Welcome to Gaia! ::

As Yin finally removed himself from on top of Alex's body, the tension that had been coursing through him relaxed a level, and he was able to push himself up, and off of the bed.

Though he did wonder just how long his Mother had been standing on the other side of the door before she had knocked and announced her presence.

Reaching up to push his stupid fluffy hair back out of his eyes, Alex just nodded at Yin. His friend was just so happy, smiling at Alex as though nothing had just occurred and it was like a knife through the chest. Somehow, Alex managed to smile back, even though he felt far from happy, and answered, "Ya sure, I'll just be on my way then." Before shuffling slowly from the room, opening the door and closing it behind him.

As he made his way down the hallway and towards the stairs, he tried to not think about anything. This weekend was going to be trying enough without getting his uncontrollable emotions into the mix. Tomorrow was going to be a big day, and a busy one, and he was going to have to look out for Yin the entire time to make sure nothing happened to him. Today was supposed to be the easy day, the fun day without having to worry about anything. He kept reminding himself that as he made his way down the stairs.

Yin caught up with him before he even reached the bottom, and he gave his friend another big smile, even if the feeling wasn't behind it. He didn't want Yin to think anything was wrong, after all.

They made their way to the kitchen, where all the dishes were located, and Alex kept himself silent the entire way, lost in his own deeply personal thoughts. He wandered over to the cupboard that held the plates and began taking them out, ending up with a stack of five. Were they going to need knives and forks? He wasn't really sure, but he nodded towards the drawer anyways. "Might as well grab three sets of cutlery, four if you want any for yourself." Alex was opting to just use his fingers, but he knew his mom preferred to use a knife and fork most of the time, which meant his dad probably would too. He didn't know about Nathaniel or Yin.

Alex's mom was in the kitchen, finishing up the last few things for the meal, and Alex's Dad and little brother were already seated in the dining room, waiting, as Alex entered with the plates and began putting them down in each spot that they would be sitting at the table. He noticed that his brother was glowering in Yin's direction, so he reached out to smack his brother on the back of his head as he'd done earlier that day, giving the young boil a warning look, before moving around the table to sit in the chair next to his dad, but on the opposite side from his brother. That left the seat on the other side of the table next to his dad open, or the one next to Alex.

Alex's brother was glowering at Alex, Alex was glowering back, and Alex's dad was sitting with a big face splitting grin on his face as he thought it was quite nice to have his oldest son back again.

Alex's mom, however, was still in the kitchen when Yin returned, and she graced him with a warm smile at his question. "As a matter of fact, if you don't mind helping me take in the food, that would be most helpful." She gestured towards a very large plate that was covered in cubes of hallow deer meat wrapped in piggle bacon (the cubes with bacon were very very lightly cooked, mostly to bring out the flavor a little). She herself scooped up another plate stacked high with a small mountain of steaks, some of which looked like they had been lightly cooked as well, others were completely raw.

They carried the food into the dining room and set it down. She gave Alex a small smirk and said, "Really Alex, he can come back anytime he wants. You don't even have to come along with him." She probably would have given Yin a light pat on the back, but she was being mindful of how he felt towards ghouls and refrained, pulling out the chair next to her husband and sitting down.

Once everyone was seated, she nodded, an indication that the could begin whenever they felt like it.

Alex and Nathaniel immediatly both went for the same raw steak sitting on top of the pile, Alex with his fingers, and Nathaniel stabbing down with a fork that actually caught part of Alex's finger. "Ow!" Alex hissed, pulling his hand back while Nathaniel lifted the steak to his plate with a satisfied smirk, even going so far as to stick his tongue out at Alex.

"Ah it is good to be able to sit and eat as a family again." His mother chimed, while using a fork and knife to lift a steak off of the pile to place on her husbands plate before getting another for herself.

Alex just rolled his eyes and reached out to grab some the bacon wrapped meat cubes instead, grasping a handful and dumping them on his plate before popping one in his mouth to chew up and swallow. "Thank you mom, it's delicious, as usual" he smiled, grabbing two to shove into his mouth this time.

Alex's dad reached over to give his wife a rub on the back with one large hand before picking up his knife and fork to begin "Yes, thank you." He said happily, before carving into the steak slowly and meticulously.

