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Posted: Thu Apr 19, 2012 10:42 pm
Well....That had been rather abrupt! Alex just shrugged it off, however, hand closing around the eyephone that had been shoved back into his hand and sliding it back into his pocket before folding his arms across his chest and following Yin with his eyes as the other boil pulled off his shirt and headed towards the bed. "I..I won't be gone long." He said with a frown that Yin couldn't see. The weremantis had just made it sound so final 'if you would like to leave or not', as though Alexander wouldn't be coming back at all, which was pretty much a ridiculous notion to him.
Yin was already climbing into the bed, scooting over to his side near the wall when Alex finally responded, "Good night, Yǐn Cáng," With a soft murmur, before shuffling over to the bag of trash and grabbing a hold of it. Alex might leave his own room a mess, but he did know how to clean, and he did know that Yin liked to keep his room tidy. Besides, he was still trying to work off all the money he owed from what he had...borrowed. He then headed towards the door, opening it and heading out before closing it with a soft click behind him.
He knew the janitors trashbots would be by to pick up the trash, so he just left it sitting outside of the door before shuffling away, pulling his phone out of his pocket and turning it on, only to have his eyes widen in surprise to see what the most recent thing Yin had been doing on his phone was. Oh dear jack. This was...slightly mortifying. Yin must not have looked, though, or really cared much if he had, or he surely would have said something, or even blushed.
It seemed like he did that blushing thing a lot, especially when Alex was anywhere near him.
In any case, he quickly deleted the spam email, before turning the camera back on, and going through the roll of pictures to delete most of the practice shots that had been taken. He left the one of his foot, though. It was a good looking foot! He then spent the next hour or so wandering around aimlessly, taking a picture of himself from time to time, though he felt a little bit silly doing so. He wasn't a professional photographer! Though some of the pictures didn't look half bad.
Eventually, when enough time had passed and the zomboil was just getting incredibly bored, he wandered back to Yin's room, slipping back in as silently as he could, though that wasn't very quiet. He shuffled over to the bed, looking down at Yin's sleeping form for a time. Well, he assumed he was sleeping, anyways, before gently making his way into the bed himself. He made sure Yin looked well and covered with the blanket before putting an arm around the boil, though he kept distance between their bodies, always worried that he might make the other boil too cold.
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Posted: Fri Apr 20, 2012 12:25 am
Yin opened an eye to watch him taking out the bag of trash, a small smile playing across his face. So Alexander could learn after all. At least he was not the only one. Still, if he was alone he might as well sleep. Princess Eva was determined not to leave his side either. She was curled up and he turned to his side so he could curl around her and stroke her fur as she began to drift off, not even worried about the vaisels that could take care of themselves.
Like this, perfectly content and in a real bed, it was no time at all before he was asleep. Accustomed to sleeping through all sorts of distractions he really did not wake up even when Alexander made his way into the room. If he had been awake, considering the lecture Alexander's mother had forced him to endure, he might have protested a bit.
As it was, he was not aware of that arm around him until he slowly woke up, back oddly cool. At some point in the night he must have tried to shift back onto his back, only to be thwarted by the zomboil being so close behind him. Subconsciously he must have decided to stay that way, leaning back into him. But even as he awoke he did not pull awake, leaving his eyes closed for just a moment longer, enjoying the fact that they were not in hammocks for once as he mentally gathered his thoughts.
Staying still and not doing anything was not something he was really good at so it was only a scant moment before he was shifting away and opening his eyes, Princess Eva lifting her head to watch him as he fully sat up, stretching and popping his back in the process. "Good morning," he half spoke, half yawned.
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Posted: Fri Apr 20, 2012 10:57 am
Alex was trying not to let the lecture his mother had given Yin bother him too much, or worry that now the weremantis was going to be even more uncomfortable with any physical affection then he was before. He had kissed Alexander's hand, after all. That amounted to something, at least. And so, he had no shame in throwing his arm around the other boil, just a small worry, as usual, that he would make Yin too cold and be forced to stop and roll away from him. But this is how it usually was, and Yin had yet to complain about it.
