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 Posted: Wed Jan 18, 2012 10:46 pm
One might have expected Alex to be taken aback by Yin bursting out at him. But no, this time Alex had been expecting it.
"I speak to her like she is my mother, Yin." He replied, calmly, "If I have to understand how things are where you are from, then you have to understand how things are here. My mom and I interacting the way we do..that's just one way we show our affection for each other. I understand that it's hard to accept things the way they are in a place that's so different, but you're just going to have to try. Yes, that is the way I talk to my mom, it's the way I've been talking to my mom since I can remember, but it doesn't mean I don't have a lot of respect for her." He said that last part rather firmly, then waited for the weremantis to respond.
There were a couple of ways this conversation could end, but Alex was hoping for a pleasant one.
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Posted: Wed Jan 18, 2012 10:55 pm
It was not that the zomboil did not make excellent points. It was not that he did not have a wonderfully elegant response for the mantis boil. It was merely that it went against everything that the mantodae knew. He opened his mouth to respond and then closed it, gears whirring in his head.
He did not like it. He did not like it one single bit. Even if you ignored that she was a ghoul it still meant that she was his mother. But maybe...maybe families were different like that. Still, when he had felt even more respect for his instructor he had never said anything remotely rude to him, he had tried harder than ever to please the older man.
But could he really just tell the zomboil he was wrong? To risk angering him when he was already indebted to him? He needed time to think about this. Time the cashier did not want him to have by the look on his face. "Let me think on it," was his reply before he headed out the door, completely forgetting that he was supposed to be holding onto the zomboil's hand so that he would not get lost until he was swept away in a crowd as he thought, a crowd that deposited him somewhere near a fountain.
During that time he had been so focused on his thoughts that he had not paid a lick of attention to where he was walking, so he looked around him in some confusion. But at least he had one thing settled. For Alexander's sake he would overlook his transgressions, though personally Yin would attempt to be extra polite to her to make up for it.
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Posted: Thu Jan 19, 2012 12:14 am
Alexanders mouth opened, ready to defend himself some more, and then closed abruptly when Yin's reply was not at all what he had expected.
Dumbfounded, he watched as the weremantis made his way to the door without him, and stepped back out into the throngs of people, Alex attempting to follow, but not being able to keep up. One second, the mantodae was well within his sights, and then the next? Gone.
Oh...Oh Jack! Alex's stomach clenched as he continued to stagger and shuffle his way out of the store, much to the cashiers relief. He found himself looking left, and right, over the crowds of people, but was continuously being shoved and told get out of the way, which only disoriented him further. Which way had he gone? Which way??
The zomboil began to wander around aimlessly, a faint sense of panic seizing him and not wanting to let go. He had lost Yin. He had lost Yin in the maul and he wasn't going to be able to find him. "Yin?" he called out, tentatively. And then again, with a little more force. "YIN?"
This was soooo not cool.
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Posted: Thu Jan 19, 2012 12:38 am
Yin scrambled up on the edge of the fountain to give himself a slight height advantage, though with the various sizes and shapes of the maul-goers a mere six foot tall zomboil was harder to spot than he had supposed. Why does he move so slowly, the mantodae snapped inwardly, though he knew it was just stress and concern flooding him. Still, it felt a little better to do so. He was just beginning to get scolded by someone or another for standing on the ledge when he saw a familiar white head of hair coming down the hallway. He would have to go against the flow of traffic to reach him, but he needed to get down either way. Trying to keep his eyes on where the zomboil should be he began to weave through the crowd. He was buffeted by bags and body parts, purposefully shoved more than once, and finally made it to the edge of the crowd, all but panting as he tried to recover. He waited a moment, watching closely, and finally spotted the zomboil ambling along, yelling, though what it was was lost in the clamor of the crowd. He went back into the fray, feeling almost like a warrior going into battle until he was almost within reach. But the tide was against him, a large bulky thing headed straight for him. "Alexander!" he called in a last ditch effort, hand outstretched, hoping that the boil would see him to know that he was trying to get to him and should just stay put.
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Posted: Thu Jan 19, 2012 10:28 am
Meanwhile Alex was continuing to panic, shouting and reaching up to push back his hair nervously. Would Yin have gone back to the Main entrance, to wait for Alex there? Or was he just being swept along by the crowd? Had he found an electronics store and stopped there and was now wondering where Alex was? What if he thought that Alex had abandoned him?
These were just the best case scenarios that Alex's mind could come up with. He tried not to let the worse ones take over.