Alex was happily chewing on the delicious meaty goodness that he had put on his own plate when Yin suddenly dumped a raw steak on there. He glanced over to the weremantis, somewhat surprised, but smiling in appreciation. "Thanks buddy." He said. Any weirdness he'd been feeling from the events upstairs gone as he went into his happy place of food, food, and more food. He lifted up the steak with two hands and started to devour it, trying to keep in mind that his mom would likely tell him off if he got anymore blood stains on his shirt then were already on it.

Since everyone else was using cutlery, and Alex was not, the zomboil was actually able to finish his own food much faster then everyone else and was grabbing for seconds, helping himself to another handful of cubed and wrapped up meat and another steak.

Alex's dad was nearly as slow as Yin with the steak cutting. It was obvious from glances towards Alex that he would rather be eating with his hands as well, but he knew his wife would disapprove so he continued to work deligently with his knife and fork.

Nathaniel was actually nearly finished and was eyeing up the next steak he was planning on spearing, not even remotely interested in the cubed beef it seemed.

Since nobody else was speaking, and Alex's mom considered dinner time to be the time for family discussions, she spoke between small bites of food. "So Yǐn Cáng, how are things at Amityville? There have been so many things on the news regarding problems with the school, but Alexander only chooses to tell me what he thinks I need to know but not what I wish to know." She gave her son a significant look that said 'I know all your secrets. Don't even try to hide them from me.' "Are you finding your time their to be an enjoyable one?"

Alex beamed happily as though to say 'see mom, I told you everything was fine.' but then continued to devour his steak, which was quickly becoming empty air. He really couldn't figure out why everyone didn't just eat with there hands. His mom kept giving him disapproving looks, but they had had this argument many times before. If she didn't like how he ate, he would just take is food to his room and eat in private, and she knew that.

Nathaniel snagged himself another steak, and Alex grabbed another shortly afterwards, once he was sure the younger zomboil was too absorbed in his eating to stab at Alex's hand again.

Alex's dad continued to do what he was doing in silence.

Alex's mom just nodded to Yin's response, taking another bite of her steak as he spoke and swallowing before speaking again. "It sounds as though I have nothing to worry about then. I have to tell you it's hard not knowing what is happening over there, with all of the rumors we have been hearing. Alex is the only one of our expansive family attending the school, surprisingly. Most of the other zombies his age, in our family, would prefer to be home schooled instead so that they don't have to leave the horde."

This was another argument Alex and his mother had battled out in the past. Alex knew there was nothing more he could learn at home, however, and had eventually convinced his mom of that before he had been allowed to enroll at the academy.

He quickly finished his third steak, and said "Yes, that's true, but they're just obviously not as clever or intelligent as me, mom," he joked, wiping at his blood stained mouth with the back of a hand and wondering if he should eat more or if he'd satisfied his cravings enough for now.

"Anyways, I'm glad I went. If I hadn't, I might not have made such a great friend. Right, Yin?" He smiled at the other boil, almost wishing for some kind of indication that Yin felt more then just..friendly. But he knew that was just hopeful thinking and thoughts like that were bound to just cause him more pain so it was best to not think about it.

Alexander's mom continued to nod, lips pursed in thought as she slowly ate one small bite after another. Her gaze shifted towards her son, a questioning look in her eyes as one eyebrow arched upwards. Alex knew what she was asking without her even saying anything.

"No, none of them were born in halloween with an actual set of parents that I know of yet, except for maybe Rain and Shine..but I haven't gotten to know them well enough to have that information." He admitted grudgingly. He knew where his mom was going with this. None of those zombies had as many family attachments as Alex did, so they were really incomparable to Alex's situation.

Nathaniel, however, chose to focus on something else. "A zombghoul? Does Alex have a ghoulfriend?" He cried in a sing song voice, and Alex shot him a withering glare, but that didn't stop his brother. "A ghoulfriend, a ghoulfriend, Alex has a ghoulfriend~"

Alexander's mom and dad exchanged a look, Alex's mom with a small smile that she hid behind her hand, his dad grinning openly. They both knew that Alex did not have a ghoulfriend, and they both could guess at why. Alex had actually told his mom about his failed date with Michi over the phone just before coming home as well.

Alex had to think about who Yin might be referring to. Not Rain or Shine, since he hadn't been there when the witch zombie had come very, very close to tearing apart his chest, the hunter zombie having stopped her before she could do any damage. Alex had yet to actually meet Sammy, who was Siddies ghoulfriend, even though he and Siddie had talked about an introduction way back when Alex first came to the school.