It wasn't long before Alexander had closed his eyes, and drifted off to...somewhere. Wherever it was he went when he 'meditated' or hit his mode of stasis. There was just no thought, no movement, no worries or emotions. It was like he was completely dead, and not a living corpse.
At some point in the night, Yin had moved, and that had brought Alexander back into a more conscious state. The weremantis was leaning into him, though he knew there was no way that had been on purpose. Likely the other boil had just tried to move in his sleep but Alexander had been in his way. He debated moving, scooting further over to allow the weremantis some space to position himself as he wished but...well, this was awfully nice, if not maybe a bit too warm for his liking. It was comfortable, it felt right. Besides, what if moving away made Yin wake up? He didn't want that. So, with a small smile, and without moving an inch, Alex closed his eyes again.
It wasn't until morning, when Yin was pulling away from him, that Alex's eyes snapped open once more. As Yin sat up, Alex rolled onto his back, pushing himself up onto his elbows and lifting one hand to run through his mop of messy white and black hair. "Good morning." Alex replied, his voice it's usual low hoarseness after hours of disuse. At some point in the night, Fei had jumped up onto the bed and was curled up around Alex's feet, barely even acting disturbed by the zomboils movements. It was surprising, once again, to see how much the little guy had grown. Blinking his pale grey eyes slowly, he pulled his feet out from under the vaisel, which earned him eyes opening up into a narrow, blue, glare.
Shaking his head slightly with a smirk, Alex finally pushed himself up into a full sitting position, bringing his knees up to his chest and stretching his arms out before letting them drop down to his sides. "Sooooo..." He started, gaze falling on Yin. "Any plans for today?"
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Posted: Fri Apr 20, 2012 12:51 pm
Yin's back still felt oddly stiff, as if the cold has seeped into the muscles and partially frozen them, but probably nothing that a bit of exercise would not work out. He glanced down at Fei, and suddenly felt a slight pang of guilt for Lady Terror. But apparently she was curled up in Princess Eva's bed with Da Li. Probably at some point he should find a second or larger bed...it was really too small for four pets. Five if his lammit decided to use it, though it often seemed to disappear, which was hard in a room with extremely little furniture.
He twisted to face the zomboil a bit more, one hand going on the bed behind him to support him. "I have been looking forward to coming back and being able to train again," for it being so early in the morning he managed to sound rather cheerful. Yes, his body was ready for it. First a nice set of stretches, then a full routine of tai chi, no skimping. After that he would go on a nice run around the entire campus. Later he would go to the gym for some training against a simple practice dummy, nothing too stressful. Then to conclude more stretching and a nice cooling walk back to take a shower. Perfection.
"Was there anything that you wanted to do today? I will be free this afternoon and evening but if you had something for this morning I could do my training later." Did he sound wistful at the idea of pushing it off? Yes, yes he did. But he would do it, and that was what was important. Right?
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Posted: Fri Apr 20, 2012 3:18 pm
Alex tried not to let the extreme distaste show on his face when Yin gave him a run down of what his morning was going to be like. Work, exercise, work, training, work. They had just gotten back from a week of doing tons of physical activity! Why would Yin not just want a day to relax?
Oh right, because it was Yin.
Alex opened his mouth to answer Yin's question back to him, but then closed it with a frown. He was going to say that he planned on doing nothing all morning. That he might read a book, or play around on his scraptop. He might even decide to just lay in bed all day and stare up at the ceiling, only moving when he felt like indulging in several large helpings of leftover food.
But no, that didn't seem right. There were other things he could be doing. Things that, to be quite honest with himself, he should most definitely be doing. With an inward sigh he spoke. "Well, I suppose I should start working off that money that I took. Did you have any chores you would like me to do this morning while you're out? Or is there anything you might need help with during your training? I can take a hit, if you need a moving target to practice on." He didn't say sparring, because he was really not in the mood to be fighting Yin back. Things tended to either go too far or get a little out of hand when they fought.
Of course, if Yin wanted to wrestle and teach him any new pins, he wouldn't be opposed to that course of action either.
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Posted: Fri Apr 20, 2012 7:13 pm
To Yin? That was relaxing. He was looking forward to it more and more with each passing moment. In fact, he was moving around Alexander so that he could stand up and start his stretches, loosening up his muscles as Alexander though things over. What he finally decided on was not anything that Yin had expected, and he had to think about it for a while.