At the moment his back was actually turned to where Yin was struggling to get to him through the crowd, so he didn't see the much shorter boil. Even when he did eventually turn and very hesitantly begin walking with the flow of people, he couldn't see anything, mostly because there was one very large Maul patron walking in front of him that he was having trouble seeing around.
Wait..did he just catch a flash of green? Was...was somebody calling his name? It definitely sounded like the tail end of 'Alexander'!, but it might have been, oh, 'Oleander' or even 'Salamander'...though why anybody would be shouting that out in the middle of a Maul was a little confusing.
He tried to focus on the area in which he heard the noise, but the large person in front of him was, well, quite massive and blocking a lot of the zomboils view. But suddenly..another glimpse of green, and...was that a long fingered and clawed hand Alex could see? His non-beating heart lifted in his chest. "Yiiiiiin!" He cried out happily, though uh....wasn't the weremantis about to get bowled over by this massive creature if he didn't, you know, move out of the way??
Using moves that Alex didn't even know he had, and ones that others might even be proud of should they have seen it, Alex dove forward, pushing against the back of the creature (ew, squishy, not nice..ugh) and then using his momentum to roll around it, hand reaching out, stretching just that little bit forward....
and making contact!
He wasn't really thinking at this point, he was too stressed out yet overwhelmed by how happy he was that he hadn't lost his friend. yet still worried that he might lose him. Once his hand closed down on Yin's, he pulled, hard, trying to draw the weremantis straight into him so he could wrap his free arm around him and hold him to his chest protectively, eyes narrowed at anybody who might try and take away his prize friend.
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Posted: Thu Jan 19, 2012 11:02 am
That bulky creature was not stopping. It was not stopping. It was headed straight for him but Alexander was within sight. He was turning. He was moving toward him. His hand was reaching for him. That being is not stopping. Alexander was not going to make it in time, and even though he was trying with the press of the crowd where did it even come from? he could not move forward enough. But at least they had seen each other? Alex would work his way toward him...correct?
He was slightly panicked until the cold hand touched his, for once almost welcoming the chill. As it wrapped around him he could feel the being closing in, clothes brushing as they considered him as no more than a bug in their path. And then there as a yank from Alexander, and for some reason it was like there had never been a crowd separating them, he was simply wrapped up in the zomboil's arms and pressed against his chest before he could fully realize what was happening.
That was...rare. Yin's mind was suddenly flooded with various thoughts and scenarios. Had he lost his edge by training alone? Always know where your opponent is. Predict every scenario. Let no movement go unnoticed. And yet here he was in a completely unimagined scenario, and he had not seen it coming. If this had been a fight he could have easily been beheaded or worse.
He had no idea how the zomboil had done it.
As the flood plaguing his mind began to slow he forced himself to put it aside, another issue to debate when he was alone. It may just mean that he needed to seek out additional sparring partners. It was then that he noticed he was feeling a bit cold. Well, not too cold, but goosebumps had raised all down his arms so he had to be cold...right? He pushed away from the zomboil gently, signalling that he should release him from his grip, which was actually a bit stronger than he had expected considering Alexander's physique. "I had forgotten how many people there were," he mumbled, not knowing what else to say.
((Alexander should get the chill for one of his fears~ IT SHOULD BE SO.))
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Posted: Thu Jan 19, 2012 10:21 pm
Even as Alex stood there, holding on to Yin like if he let him go they would both dissipate into FEAR particles, people were still bumping him, shoving at him as they breezed past on their ways to wherever they were going. His lip drew back to bare teeth at the passersby, his eyes narrowing in anger. His mind was replaying one word over and over again, so loud it felt as though his ears were ringing with the sound.
He was snapped out of it when he could feel something pushing against him gently, something..quite warm. Not a bad feeling, really, the warmth, just not what Alex was used to feeling. He blinked his eyes as though just waking from a dream, and loosened his grip on the weremantis, then stepped back from him.
Well, that had never happened before. At least, not quite like that, anyways. He'd had times when he would just let his natural instincts take over in the past, but that was always out of sheer anger or a strong need of survival, like when hunting for prey. He gazed down at Yin, a very perplexed look on his face, "Uhh....don't worry about it, totally fine." he looked away from the shorter boil, somewhat embarrassed about what he'd just done. He could still feel traces of warmth across his body from holding on to Yin as tight as he had.
"Let's just. find the electronic store, ok?" He nodded to himself, as though answering his own question, and while still not looking at Yin, tentatively held his hand back out towards him.
