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 Posted: Sun Apr 01, 2012 3:19 pm
Alex looked up from the gloves in his hand when Yin took them away, feeling awkward and unsure of himself as well. This was the first time he had actually gotten Yin something, as a gift, specifically. He considered Lady Terror a gift, but Yin had been with him at the time, and he had also called it a gift for Princess Eva, so as not to have Yin refuse. But this just made him feel apprehensive, like he was scared that the weremantis wouldn't like them, or would refuse them. He had thought that they would be a good idea at the time but now...Now he just felt like it was perhaps a bit lame and possibly not even nearly as good as Yin deserved for putting up with him through all of this.
But Yin took them, and he was already slipping them on. They looked much too big, with his fingers now humanoid and not even poking out the ends, but that all suddenly changed when Yin's claws emerged. Alex watched in amazement, a small smile forming on his lips. He thought they at least somewhat suited the weremantis, and he looked up at about the same time as Yin.
Just to see him sparkling. Was there anything so unsettling as a sparkling boilfriend? But it was just like it had been in the gym, and while Alex may have frowned the slightest bit, and wondered if perhaps he was going a little bit mad, he decided to just...ignore it this time. It was too weird, and not worth ruining the new moment for.
And beyond the sparkling, Yin just appeared so happy! It warmed Alex up inside to see him like that, and he suddenly knew that he had made a good decision. He reached out to grab ahold of each of Yin's hands with his own, twining his fingers with Yins so that the cloth of the glove was pushed back. "I'm glad you like them." he smiled leaning to rest his forhead against Yin's since the other boil was busy looking down at the gloves covering his hands and arms.
Hopefully the sparkling wasn't contagious.
"I got something else too, but it's just a snack I wanted to try that I've never had before. I actually think you might like it better though because it's meat, but it's not raw. Have you ever tried jerky before?" He pulled his forhead away from the other boil before saying all this, and released one of Yin's hands so he could reach over towards the small plastic bag.
"We can always try it later though, if you need to get going to find something to eat."
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Posted: Sun Apr 01, 2012 6:34 pm
The sparkling was already starting to die down to an afterglow, though really, the gloves were precisely what Yin needed right now to distract him from anything that might have went intruded on their current happiness. Except for Princess Eva of course, who was highly debating stealing one of Alexander's bones. Alexander was grabbing his hands, twining them with his, and just that small act was enough to solidify that things were if not good, okay. That if they could still hold hands everything was going to be just fine.
He began to pull away though, because there was really too much yipping and yapping to ignore any longer. "Perhaps when I return would be a better option, though if you wish to eat now you should go ahead." He was simply grateful that the zomboil had seemed to have switched over to not going with him. He stood carefully, having to reach out with a hand to Alexander's shoulder to steady himself as he dismounted, and then regretfully removed the gloves. "I do not wish to dirty them," he explained as he carefully went to put them up in the closet.
Now was the awkward time. He stood there for a moment before swallowing and speaking. "I will return as soon as I catch enough to eat. I shall try my best to be back shortly." Okay, he had confirmed that he would be back soon, and the zomboil knew what he was going to do. All bases were covered. With one last smile he was out the door, off to a relatively abandoned section of the dormitory. In other words, just down the hall. He knew where most of the rats were, and where they liked to go. It was just a matter of going to different places often enough that they did not start avoiding an particular hunting grounds. Once he had captured several he went straight back to the room to divide up the kills, enjoying just sharing a meal with the zomboil, something that he would not take for granted again.
They finished off the meal by trying the jerky. It was tough, but with interesting flavors. While Yin liked his meat cooked, he still generally preferred it bloody, but he could see the appeal that it offered in how it could be preserved. Perhaps Miss Xiu-Ying knew more about how to create it, it would be nice to have it in his room in case he needed something to feed his minipets right that instant.
By the time he was finished reading for the evening he was down to only one chapter left in his book about Halloween, which seemed like a nice accomplishment. But certainly not as good as the fact that Alexander was still in his room. That was going to stay in his room. There were still things to deal with, and he would have to try to find a new hiding place for the seeds that were left, but those things could wait until tomorrow. It was almost as if there was an unspoken understanding that tonight they would not mention those things. Tonight they were just going to do their best to go back to everything being fine.
So it was comforting that when he was finally ready for bed that zomboil was there as well. And he was confident that when he woke up in the morning he would still be there. Still be with him. Soon enough they would be headed to the horsemen's territory, to take classes that he barely even remembered signing up for. But they would be facing that challenge together as well. What they had went through, as Miss Taryn probably would have pointed out, had just proven that they could work things out, together.
"I now present this year's tournament winner, Yǐn Cáng!" The crowd clapped their approval, a few of the boils that he trained with often forgetting themselves and calling out, only to be cuffed by their instructors and told to settle down. This...he knew exactly what this was. But...something was different, somehow it was different and he did not know why as he bowed and graciously accepted the medal that she presented him with. "Face the crowd now boil. Let them see who they will be counting on to guard the Mantodae Clan in the future."
And when he turned he was standing straighter, looking proudly out across the masses. This...this was his clan. And he was going to do anything required of him to make sure that they were safe. He would be the best fighter they had ever seen and they would be proud of him. He was going to be the best, the best there ever was. His eyes swept the crowd, carefully avoiding meeting any ghoul's eyes so he would not be rude but just basking in his victory. Basking in the pride for his clan.
Finally the formalities were over and he was being ushered to the celebration party, only allowed to attend because of the feat he had just accomplished. His instructor was there, pulling him aside for a moment to tell him how proud he was of him. Patting him on the back. And then there were the introductions until finally he was standing in front of a ghoul that he recognized. She was one of the shrine maidens from the temple. But what was her...
"Greetings Yǐn Cáng. I am Ah-lam and I would chose you." She held out her palm, an emblem resting there with the image of the wings of an orchid mantis, her white and pink features confirming that that was who she was. Several others nearby had turned to watch, though they would not be surprised if he had had other offers. A future priestess. A future priestess wished to bond with him. He did not dare to look into her eyes but what he did do was hold out his own hand, palm up, emblem displayed to her.
"It would be my honor to be chosen by you Mistress Ah-lam." The rest of the dream was a whirlwind of pleasant activities. The bonding ceremony to make it official. Growing older with her, watching her find her bonded, though he had no desire to seek out one of his own gender himself. Helping to raise the daughter that she had with her bonded. Protecting her. Protecting the Clan. Raising in rank as she did, taking time out of his schedule to go give special lessons to some of the promising young boils.
When he woke up he started to rise so that he could go prepare Mistress Ah-lam's breakfast and froze as reality came crashing down. As he saw that there was a certain zomboil next to him and that he was not living his ideal life back with the clan that his dream self had found so wonderfully appealing.
He hurried to try to ignore the emotions welling up within him, trying his best to put on a neutral expression as he murmured "good morning," and began to go about his typical morning activities.
Things may have been fixed between the two boils, but something had certainly changed.
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