To be honest he had not expected to have to even think about this during their days off. And he really could not think of much this early in the morning. Well, one thing came to mind, but he was not so sure that it really went along with being a chore worth working off his debt. It was really more of something for him rather than Alexander's mother, but at least it would be something?
"No, I would not use another for target practice," that he had to say first because really, what was Alexander even thinking offering that. "There is something that could be useful? I think that with so many pets in the room they may need an additional bed to sleep in or perhaps a cushion. There are supply closets with furniture so perhaps you could look for one while I am out?" Did he mention that gnomes might make Alexander do work while he tried to find the closets?
Nope.
Then again, there was a chance they would just take him there without duping him as they had Yin.
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Posted: Fri Apr 20, 2012 11:32 pm
Alex was probably thinking that getting beat on by Yin all morning was a much better alternative then working off the money he owed, but now we will never know.
"Supply closets?" He blinked in confusion, obviously he was not expecting to be put on mini pet bed finding duty. He thought Yin would make him wash walls or sweep floors or maybe even possibly clean his room, which was, quite frankly, still a disgusting mess even all this time after Yin had first gone in there and made a small start in tidying up. Well, this certainly sounded easier then cleaning, so he gave Yin a large grin.
"Ya okay, no problem!" He replied, scooting himself to the edge of the bed and pushing himself to his feet. When he was finished he could always head back to his room for the remainder of the morning and relax, since their was absolutely no way this was going to take longer then an hour, tops.
Oh how little he knew about what Yin was getting him into.
"So I guess we'll just meet back here for lunch then." He smiled, as he made his way to the door. "Have fun, Yin." He finished, before he left.
Alex was late getting back.
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Posted: Sat Apr 21, 2012 12:12 am
Well, at least Alexander liked this sort of thing. And really, he had been around campus enough to know about gnomes. Doing a chore or two would not hurt anyone. Certainly nothing that would last.
Probably.
So Yin just agreed to meet back at the room and told him to have a good day as he began his tai chi.
Everything else went smooth as silk. Sure, he may have pulled a muscle, but that just meant that he was challenging himself. Pushing himself to new heights. And it was nothing in the long run. He went back to his room the long way, slipping into the forest and shifting, spending a bit of time roaming, not hunting, just enjoying his natural form. Then he slipped back in through his window (who really needed to lock a window on the second floor?) and got his things to go take a shower.
He had been mildly surprised to get back to his room and not see Alexander. But when he came back from his shower and the zomboil still was not there definitely surprised him. He took the time to meditate, glad that he finally had the peace of his room to do so. Then he played with the vaisels and threw a wadded up bit of one of his already rather frayed bandages for Da Li to fetch, which she partially did, though far too often she just settled in to chew on the cloth.
He was beginning to get worried by the time the zomboil showed up. When the door open he had a lap full of rabo so he called out. "Alexander?"
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Posted: Sat Apr 21, 2012 12:27 am
Alexander may have been in a bit of a miffed mood when he finally returned to the bedroom, after having been given the run around by gnomes, bloody jacktarded gnomes, all jack damned morning. Really the zomboil should have known better then to try and make a deal with them, or compromise with them, or even talk to them at all. But he hadn't known where these furniture supplies closets even were, so he had gone to simplest source to get his answer, and they had given him one.
Though not the right one. Never the right one.
Alexander had spent half of his morning on a wild goose chase, or doing meaningless chores to gain the information he needed. Had Yin known that this was going to happen? Probably. The entire ordeal made perfect sense now. This was punishment for something. For stealing the money, or for the lecture Alexander's mom had given him, or for teaching him to use his phone...something. It was something. It had to be something.
Once the supplies closets had been successfully found, it was even more trouble to locate what he was looking for, and again, for the gnomes to give him what he wanted. They weren't about to let him just walk away with a minipet bed. They wanted payment. He couldn't fathom how they figured he owed them anything, considering none of these things belonged to them, but he finally relented, and they had grinned their mischievous, ugly, gnomey grins, and he was sent on even more chores before they were finally appeased.
