Welcome to Gaia! ::

It had been a week, and on Tombday evening Alex had paced his room, wondering if he was supposed to go and see his best friend now, or if he was supposed to wait until Webday. The week itself had been torturous. Alex had no idea how much he'd taken what time he spent with Yin on a regular basis for granted. A week, forcing himself to stay away from the other boil....it was a week he never wanted to experience ever again. And yet, on this Tombday evening, why was he not grabbing his skateboard and heading out the door on his way to the monster dorms? Was he still that frightened of what was going to happen?

The answer was mixed, as were all of Alexanders feelings on this entire ordeal. He was a little bit afraid, but with that fear was anticipation and anxiety. He knew what his answer was going to be, but he didn't know what Yin's was going to be. The fact that the weremantis was taking things into consideration at all still dumbfounded Alex, who had expected nothing less then to be told get away from the mantodae and never speak to him again. Yin had told him that he didn't know if he could trust him anymore, and that if Alex did anything untrustworthy again, he would never forgive him. In Alex's mind, he'd broken that trust by keeping how he really felt all of this time a secret.

But what Yin had seemed most concerned about, was time. He had just wanted time, to think things over, and for Alex to do the same. Alex realized that this was a commitment that he shouldn't take lightly, and that Yin fully expected that if Alex accepted, this was for forever.

Forever with Yin? No matter how much Alex had tried to find something bad about that idea, he couldn't. Sure they didn't always see eye to eye about things, and Yin perhaps took words that Alex said a little too literally at times but...those were small things, and they made Yin who he was. Everything about Yin was the opposite of Alex, and they actually had very little in common but..he couldn't see that as a bad thing, either. It just made things interesting, if anything. And as silly and cliche as it was, Yin made Alex want to be better, and that was never a bad thing, was it?

In the end, he decided not to leave his room, not because he hadn't made his own decision (which really, he had probably made on his walk back to his dorm last Tombday evening), but because he wanted to make sure Yin had all the time he possibly needed to make his. One more night couldn't hurt. He could get through just one more night.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The next day was a blur of frazzled nerves and headaches as Alex went through his daily routine of classes, and trips to the cafeteria and library. Everywhere he went he was sure that he would probably run into Yin around the next corner, but he never did. In fact, he hadn't even caught a glimpse of the other boil all week long, which was a little nerve wracking in itself. What if Yin had left the school completely? Had what Alex told him last week been too much and the other boil had run? His chest tightened in panic at the thought, but he forced himself through the rest of his classes, and finished the day.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

That evening found him standing, finally, outside of Yin's dorm room door. His hair was clean, and just the slightest bit damp from the shower he had taken a couple of hours before. His clothes were clean, not unstained, but clean in the freshly washed sense. He had two brown paper bags gripped in his left hand, and he had been standing outside of that door for what seemed like an eternity. Steeling himself with a deep breath that he didn't even need, he lifted his free hand and knocked against the door.

There was no immediate answer, but he was almost positive he could hear movement in the room..and then a yipping noise that he was sure could only be Princess Eva.

Well, if Princess Eva was still here, then Yin must be too, right? Though if Yin wasn't in his dorm, Alex really had no idea what he should do now. Yin had told him that he kept his door unlocked and Alex could stop in whenever he wanted, but that was..before Alex had confessed his feelings to Yin. Did the offer still stand? He reached for the door handle, hesitated, and then turned the knob and pushed the door open partially, peeking inside.

This felt strangely like Alex was breaking in to Yin's room, and it made the zomboil feel extremely uncomfortable. Perhaps he should just close the door and sit in the hallway....

The loud and demanding 'yip!' brought Alex's eyes, which had been busy flicking around the room for any sign of weremantis life, down to the floor where Princess Eva was looking up at him. He felt so very weird for doing so, but the way she was looking at him was un-nerving, and he got the distinct impression he was to come inside and shut the door. So, he pushed the door open wide enough to shuffle himself through, and then closed the door behind him with a gentle click.

