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Even going at his slightly faster then usual pace, which is to say, a fairly average walk, Alex would be taking quite some time. Which really just meant Yin was going to have a nice lengthy discussion with his mother the entire time he was gone. He wasn't too worried though, because he knew his mom wouldn't do anything to really upset Yin. Well, not on purpose, anyways.

Again, she had to supress a laugh as Yin greeted her a second time, but this time in a different way then he had before. My, he was nervous, wasn't he? She listened to him give his answer to her question, a serene smile that he couldn't see spread across her face. He was just so polite! Alexander would really do well to learn a few things from this boil.

"Of course you may ask that, Yǐn Cáng." She waved a skeletal hand in the air as though he could see it, as she always made hand motions when on the skellyphone. "I've been fine. A little lonely, perhaps, with my son and now two daughters away from home." She pursed her lips, fighting that empty feeling she got inside when she though too much about how more then half of her children were gone. Her tone of voice didn't change, however, so at least Yin wouldn't detect any sadness from her. "But you and Alexander will come and visit again, won't you? He told me he would come, and that you might as well, but I really think you should."

Oh, she was sounding a little bit desperate there, wasn't she? Being a mom separated from her children did seem to have that effect sometimes. She stopped talking, mostly to compose herself. She didn't want to upset the easily upsettable weremantis, after all.

"Of course, that's only if you would like to come and stay with us again." She finished, her composure regained, her voice back to it's cool but mildly sweet self.

"Now, I was wondering if you could answer me a question about Alexander, Yǐn Cáng. You don't have to answer me, but I would greatly appreciate your honest opinion?" She made it a question, not a demand.

On the other end of the line, Alexanders mom smiled. Alexander and Yǐn Cáng would both come to visit, together, so that was good cause for the emptiness in her chest to be forgotten. For now, at least. Now she just had to pin Alexander down and make him agree to a set date for the visit...

All in good time.

She was pleased to hear that he might be able to help her out. "Excellent." She said, quite happily to Yin's accepted invitation to return to her home.

Now for the new matter at hand.

"It's not so much a question really. I know my son well enough to know that he's not exactly....the most responsible when it comes to certain things. What is your opinion on his rather, shall we call it superfluous..." No no no, that wouldn't do. She should keep it simple! What if the poor boil didn't understand her?

She stopped for a moment, then continued on. "I mean, un-necessary cash purchases? Do you believe he understands the value of money? I blame myself really, for not ever having made him work for it." She sighed, then waited for Yin's answer.


Alex, in the meantime, was maybe half way to his room. Maybe.

She had to admit to herself that Yin's answer was a touch..disappointing. She knew Alex had spent his money on something. Even if he wouldn't tell her what it was he had spent it on. The amount of money that he had, and then he had called her up and asked for more? What had he done? There was no way he had spent that money on ties and food, though she knew he probably wasted quite a bit away on that as well.

"No no, it's all right. I would not wish for him to go hungry either." She reassured the other boil, attempting to interrupt him, but he continued on as though she hadn't even spoken, much to her frustration.

Mounds of clothing? Ugh, Alexander. She cringed at the mental imagery alone, knowing full well what a complete slob her son could be. But again, clothes? That didn't explain things completely away.

"Thank you, I understand what you are saying. The problem is...I send more then enough money for Alexander to get by, to purchase himself clothes and food, books, even games. Recently he seems to have come into a...down fall of sorts, and it just doesn't make any sense to me. He needs to learn to manage his money better, and I can't trust him to look after it responsibly. So, I've stopped sending him money until a solution or compromise can be made. Can you think of a solution, Yǐn Cáng?"

Alex had successfully made it to his room, and had even managed to grab Fei, who was perched on his shoulder, and snag a couple of books. Now he just had to make it back outside....

She nodded to herself on the other line. Finally she seemed to be getting somewhere with this conversation! "I agree, he needs to earn it." She smiled. Yes, this was coming around to her way of thinking nicely.

"But of course, I am not there to be able to decide if he has done enough to earn the money. Sending him smaller amounts might work, but that's somewhat tedious and almost redundant. However..."

She paused, because this was it, this is what she had been trying to steer the conversation towards, after all.

"You see Alexander every day, correct? And you...seem to know the state of his bedroom and I can tell you disapprove. Perhaps if I were to send you the money, then you could decide when he has done what is required to earn it. Of course, he would need at least a daily stipend for food, but for anything extra? A few chores here and there. A tidy room, maybe some washed clothing...I would gladly leave that in your capable hands, Yǐn Cáng" She finished. Or had she?

"Please?" She added on, rather meekly and in what she hoped was a hopeful tone. "You would be doing me a great favor, and I could pay you back as well in anyway that you wish."

Half way back, Alex was juuuust under half way back now.

