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Alex wasn't so sure how fortunate it was. There were really only so many hours in a day, and even though he didn't need to sleep, he still felt as though he had way too much on his plate, at the moment. Switching down to part time or not, keeping up this ridiculous pace when all he really wanted was to sit around and chill was bound to catch up to him.

Still, he supposed he should be grateful. He gave Mel a parting wave before they were on their way..

The cleaners weren't really that far to walk to, and Alex this time found himself leading Yin along for the most part since the other boil didn't know where they were going. He tugged Yin into the shop when they came across it, letting his backpack slide off of his shoulder and onto the countertop. He released Yins hand just so he could unzip his bag and start pulling out clothing.

"I brought some of your things too if you want them cleaned." He paused, frowning down at the articles still in his bag. He'd sort of forgotten that he'd grabbed them when he thought that Yin wasn't coming with him.

Alex began shoving his things into one of the baskets provided off the edge of the counter. "Yep." Was his only reply. Really, Alexander had no idea how to wash any of his own things. That's what mother's were for. But buying clean clothes just to replace the dirty ones was starting to seem rather frivolous now that he actually had to earn his own money. Taking them to the cleaner was a cheaper and more logical choice.

"Of course they would be willing!" He said, now grabbing Yin's things out of his bag and tossing them in with his own before turning to the ghoul working the till to get his ticket. They claimed they could have things clean and dry within the hour or you only paid half price. Seemed reasonable. Inwardly he wondered if that was even possible in the case of some of his clothes, which were stained beyond belief.

"Uh..." He glanced at the ghoul, who gave just a small shake of her head. "I don't think they'll let you back there to watch... Employee's only." He pointed to the sign hanging up just next to the small door that led behind to the till area and to the back where all of the clothes were hanging and whatever was beyond. It was a little strange to the zomboil to see somebody get even the least bit excited over cleaning. And damned if he knew how they did it so that he could explain it to Yin.

He did feel a little bad, however. He didn't like seeing Yin disappointed.

"Come on, we'll go and get my new phone then I'll see if I can find something fun to do while we wait for the clothes." Because getting a new phone surely would not take an entire hour.

If Alex had taken the time to think about it more, he might have decided he liked this paranoid and clingy Yin just for the fact that he got more physical contact in public. Of course, that would have been a completely dickish thought to have, though, which was so unlike Alexander it would probably never cross his mind.

Still, all that warmth pressed up beside him did feel awfully nice.

"Oh, ya, there are different types of phones. I'll probably just get the same thing that I had before, though. They're really easy to use, and I rather liked it." Liked it enough to throw it against a tree. Dear sweet Sally what was wrong with him lately? He seriously needed to get this anger issue under control at some point. It seemed like it was only getting worse.

"Though maybe I should consider getting something else. Those things aren't very durable. Even with a case on them...hrmmm but maybe I could get a slaughter box this time. They're supposed to be good at keeping eyephones protected, though they're a bit more expensive." Okay, Yin had pushed Alex's ramble about uninteresting things button. He guided the weremantis into the shop to buy the phone at while continuing on with his technology nonsense.

If Alex had any idea that Yin was bored out of his mind by the zomboils endless droning about technology, he might have stopped. But as it was Yin had gotten him started on a topic that he could have continued on for ages. At this point he wouldn't have even noticed that Yin had stopped listening to him. He was too wrapped up in his own musings about skellyphones and other technological devices.

And then Yin was interrupting him by calling out to one of the employee's of the shop that they'd wandered into, and his voice cut off abruptly to turn his head towards the ghoul, offering her a smile. Oh right, phone time! He gave Yin's hand a light squeeze, then released it so that he could go and speak with the employee, who's attention had been effectively drawn towards them by Yin's yelling.

Since he knew exactly what he wanted, he just followed the ghoul up to the desk and began filling in paperwork right away. Deciding on what plan was best for him, listening to her do her little spiel. Yin was free to either stand back and watch or wander around the store, really, though Alex had a feeling neither would have been that appealing to the other boil.

When it was all said and done, he had himself a shiny new eyephone encased in a red slaughterbox. It really looked just like his old phone, only with less dirt and smudges and scratches on it. The first thing he did was text his mom to let her know that he had finally gotten a new phone, and to ask for some pictures of his new brother, before seeking out Yin's hand with his so that they could leave.

