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Nathaniel was lying face first in the dirt, and continued to moan as his body relearned how to move. The first thing he did was roll over, but that was a mistake, because that thing was in his face talking to him, and asking if he needed any assistance.

What?

"Stay away from me." He snapped, as he groggily pushed himself up into a sitting position and eyed the creature curiously. Something he probably should have noticed before is that the creature smelt exactly like Alex's friend. What had mom called him again? A weremantis? Nathaniel didn't know what a mantis was, but he knew what being a were meant. "Oh, it's just you." He laughed a bit, though doing so hurt his ribs.

" My Mom's gonna kill you when she finds out you pushed me out a tree." Nathaniel pushed himself to his feet unsteadily, dirt and leaves sticking to the tacky blood that was on his hands, face, and shirt still, making him look rather a mess.

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Meanwhile Alex was wondering if Yin would be completely opposed to cuddle timez later. Except not really, because why in the world would Alex ever be thinking about that?

Nathaniel just gaped at the weremantis, then shrugged grudgingly. "Ya, ok, fine. I guess I'm not that hurt anyways. You know what? I'll let you get off this time" He grinned, though it didn't reach his eyes. This was not over between them, not by a longshot, as he began making his way back towards the house, wiping leaves and dirt off of his hands, face, and shirt as he went. Yin really didn't have anything to worry about, because the young zomboil, while angry, probably would never admit to anybody that the weremantis had gotten the better of him. He was hoping that threatening Yin with his mother would spark some kind of fear that he could use against him, but it hadn't appeared to do much of anything. Yin had pretty much reacted in the best way he possibly could have, the one that meant the least amount of trouble for him.

Alex was still just resting peacefully in his cozy tree nook, when Nathaniel went stumbling by. He eyed his brother wearily, noticing the dirt and the funny way he was walking, like he had been hurt. He lifted an eyebrow at that, and leaned forward. "Get in some trouble?" he asked, barely keeping his amusement hidden. Nathaniel just glared back at him.

"None of your jacking business, I'm just fine, leave me alone." He shot back, grumbling to himself as he continued through the tree's on his way to the house.

Alex just shrugged then leaned back in his tree again, a nagging feeling was telling him he should be a little bit worried that his brother had just come back from the direction Yin had taken off in, but he tried to ignore it. Yin wouldn't have done anything to hurt his brother, surely! Especially after Alex had told him it would be a bad idea.

It was a long while later before he heard movement again, and glanced up to see something that he hadn't seen since the madness at Christmas time. It startled him to start with, but then he told himself that it made sense for Yin to choose that form while hunting. Yin was carrying the corpse of a Hallow Deer in his grasp, and was now dropping it at Alex's feet. "Nice!" He said cheerfully, though Yin's natural form did unnerve him slightly. The last time he'd been like this in front of Alex he had been less then friendly, after all.

He leaned forward and stared after Yin as he disappeared into the bush, then pushed himself slowly to his feet eyeing the hallow deer carcass on the ground hungrily, but telling himself mentally to just leave it alone. It wasn't long before Yin was coming back, and now Alex noticed that he was covered in blood, and smelled...very tasty. He shook his head a little and answered, "I doubt my dad will come back empty handed, so this should be fine. He's probably on his way back now..it's been about two hours but he's generally late for everything."

Sounded a bit familiar, really.

That nagging feeling was still gnawing on the back of his mind though, so he blurted out the question that had been bothering him since he saw Nathaniel go by. "You didn't....did you run into my brother out there?"

Alex listened to Yin before replying. "Ya, he came by this way. I imagine he's back at the house now. Fell out of a tree? Really?" That didn't seem like something Nathaniel would do. Could the young boil even climb a tree? That was pretty interesting. Alex knew that Yin wouldn't lie to him, however, so he just nodded. "Well, I hope he's ok, I guess...I dunno, I'm sure the little gnome deserved it. Karma, you know?"

He had dug his hands into his pockets, wondering if his dad would be coming along soon. To check, he began to move towards Yin a bit, craning his head up and standing on his toes to see if he could spot his dads mass of messy brown curls anywhere. "Hm? Oh ya, sure, might as well. Mom would probably appreciate it, and I think you're her new favorite anyways." He grinned.

As he shuffled forwards a little more one of his skeletal toes caught on something, a root of a plant or a vine perhaps, and he was suddenly sent sprawling forward, his hands coming out of his pockets and one shooting out to grab a hold of the closest thing, which was Yin's blood covered shirt, and basically just pulling and falling into his friend somehow at the same time. As he stood there, clutching on to Yin, he could feel his face warming up slightly, though it probably wouldn't have been noticeable. He laughed a little nervously, and pushed away.

"Sorry about that." He mumbled, as he reached up to push back his hair, messing it up further before speaking again. "You know, I've been finished growing for some time now...when do you think my balance is going to improve?" He was trying to make light of the situation, though he felt thoroughly embarrassed with himself.