It was at least a couple of hours past the time Alex was supposed to return to Yin's room before he finally stumbled through the door, his clothes wrinkled and dirty, his hair a tangled mess, his cheeks slightly pink to show that he was flushed. But he clutched in his hands the stupid pet bed, a light brown one (who cared what color it was??), and he had to fight not to land a steady glare on Yin when he came through the door, and smiled instead, though it was perhaps the fakest smile he had ever mustered.
"Yep, it's me. Back from the wonderful task you set for me, finally." Was he being slightly facetious? Maaaayyybe. Probably more like sarcastic.
"How was your morning?" He grumbled, obviously less then happy as he shuffled over to where the other pet bed was and dropped this one beside it.
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Posted: Sat Apr 21, 2012 12:53 am
So maybe gnomes in the monster dormitories were even more unhelpful to non-monsters. How was Yin to know? He figured they would just have Alexander do some task or another and that would be that. They had pretty well always helped him out after one or two tasks, and did not give him a complete and utter run-around.
Live and learn.
But really, Yin probably would have still set him on the same task regardless if he had known. The task might have been worth a bit more though if he had only known. But most of Alexander's appearance could be attributed to searching through dusty closets for something that would be a bit difficult to find. Alexander's face looked odd, almost as if he was gritting his teeth and his color was off a bit. "Oh you found one!" He was a bit excited really.
Alexander did not sound quite as excited, but he said the task was wonderful. Who was Yin to argue? "It was great, the training kept me in good shape last week. I hope the gnomes did not give you too much trouble, they normally ask for a task or two to help you find the right place but then you can just take what you want!" Radiating innocence? Probably not, but there might have been a faint glow.
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Posted: Sat Apr 21, 2012 1:34 am
Alexander nodded, though he was having difficulty not kicking the small brown bed across the room at this point. Fei was winding his way around Alex's ankles, before making his way over to the newest addition to the bedroom and sniffing at it, his nose wrinkling slightly as he got a nice healthy dosage of dust up in his nasal cavity, causing him to sneeze several times.
"Uh..It may need cleaning.." He turned towards Yin on the bed with Princess Eva in his lap before shuffling closer and dropping down beside him, placing his hands palm down on his own knees. He listened to Yin give a small recount of his morning, before straigetening up and blinking down at the weremantis in surprise.
A task or two? A task..or two??That..just...No. But Yin wasn't kidding. The weremantis hardly ever made jokes, and he looked quite sincere. And blissfully innocent as well.
Alex may need to kill a few gnomes later.
But instead of saying anything, he just looked down, staring at the grime that was covering the backs of his hands. "I should shower. I'm probably getting everything dirty." From the looks of Yin, the other boil had already had a shower himself. "Do you happen to have a towel or something I could borrow?" Again, this reminded Alexander of something, but he didn't really want to broach the subject, afraid of how the conversation might go. In fact, his time searching through dusty storage closets had given Alex time to think of all sorts of questions he wanted to ask the other boil, though he had no idea when would be the right time to bring any of them up.
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Posted: Sat Apr 21, 2012 1:46 am
The real question at this point was if the bed was actually light brown or simply that caked with grime. Yin was debating how to clean it (probably shake it outside of the window and try to wash the worst off and then soak and scrub it before letting it dry) as Alexander sat down. He was also blissfully innocent to the possible gnome massacre that was being plotted just centimeters from him.
Alexander was offering to shower? Well, Yin was not going to do anything to stop him. If he had known it might be effective he probably would have asked Alexander to join him a time or two. But so far as a towel went....well the scrap that he used was probably still too wet to be in any way effective, but he gave it some thought. "I do not, but one of my shirts should be relatively clean and dry so you can just use that and I shall wash it later." He stood up to go get it, knowing that it would work in a pinch, though not entirely sure that the zomboil would appreciate the offer really. But so long as the job got done he was not worried about it.
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Posted: Sat Apr 21, 2012 9:55 am
It might have been effective, but it more then likely would not have been. It would have been mind boggling to Alex to find out that Yin would have been fine with showering together, considering his feelings about physical contact, and considering the talk he had gotten from Alex's mother the night before. He wouldn't do it, of course, and not just because he despised showering. Getting naked in front of Yin was just not something he was prepared to do, even if it didn't bother the other boil. It was a matter of...privacy. Not at all to do with the fact that Alexander was actually quite shy about it. Nope.