"We've still got some time before the clothes will be finished, is there anything you might like to do?" As it was Alex was just sort of wandering back in the direction that they'd originally come from, eyes searching for anything Yin might like to pass the time with.

Alex turned towards the other boil, frowning at him a little, but still smiling. "I didn't ask if you required anything, I asked if there was anything you might like to do. You know, for fun?" Maybe it had been a stupid question. He knew that in the past the things that Yin might have considered fun was training and exercise. As that seemed to be off the menu now, he was kind of hoping to find something else that the other boil might enjoy. Beyond going to the pet store and trying to find pretty things to buy for Princess Eva, however, he was running out of ideas.

But even so, he was still going to try.Even to the point of saying the unthinkable. "No, I don't think I'm going to look at any ties today...oh look! Gatchapon!" Either Alex was clutching at straws...or he really liked gatchapon as he pulled Yin towards the machines lining an otherwise empty space of wall. Digging his free hand into his pocket, he pulled out a silver seed and jammed it into the machine, then cranked the handle before grabbing the capsule that spun out at the bottom and offering it towards Yin with an almost childish grin. His new phone buzzed a couple of times in his pocket, but he chose to ignore it for now.

While Yin was busy trying to puzzle out his...puzzle...Alex was popping more seeds into various machines. It was like an addiction. He didn't even care particularly what each one held, just that he got at least one, and sometimes even two, from each machine. It was like a game, where every single time you played you got a prize. What could possibly be better then that? Even if the prizes were all useless items, ones that would appeal more to scarelings then anybody else.

Clearly Alex was a scareling at heart.

He turned back towards Yin with an armful of capsules, not feeling in the slightest bit sheepish for his little overindulgence. "Uhhh, wellll, they are like collectors items. You can trade them, sell them, gift them..or you know, just keep them and play with them if you'd like." Basically, a complete and utter waste of money, unless one found something rare that a collector might purchase for a lot more then what was spent. Not that Alex ever bothered trying to sell them. Oh no. He would keep them all.

There was a vacant bench nearby, and Alex nodded towards it. "Come on, lets sit." Did he feel a little childish? Maybe just a tad. Even so as he collapsed on the bench and let the capsules fall out of his arms and onto the bench between them, he grabbed a hold of one and opened it up, pulling out a string voodoo doll.

"If you want to open some more, go ahead." He said, rather cheerfully as he shrugged his way out of his backpack and strung the doll from one of the zippers.

He was the epitome of maturity right now. Nearly an adult and getting excited over tiny dolls.

Alex cast a few glances over to Yin, leaning towards him from time to time to see what treasures he was unearthing from their little plastic prisons. His own clumsy undead fingers fumbled away at the plastic tops as he popped them off one by one. A figurine of a deathcharger, a jack skellington head keychain, and a small roll of stickers were removed from their respectful capsules. The stickers were of full moons, bats, and tombstones. The usual thing, really. And there were still so many more to pop open!

"Hrm? Let's see?" He glanced back over to Yin again after opening another container that held a black plastic spider ring to take a look at what he meant.

"Oh. Oh no that's just a temporary tattoo. You take that plastic bit off, stick the picture on your skin, then get the paper wet and let it sit for a while. Then when you take it off, the picture stays on your skin." He was going to add on 'kind of like a protection charm', but clammed up before he did so.

Well, what do you know? Alexander actually could figure out how to keep his mouth shut sometimes.

"Nah it's like..more for scarelings really, I guess. To pretend that they have a tattoo like a teenager or an adult might, for fun. It doesn't provide them with any skills or anything, just shows that they like bruteball." He smiled, remembering how as much smaller scareling how he had often adorned his arms with temporary tattoos. Now he had a permanent one and well...he still wasn't sure what to think about that.

When it came to the question about the spider ring, Alexander didn't even hesitate to answer. "Of course!" He had no idea why Yin might want something so small and cheap, but if he liked it, then the zomboil would be more then willing to part with it. He reached out to take the other boils hand in his, then slipped it onto the weremantis's smallest finger with a grin. He totally could have just handed the plastic ring over to Yin, but this was more fun, and silly, but mostly fun.

"There!" He announced, happily, before reaching for an popping open another container, this one had yet another voodoo doll and he added it onto his backpack zipper with the first. The capsules were dwindling now, and while Alex was tempted to go and buy more, he decided he'd probably indulged himself enough for now. He began putting the small toys away into the front pocket of his backpack for safekeeping while he waited for Yin to open up the last few that were left.