"Oh look, here comes my dad!" He caught the movement out of the corner of his eye, and pointed, then began to wave his arm in the air. "DAD! Over here!"

Yep, anything to not have to look at Yin right now.

Alex's waving came to an abrupt halt when Yin asked him to hold still. "Wha---" He started to say, turning towards Yin when suddenly Yin was reaching up with his thumb to brush it across Alex's cheek. He was already embarrassed by having just fallen into his friend, and now that friend was touching his face what the candle jack was going on?? His eyes had landed on Yin's, who wasn't looking back up into his but Alex continued to gaze at him anyways and then suddenly...

It was like the time that Michi had given him that quick, friendly kiss that first time. His brain was completely short circuiting, and he was just staring dumbly at Yin, not able to even able to break his gaze from his friends face. Dimly he was aware that he looked like a complete idiot, that Yin was going to catch him staring and wonder what the hell he was doing, and that his dad was coming.

In fact, his dad was right here, dropping a hallow deer on the ground with a thud that shocked Alex out of his current mental state and back into reality. His face, previously warm, now felt like it was burning up, and a very faint pink flush might have been visible beneath is normally grey/green pallor, as he finally looked away from Yin and up to his dad, who was clearing his throat and staring back at Alex with raised eyebrows. His dad never looked at him like that. His dad was not the smartest guy and could not normally put two and two together very easily but the way he was looking at Alex now spoke volumes.

Luckily the look didn't last long, as Alex was scrambling to say something, anything to explain away what his dad had just seen, but coming up blank every time and not able to come up with a damn thing. Alex himself still didn't even know what Yin had been doing, touching his face like that, and it was confusing, but his dad was speaking now, at Yin, and ignoring his son who was obviously a hopeless case at the moment.

"You caught one! Good! We can save it for tomorrow." He said cheerfully, the expression he had given to Alex melting away under a broad grin and cheerful eyes.

Alex just shook his head, his mouth firmly clamped shut since he didn't even trust himself to say anything at this point. He wandered back over to his tree and collapsed to the ground, scooting back inside the hollowed out portion as far as he could go. This would probably have been considered hiding, but Alex, at this point, refused to care.

His dad however, was nodding happily. "It put up a good fight." he then watched curiously, head tilting to watch as Yin began to carve through the skin of the corpse with his clawed finger. He even went so far as to kneel on the ground to get a better look. "No, don't save." He shrugged, though then he pointed at the intestines. "Can keep those, though. Alex, go and get a bag." He looked over at his son with a small frown, plainly unhappy with how lazy he was being, way over there hiding inside a tree of all things.

Alex just sighed, scooting back out and raising to his feet again before making his way back to the house.

He came back ages later with a large, clean, plastic bag, then knelt to the ground to start gathering up the entrails, heart, liver. His dad would have cracked the head open by now and removed the brain as well, which Alex also dumped in with everything else. If they'd started on the second deer, he would gather up all of that as well, his hands getting slick and slimy from all of the handling of the innards.

Once the entire process was completed, Alex tied the bag and slung it over a shoulder. He had remained silent through the entire gathering of parts, really not wanting to be around his dad right now, who so obviously knew what was going on with Alex right now. It was mortifying, to say the least, and he just wanted to get back to the house and do something else, anything else, right now.

Alex had started back towards the house before the other two, but they would have easily caught up to him at this point. His awkward clumsiness combined with the large plastic bag full of innards was testing, to say the least, and the zomboil had trouble keeping his balance with every second step. If any help was offered, he would just say "No thanks." and continue on until he reached the back door of the house. He unslung the bag from his shoulder so that he could reach out and open the door, but his mom got it open first and moved out of the way to usher them inside. She looked at the bag Alex had thoughtfully, before saying "Just take it to the walk in for now, there isn't any room in the fridge." So Alex obeyed, lifting the bag back up and heading straight across the kitchen towards the end with the cupboards and the fridge. There was an opening to the left of everything, a small hallway with a sliding door immediately to the right that Alex pushed open so that he could enter the large walk in cooler. Dumping the bag in the corner, he then waited for Yin at the door so that he could collect the deer from him, highly doubting that his friend would want to step foot in the very cold room.

When they came back out it was to Alex's mother looking at them both with her arms crossed over her chest. "You both need to shower. Well, Alex, you could probably get away with just washing your hands though I think we both know a shower, at this point, would be best for you. When was the last time you had one?" He chose not to answer that so she continued. "That's what I thought. Yǐn Cáng, do you have a change of clothing? I should wash the ones you are wearing for you. Alex can show you where the dirty clothes go, if he hasn't forgotten. Alex, I assume you also have clothes that need washing." She received a bit of a scowl in response. He was not in the mood for this right now.

"I actually brought my new clothes, so they aren't even that bad." He mumbled, but she just waved him off.

"Knowing you they're already a mess. Please put them in the laundry as well. I'll do what I can for them." and then, finally.