That only left one other zombghoul Alex could think of, the over-dramatic and flirtatious Angenora. "Ya, Angenora is pretty nice." He shot his brother another cold glare. "But she is most definitely not my ghoulfriend."

Alex had decided he'd had enough to eat, and since there were so many leftovers so far could probably snack on some later on if he got another craving for food, so he pushed his plate away.

Everyone so far seemed to be too polite to say anything or to stare openly at Yin's attempts to use a knife and fork. Alex's brother might have, but he was being ignorant and hadn't even noticed.

"His own horde." Alex's mom said bemusedly, smiling softly at the weremantis. "I suppose he could at that."

Yin might have been eager to leave the table, but Alex, on the other hand, was quite content to sit there and just be around his family for a change, rather then in his room alone with the weremantis. Being alone in a room with him was proving to be just...weird. Possibly that was all Alex's fault for getting too hung up on things that the weremantis said or did. But at least here with his family felt safe, and it was distracting, and he could be comforted by the nearness of other members of his horde.

Alas all good things had to come to an end, and as Alex and Yin sat in silence on the other side of the table, clearly finished eating, Alex's mom chimed in once again. "Why don't you two clear up your plates and go and have some..fun." She smiled and blinked innocently at Alex, and he just gave her a flat stare back. Yep, she definitely knew something. Great.

Alex answered her as cheerfully as he could manage. "I have some homework I could be doing, I guess." But the look he was still giving his mom was clearly unhappy. She was just smiling back, enjoying herself way too much.

Alex was then pushing back his chair, grabbing for his empty plate and standing up to take it to the kitchen sink, where he dumped it unceremoniously, turning towards Yin. "Do you have any homework to do? I can probably help you with it, since I don't really have much, and will be finished mine in no time"

Alex slowly made his way up the stairs after Yin, practically pulling himself up using the handrail rather then just...lift his feet a little bit higher. Once at the top, he asked, "Meditation?" Of course he had heard of meditation, even read about it, but he was trying to make conversation and let Yin give his own explanation of what it was. He shambled slowly down the hallway and waited while Yin opened the door before going in himself.

And was, once again, hit with a blast of heat that made him sigh inwardly. He kept forgetting that the stupid heater was in this room and it was just, not at all like the comfortable coolness of the rest of the house for the zombie. As Yin continued to talk about the book he was reading -Chapter four? That was it??- he said something that made Alex look at him incredulously.

"Wait..what? You...you don't know who Jack Skellington is? How is that even..." He shook his head. "They seriously didn't teach you who Jack Skellington is back where you are from? He's the most famous historical figure of Halloween ever to exist!" This..this was a travesty. Not only was Jack Skellington famous, he was also an Undead, which was pretty much just made him Alex's ultimate idol. Frowning in thought, he wandered over to his closet, sliding the door open once again, and looking for something in particular. He finally reached in and pulled out a tie that had an image of Jack Skellington on it. Alex had bought the tie more for the collection value then something he would actually wear, but he held it up in front of Yin.

"You're actually telling me that you don't know who this is?"

Alex was...disappointed? Upset? Incredulous? Probably all of the above. How could Yin have never been taught about the most famous Halloween denizen ever? It just seemed incredibly wrong, and he lowered his arm, just shaking his head to himself and going back to the closet to hang the tie back up with the others. It was just so ridiculous it was unbelievable, and Alex didn't know what he could even say.

"Well, that's just...that kind of sucks, Yin. So you don't know about Jack, or Sally? Nothing about the day that Halloween kidnapped Sandy Claws and took over Christmas?" He had some hope that his friend had at least heard of these things, but it wasn't much. He walked over to his bookshelf, and began reading the titles, several volumes of which were dedicated to Jack Skellington, biographies or otherwise. There were just so many of them...

"You know what, I guess it's not that bad." He admitted grudgingly. "You'll get to know all about him now, right?" He smiled, though on the inside he was practically crying. There was one book in his shelf, one that he had since childhood, called 'A Christmas Nightmare'. It was a small book, with big letters and lots of pictures. A children's book, really, but he had saved it because it was the first book that was ever given to him. He pulled it out now, the cover had a cartoonish picture of Jack Skellington in a red Sandy Claws suit. He looked at the cover with some amount of fondness, but then walked over to Yin and held it out to him.

"Take this. I--I want you to have it. You can keep it, I have too many books anyways."