The pigimp had managed to slip away enough that he only managed to catch hold of it with one claws, thought it was right before the back haunches.He quickly stepped forward, holding it with his claws and once he could reach reaching forward and slitting the creature's throat. This time the amount of blood that wound up on him was minimal, most of it spilling to the dirt and soaking into it.
He picked it up in his claws and carried it back to his tree with the other creatures, glad to find them undisturbed in the time he had been gone. He secured the pigimp in the tree and then headed back, figuring that he should possibly do something about the bloody mess he had left. Kick some dirt onto it or something. As he neared he began to notice...a small movement from the blood-soaked ground. He automatically began to stalk it, trying to figure out what it was. It appeared to have been attracted by the scent of blood and death, but Yin had never seen anything like it.
He wanted to catch it.
This took more skill than hunting, as he had to not only creep up on the creature but then to capture it without killing it. With a good deal of patience, and probably luck, he managed to catch it, pinning it between his claw and forearm without crushing the life out of it. He had no idea what it was, but it would probably be a good idea to take it back to Alexander and get his opinion on it before he killed it.
The walk back to Alexander's house was difficult with a struggling creature (that behaved slightly better with the scent of blood and dead surrounding them), a brace of magibans, a large pigimp, a gryphbun, and, because he stopped at the creek for something to add last minute, a rather decent size floresce.
Still, he managed, and he finally drug his prey out into the open (back in his usual form) to be greeting by a couple of zombies. They were apparently the cleaning crew, and in charge of skinning what was coming to them. Yin left the uncleaned creatures with them a bit apologetically, promising to try and come back, and, creature carefully in hand went to the back kitchen door, knocking on it yet slightly worried of who might be in there. Still, he was out in the open, and he could always bolt. He held the creature with both hands now, ready to present to Alexander if he was the one to open the door.
((sorry if nothing makes sense/got rushed/whatevs. Can't keep eyes open))
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Posted: Fri Feb 17, 2012 11:48 am
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.
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Posted: Fri Feb 17, 2012 12:29 pm
Good, it was Alexander who opened the door. "I do not know," Yin answered, looking down at it as well and carefully reaching out and placing it into Alexander's hands, not letting go until he was sure the zomboil had it and it would not be dropped. "I have never seen anything like it before, and was unsure if it was safe to eat, or if it was even something to be killed. I just...thought I would bring it back and let you decide what is to be done with it." He shrugged, genuinely not caring if the zomboil killed it and devoured it, but not wanting to kill something if it was some sort of endangered species. It just...seemed odd. Like maybe it was somehow special. And honestly there was probably not too much meat on it if they did kill it.
"Is everything going alright here? I told them that I would try to return to help clean some of the creatures I brought back, but if I am needed elsewhere I can stay." Working as a community to get tasks done was something that he was rather used to, and as he had no specific assignments he was pretty well content to go wherever he was needed. He would not mind another trip to the forest as well, it was a rather nice spot for hunting.
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Posted: Fri Feb 17, 2012 12:47 pm
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.
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Posted: Fri Feb 17, 2012 1:04 pm
Watching Alexander with the creature it seemed as if it was a good thing that he had decided to bring it back with him. The two seemed to have hit it off rather nicely. "I had no plans for it, if you would like to keep it than do so." He would have to examine it more at a later time, though he did feel a tiny bit bad about the way the creature smelt. He had just brought it straight back with him. Perhaps they could give it a bath later. Or...or Alexander could. He should not just assume they would be doing everything together. But if there was a pet with them it would be safe would it not? There would be something to focus on rather than the other boil.
"That sounds...useful." He offered, not really knowing what to say. But then he perked up a bit at the offer. Alexander's mother was an excellent cook, and if the zomboil learned how to cook from her it would likely be delicious. "That is a very generous offer. Perhaps I could hunt and you could prepare it?" That way it would not merely be a free meal, it would be something that they had both contributed to. "Do your dorm room have a kitchen?" Miss Danny's did, though Yin's did not. Who knew what the Undead dorms were like.
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