"Oh, well I don't want to ruin any of your clothes..." Yin's clothes? They were all pretty much ruined as it was. The boil really needed new things. Alexander stood up from the bed, dust coming off of him even as he moved towards Yin, hesitating before reaching out and taking the shirt. Add towels to the list of things Yin needed. Did Alex have any in his room? No, generally he just borrowed things or used what was available in the communal showering area. He didn't know that the monster dorms kept up with such supplies, however, and the last thing he wanted was to be soaked and then air dry. The water needed to come off as quickly as it went on or he would just smell like a damp dead thing instead of a dry one.
"Okay well..uh...thanks.." He smiled, though he still wasn't quite comfortable with this. Shambling away, he went off to commit himself to the torture shower.
When he returned, he was still using the shirt to dry off his hair. He had beaten the dust out of his clothing the best that he could before slipping them back on, a little disgruntled that even after showering he was still just going to be wearing dirty things. Did he have clean clothes in Yin's room? Probably cleaner then what he was wearing at the moment, surely! He pushed his way back into the room, and balled Yin's shirt up in his hands before tossing it towards the other boil, not really even bothering to check that the weremantis was paying any attention before doing so. He then moved towards the bed, the only place to sit in the room that wasn't the floor, and collapsed on to it.
"Is it lunch time yet?" He asked, knowing full well that it was well beyond the time that he would have normally been eating.
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Posted: Sat Apr 21, 2012 11:46 am
Obviously inappropriate things were done in beds only. Obviously. And so long as pants stayed on (in bed) everything would be fine. At least Yin understood the main points?
Alexander left to go shower, which, considering the time it would take him to get there and back, left Yin with a bit of time to do something and nothing really to do. With some bit of resignation he picked up something that he positively dreaded. The library book. Really, he just had a few more pages left and he could be free of the damn thing. He just...he had the sinking suspicion that Alexander would find another for him. But at least he knew what boogeymen were now?
He was on the very last page, trying his best to ignore the sounds of the door opening and just finish the book, when a mostly soaked bit of clothing smacked into his head and dropped down, narrowly missing the book and only caught from falling on the ground by Yin's reflexes. He set the book aside, less than half a page left, and began walking over to the sink as Alexander sat down so he could rinse out the shirt, wring it out, and hang it up to dry.
Because he had meditated he was not feeling particularly starved, but he could stand to eat. And surely just by judging how many things he had done it was time to eat. "Yes, would you mind getting the food out while I finish with this?" When he was done he made his way over to the bed, sitting down and eyeing the containers before selecting a cockatrice leg and beginning to feed.
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Posted: Sat Apr 21, 2012 12:07 pm
Obviously Yin was very naive, but since Alexander didn't spend all day every day trying to find ways to do inappropriate things to the other boil it wasn't even an issue to worry about anyways.
"Ya, sure." He said, before moving to where ever it was in the room that the containers were currently being stored and carrying the stack over towards the bed. "So you're finished with it now?" Alex nodded towards the library book. What had it been, four months? That wasn't terrible, considering how much he knew Yin struggled with reading. He would have gladly sat down and read the entire thing out loud to the other boil if he had ever asked, though. He began placing the containers on the bed, taking off the lids and stacking them carefully off to one side. It would all be cold now, so would not be nearly as delicious as it had been the night before, but food was food, and this food was not rats or spiders, though he had a feeling that's what he might be getting for dinner later.
Alex waited for Yin to join him before he started eating, though oddly enough he wasn't even nearly as hungry as he normally would be, and he took his time choosing out different things to eat. He had questions, but they were questions he was not sure Yin would be comfortable answering, or if he would think Alex was some kind of creeper for asking. But Yin had said that Alexander could ask questions about the mantodae and he would try and answer them, so he swallowed what was in his mouth and said. "So, how long will it be before you are an adult?" This was seriously just for curiosities sake, the zomboil had absolutely no other ulterior motives. He had tried to learn things about Yin without asking him directly, had read things about regular mantises to try and get an idea, but Yin was not just a mantis. He was a weremantis. There was a huge difference.
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