"Thank you for catching dinner, all three of you." She gave Alex a look that said that she appreciated the effort, at least, then made shooing motions with her hand. "I have things to do in here, so out you go."

Alex was trudging sullenly along after Yin, hands shoved in pockets as he stared at the floor.

"OH, Alex!" his mom shouted as he left the room. "Make sure you get that blood off of your face!"

Wait, blood? Alex looked up, and frowned, things finally clicking into place from earlier as he reached up a hand to where Yin had brushed his thumb against it earlier and feeling something dry, that flaked away at his touch. When he lowered his hand he could see that it was indeed dried blood. Is that what Yin had been doing? Trying to rub blood off of his face? Or had he actually been touching Alex's face for a different reason and just gotten blood on it in the process? Either way, Alex was just as confused as ever.

He caught up to Yin at the bottom of the stairs, and answered him quickly, "No no, there is only the one shower. Though if you use the one across from my bedroom I can always use the one off of my parents room. They wouldn't mind in the least." He grimaced though, not really wanting to have a shower in the least bit. Water...ughghhhh. His twin sisters were often hogging the bathroom across from Alex's room, so there were many occasions where his other sister or his brother had had to use the shower off of his parents room instead. Alex only bothered when his mom harassed him about it, like she had just done now.

"You really aught to just let my mom wash your clothes for you though, Yin. She's pretty persistent, and if anything will probably sneak in when you are asleep to take them and wash them. She likes things clean. Including me, unfortuantly." He sighed, then began to trudge up the stairs, making his way to a closet next to the bathroom. He could hear music blaring from his brothers room as he walked past, a clear indication that the young boil had made it back safely.

"Here are the towels." Alex grabbed one for himself, and a face cloth. If he was going to have to be clean he might as well do it right. "Soap and shampoo and all that good stuff is in the shower. We have a hot water tank, but it's small, so don't take too long or the water will just turn cold." Alex himself intended on a quick and cold shower, so he hoped Yin liked it hot.

"Need anything else? Can I show you where the dirty clothes go, or are you and my mom going to battle that one out?"

Alex gave his friend a strange look, "I told you there was a lo--" but his friend was hurriedly continuing on to say that he would leave his clothes for his mother to wash.

Well..that had been surprisingly easy. With a shrug he said, "Suit yourself," and began to shamble off towards his parents room, opening the door and scooting himself insid while shutting to door behind him with a click. He then wandered across the room to the right, where the bathroom was located, and went inside, setting down his towel and cloth on a stand while he very slowly stripped out of his clothes, untying his tie first, then unbuttoning his shirt, and finally, peeling off his pants. Everything he was wearing really was quite filthy, accept for the tie, he conceded to himself before stepping into the shower and turning on the blast of cold water with a shudder.

He tried to make things go as quickly as possible, but that was never very fast for Alex no matter how hard he tried. He used soap, he shampooed his hair, he rubbed the blood of off of his hands and arms and his face. It was difficult not to slip and fall in the shower with his skeletal leg always wanting to slide out from under him, but he somehow managed.

Exiting the shower was almost as slow a process as getting in, and he tripped over the edge, nearly going face first into the wall. He grabbed ahold of a towel bar to steady himself, but managed to put a dent in it accidentally.

Ooops.

Alex also hadn't had the forward thinking to grab any clothes out of his room before going to the shower, so after drying himself off as thoroughly as possible with the towel, giving the white mop of hair on his head a vigorous drying with the towel as well, he finally wrapped it around his much too skinny waist, twisting it into place so that it wouldn't fall down. He then turned to the mirror for an inspection, and noted that his face, as well as the rest of him, was clean as could be. Grabbing for a brush he ran it through his hair a few times, the water having actually tamed it to the point where it just hung down straight and wet, for the moment at least. He knew when it dried it would just floof out and be it's regular old mess again.

With one last forlorn sigh he gathered up his dirty clothes and made his way out of the bathroom, throwing his things into his parents dirty laundry basket before shuffling his way back towards his bedroom.

He didn't know why he wasn't expecting Yin to be in the room. Perhaps he'd forgotten that the other boil was staying in there so technically it was his room for the weekend and not Alex's. Either way, he had pushed open the door only to find Yin, standing shirtless, staring at the rows of ties in Alex's closet, while Alex stood there, tall and lean, in nothing but a towel, his hair wet and flattened to his head from the brushing.

"Oh, uh..sorry, but I just need to grab my clothes." Alex apologized, looking down at the floor and shuffling in the rest of the way to the room so he could get to the other half of the closet and his clothing. Oddly enough, he was more embarrassed and self conscious of his appearance at the moment because he was actually clean, and not because he was only wearing a towel."Do you mind, just...closing that for a second?" He asked, since the door had slid over to cover the half of closet that Alex needed to get into. "I don't mind you looking at them, but I need to get in here." He explained, pointing to the closet in front of him while still not looking at Yin and his..very shirtless self.