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Posted: Thu Jan 19, 2012 10:42 pm
It was not fair. Yin was feeling the almost irresistible urge to stamp his foot down right then and there and shout to the world that it was not fair. He was the one who was supposed to protect his friends and he kept messing things up and needing to be protected. He merely nodded as Alexander said they would go to the electronic store, though if he had bothered to look up he would have known how ineffective that was.
Thankfully he was not looking away, just down, so he still saw the zomboil's hand as it reached out for his. He slipped his hand forward but once it was in the zomboil's he gripped it as securely as if it were his only lifeline. The maul was a crazy place.
No matter how many people knocked into him he kept firmly by the white-haired boil's side, not wanting to risk being separated again. And then they were in the crowd again. He really did not know what an electronics store would look like. Electronics sounded as if it started with E-L, but that did not mean that it would be so easily labeled. Clothing stores were not named as such but rather things like "Hellister" and "Cold Topic."
After they had gone a ways he did mange to find a store that appeared to have small (and larger) boxes displayed in the shopfront. "Is that it?" His voice sounded odd to him after just a few minutes of silence, oddly enough trying to catch in his throat. He could only hope that he was not coming down with a cold.
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Posted: Thu Jan 19, 2012 11:56 pm
Alex felt Yin's much warmer hand slip into his hand once again, and closed his fingers around it firmly.
He was not going to lose the weremantis this time!
As they began there somewhat slow pace (the crowd seemed to push them along faster then what Alex was wholly comfortable with) along the hallway of the Maul, Alex very steadfastly kept an eye out for the specific store he was looking for, keeping his gaze away from Yin as they walked along.
It wasn't until Yin spoke up that Alex finally turned his head towards him, and followed the direction that his hand was pointing. His gaze drew up towards the misleading shop name posted in a bright yellow sales tag that had "Worst Buy" imprinted upon it.
Alex knew for a fact that this particular store sold much better merchandise then the cheaper store called "Fried" that he had shopped at in the past to try and get better deals. The lesson he had learned from that was that sometimes one really aught to just spend more and get better. Especially when it came to electronics.
He nodded down to towards Yin, smiling just a little as he finally looked at the other boil. "Yes, that will do." he said, then changed course towards the shop, that was actually on the other side of the hall that they were currently on, and forcing them to meander through the crowd to get there.
Once in the shop's entrance, Alex somewhat reluctantly let go of Yin's hand, as his eyes began to roam around, looking for a the mobile skellyphone accessories section. As his gaze swept the store, he noticed a very large sign with an eye symbol on it, indicating that the section he sought was in that direction.
"Over there" He nodded, still keeping quite quiet and somewhat to himself as he began his slow shuffle in that direction.
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Posted: Fri Jan 20, 2012 12:29 am
Until now he had been rather distracted, but when the zomboil answered with the smallest of smiles it began to dawn upon the mantodae that he was acting oddly. As they meandered toward the store he had plenty of time to contemplate it. And the zomboil was acting odd. Normally he was all smiles and rather happy energy, keeping up a decently steady flow of conversation even when Yin himself was not talking. But now he was barely reacting.
It was not that pleasant. Just being towed along and then all but ignored was making the weremantis actually feel a bit like a child who had messed up his favorite toy. But he didn't know how to fix it.
So he scanned the shop as he followed Alexander, noting with confusion and surprise various interesting-looking items. Maybe he had asked too many questions finally, and while a million burned within him as he saw all sorts of bizarre enchantments he tried not to voice them. "Are you... he began hesitantly. Upset with me? his mind finished, but it was not the proper time for such a thing. All of that not asking questions and now he had started one and needed to ask something. "I mean, do you want me to hold that while you shop?" He pointed at the bag from the previous store, desperate to be at least somewhat useful.
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Posted: Fri Jan 20, 2012 7:44 am
It wasn't that Alex was trying to ignore Yin, but he was just so lost in his own thoughts that the world in front of him had slowed and dimmed. He was a little freaked out about what he had done back in the Mauls main hallway, and trying to reason it out in his head. Obviously Yin was the closest friend that he had and he didn't want to see him get hurt, especially not on a trip that he himself had asked the weremantis to go on. What he had done was pure instinct, but instead of his own survival it was like something had switched in his mind and he felt like he needed to save Yin instead of himself. It was...baffling to say the least. Not to mention the word that was ringing in his head at the time...but he could also put that off as it being just because again, Yin was the closest friend he'd ever had.
Deciding to just go with that for his answer, his attention was drawn back to the weremantis, his brow furrowing in question when he began to ask something, then stopped. Are you? Was he what? And then the opening to the question changed, and Alex decided to set that aside as well.