He started out protesting, which she might have expected, but in the end he had come around, just as she had hoped he would. "Oh I'm sure Alexander will be fine with it. He wanted to compromise with me and these are the terms that he needs to be willing to accept. They are much better terms then anything else I've been able to come up with, and they are fair." She explained, her voice soft and reassuring once more.

"I'll have to figure out with Alexander how many seeds he'll actually require per day for necessities. I'll send a letter with the first installment of money explaining then." She said, happy that her plans had come to completion. Oh, she knew Alex would not be happy about this, but she also knew him well enough to know he wouldn't argue. Not in front of his friend, at least. And she wasn't backing down on it either.

"Now that that's all been decided...How are your classes going?" Yep, back to more mundane topics once more.

And Alex was nearly back.

Nearly.

Alex pushed his way out the door, finally, and shambled over towards Yin, who was apparently still on the phone with his mother. That was...nice, he guessed, though he idly wondered what they could have been talking about all of this time. He had gone as fast as he could, so he guessed it wasn't like they'd been talking for ages or anything. He caught the tail end of what Yin said to his mom before approaching.

On the other end of the phone, Alex's mom nodded along to Yin's words, though she already knew about the hot springs since Alexander had told her such. She was pleasantly surprised, however, that Yin was actually telling her this himself. It seemed like very often he kept his guard up around her, not speaking more then the absolutely had to. This was...nice. Almost like having another son to check up on and hear about.

It was fairly short lived, however, when he steered the conversation back to herself. She may have smirked a little rolling her eyes skyward in mock frustration. Of course, Yin couldn't see that, and it was probably good that he couldn't.

"Everything is fine here, of course. The family is doing well, yes, as I'm sure Alexander will have told you if things were not."

Meanwhile, Alexander was raising his eyebrows at Yin, and holding out his hand to take the phone back. A pretty clear indication Yin should be saying 'goodbye' and letting Alex talk to his mom some more now. How could they have been on the phone for this long and only just started talking about the family?

With an inward sigh but an outward smile, Alex held the books, which were very precariously clutched against his chest out towards Yin. They were already slipping from his grasp as Yin held out his hands to catch them. Fei, taking Alex's leaning forward towards Yin as an open invitation to switch mounts, wiggled his tail end a little and pounced, grabbing ahold of Yin's shoulder with his small claws and digging in until he was comfortably perched.

He then held the phone up to his ear again. "Hello? Well, ya, I had to go and get some things so I just left Yin the phone while I was gone." Apparently she just believed that Alex had been standing their listening this whole time? Well, that might have made things easier for him if he had been. As it was, now, she had to explain the whole situation to him again.

Alex's face went carefully blank as she told him her compromise. He had actually planned on maybe getting Yin to talk to his mom to convince her that he needed his money again, but he had not expected this. He glanced over towards Yin, wondering if the weremantis had actually agreed to this new arrangement or if his darling mother had backed him into a corner. She was good at that, it seemed. And she knew he wouldn't argue with her. He needed the money now and couldn't really afford to prolong the negotiations any longer. Finally, he forced himself to smile, and sound absolutely positive and chipper when he said, "That's a great idea mom. Thank you for being so considerate." He knew he wasn't fooling his mother, but he might at least be fooling Yin.

Not really wanting to talk to her any longer, though she was now going on about how many seeds he might need per day to get by, he interrupted. "Actually, I'm quite busy now. Could I maybe call you back later to discuss this?" Later as in, once Yin had gone to sleep and Alex could go out into the hallway and argue out the finer details without his bonded watching on in horror as Alex and his mother had there little....disagreement.

"Okay, bye." He finished, drawing the phone away from his ear as the call automatically ended with his mom hanging up her end of the line.

"Well, shall we go then?" He asked Yin, glancing over to him after putting his phone away again into his pocket. He wasn't sure if Yin could manage hand holding at the moment, as laden down with books and vaisel as he was, so he didn't hold out his hand to offer.

Alex glanced over towards Yin, walking along side him as his hands made their way into his pockets as though by instinct. "Or I can spend as much time with you as I can now, uninterrupted, and call her back after you go to sleep?" He replied, with a large smile, one that was full of feigned innocence.

"I mean, that's what I'd prefer to do, anyways. If you'd rather I spent our time together chatting with my mother then I can give her a call back right now." He shrugged, still grinning, still teasing the other boil.

"And no, please don't do that. This arrangement is fine. I just need to hammer out the finer details with her is all. Thank you for doing this and for...well, for putting up with me." He smiled, no longer teasing, even as his hair fell in front of his eyes and he had to reach up and push it to the side again.

The continued along at Alex's pace, through the calm, still air. "Do you want me to read to you tonight, or do you need to read more of your Halloween history book? I can help with that too, if you'd like."