Again with asking if Alex wanted him to hold his bag full of new clothes. This time he answered differently, still giving his friend that small smile that was just a ghost of his usual, much larger grin. "Sure Yin, thanks! You just...feel free to browse, ok? Try not to break anything though, or I won't have any money left for dinner." He attempted to joke, though realized afterwards that his heart just wasn't in it at the moment. He held out the bag for Yin to take, then started his way over to the eyephone area.
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Posted: Fri Jan 20, 2012 9:20 am
Something was definitely not right, but Alexander handed over the bag (which was quite honestly rather light) and headed over to whatever he needed to look at. He had told Yin first that it was okay to browse...perhaps he did not wish to be followed any longer? So Yin held back, the rest of his words playing through his mind.
Try not to break anything? I have not broken anything in his presence, so why would he make such a statement. Unless...perhaps electronics are easy to break? If there was one sure way to ensure that the mantodae touched absolutely nothing while in the store Alexander had just found it. He began looking around, but he stayed as far away from most things as he could. He walked down the exact middle of aisles, unless skirting around another patron (if he could not avoid it by backtracking) in which he turned sideways and held his breath to try to squeeze past easier.
It was rather hard to browse anything when one could not (or rather, would not) touch anything. He found a small boil tapping madly at a small hand-held device while staring at a screen and watched him curiously for a few minutes until his caretaker came and whisked the boil away, giving Yin a dirty look that he neither deserved nor desired. Feeling properly abashed for reasons unknown to him he turned and began looking for something else to examine.
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Posted: Fri Jan 20, 2012 10:58 am
It took some time for Alex to make his way over to the eyephone section, his steps as slow and steady as ever. He did glance over his shoulder to check on Yin a couple of times, as though still worried the other boil would disappear as he had earlier.
He seemed to be having a look around, but not touching anything. Probably because I told him not to break anything... Alex shook his head to himself a little, and had to smile.
As he shambled past aisles of phones and headsets, tablets and eyepods, he finally came across the accessories section, and found what he was looking for, eyeing all of the different designs and colors. There really were a lot of varieties to choose from, and his eyes swept over the assorted collection on display before him. Skulls, pumpkins, a full moon, a graveyard, it was the usual thing one might expect, but Alex wasn't looking for anything fancy. With barely a second thought, he reached out and grabbed a case that was a solid deep red in color, plain and unadorned in any way whatsoever.
With his item in hand, he glanced back up, eyes searching for Yin, and then waving at him to indicate that he was finished.
He then made his way up to the teller to purchase the case, very stoically refraining from stopping to look at all of the electronic goods that he wanted but really didn't need. If he bought half the things he wanted, he'd probably never leave his dorm room again.
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Posted: Fri Jan 20, 2012 11:18 am
Yin saw Alexander waving him over and headed that way, carefully avoiding everything possible. He accidentally brushed against a display and winced, but nothing broke and he continued over to wait on the boil checking out, holding the bag he had been entrusted with with both hands. He had behaved himself...right? he had not bothered the zomboil, had not broken anything, had been helpful by holding the bag. Perhaps it would lessen the memories of him leaving earlier. He would not make that mistake again.
When Alexander finished checking out and turned toward the door Yin approached, slipping his hand into the taller boil's free one easily before looking up at him. "Is there anywhere else you would like to go?" he questioned, completely oblivious to the other customer to his left rolling his eyes at the pair as he began to make his way to the door.
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Posted: Fri Jan 20, 2012 9:18 pm
Alex was somewhat surprised at how quickly Yin was just there, slipping hust long clawed hand back into the zomboils before he even knew what was happening. And while Yin might not have noticed the looks they were getting, Alex most certainly did. But was he bothered? Not in the slightest! He was comfortable, and he didn't find it at all weird to be holding another boils hand in the middle of what was very hazardously busy area. He knew that he was holding Yin's hand so as not to lose him (lets just ignore for a second that Yin could just as easily be holding onto the strap of Alex's backpack). The fact that Yin continued to follow through with the action itself just proved to Alex how uneasy the weremantis really felt, and that was all...
But try as he might he still couldn't shake this weird feeling that had been haunting him since he thought he'd lost the weremantis, and then had recovered him. It was an awkward feeling that he just wasn't used to, nor could he put his finger on it.
"I wouldn't mind getting something to eat..if you're ready to grab some dinner?" He asked, looking down at the other boil as they walked out into the busy hall once more.
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