"H--Hi, Princess Eva!" Alex smiled down at her, moving away from the door a little bit before bending down and reaching out as though to give her a friendly pat on the head. He wasn't sure if she'd even let him touch her, and the last time he had reached out to her, she had climbed his arm and jumped off of his back.

"Yin's...not here, is he?" he felt more then a little silly, speaking to the little rabo like she understood him and would give him an answer. Also for asking a very obvious question.

"That's ok, I guess. I brought something for you too," He lifted up the brown paper bags, one of which was quite a bit smaller then the other.

Ok, so she didn't want him touching her. Fair enough. He got that reaction a lot from other people's pets, and wild ones alike. Something about the way he smelt, and he knew that no matter how much he cleaned, there would always be that faint odor of rot beneath the soap. How useless would his FEAR ability be if that wasn't so? (Though it was pretty damned useless as it was, really)

He pulled his hand away and straightened up, shuffling towards Yin's bed to set the paper bags down and open the smaller of the two. What he pulled out looked a bit like a spookie, only made in the shape of a crown. It was something he had called his mom a few days ago and asked her to make. She had an amazing recipe for pet treats that she had found on the web, and she was constantly sending little bags of them for Alex's pets. How did Alex know they were amazing? Well, you can't expect a zombie not to at least sample one or a few, could you? Especially when they smelt so delicious!

Normally the ones she sent were in an assortment of shapes, whatever his mother found amusing to do at the time. Skulls, brains, hearts, she was pretty creative when it came to baked goods. He had asked her to make these in to crown shapes, however, specially made for Yin's pet, and she had only happily complied, ready for whatever challenge Alex threw her way. They had actually only just arrived in the mail that morning, which was really, coincidentally so, the most perfect timing ever.

He proceeded to get down on the floor, sitting so that his back was resting against the bed and held out the treat towards the rabo, eager to see if she would accept it or turn her nose up at it.

Alex watched the little rabo eat with bemusement plain on his face. She was eating it so slowly, so precisely, that he would swear that she was almost being careful to appear almost...dainty. He was happy that she seemed to approve of the treats. Maybe someday, especially if he was going to be joining this baking club, he could get his mom to send him the recipe and he could learn to make them himself.

That was...if Yin wanted him to make treats for Princess Eva. If Yin ever wanted him around again.

Suddenly nervous again, his eyes flickered towards the door, as if he was expecting Yin to barge in at any moment, and ask him to leave. He really shouldn't have presumed to be allowed in the room, and he should have probably stayed in the hallway. He would have even gone back to his room if...if he hadn't thought Yin should have been expecting him. Where was the other boil, anyways?

He wished for the millionth time that Yin had his own phone that Alex could contact him on.

When Princess Eva finished her treat, she wandered over and hopped up onto the bed, causing Alex, who had been lost in his own thoughts for the moment, to stir, shuffling to the side a little bit and turning his head to see what she was doing, somewhat concerned for the other bag, which would have been giving off a pleasant odor of food as well. But she didn't appear to care for what was in the bags. Instead, she had sat down on the bed.

And was just staring at him.

And staring

and staring

and staring.....

This was...this was really disturbing. It was times like this that were frustrating, when Alex could not simply read a minipets mind and figure out what it is they wanted to know.

Alex was incredibly perturbed. He had come to see Yin, and to tell him what his own decision was, only to find himself alone in the weremantis's room with his uptight, spoiled, and downright snobby rabo that was now suddenly sniffing at him and wrinkling her nose up as though he was the worst smelling thing that she had ever come across.

He was willing to believe that was probably true and put it out of his mind.

But now, not only was she sniffing him, she was crawling all over him. One second, not letting him touch her. The next? Putting her paws all over him. He reached over with a hand to pluck her off of his chest and deposit her on the floor, but as soon as his hand got near she growled a warning and he stopped, then let his arm fall uselessly back down to his side.

"Uh, ok...what do you want?" He finally asked, as though the pet would even know what he was saying.

"If you think I'm hiding something, I'm not, I promise. I just came to see Yin, and everything I brought with me is up on the bed. Do you want another treat?" He said the last word almost imploringly, like he hoped she would want another treat and stop crawling all over him and sniffing him out like she was looking for a place to pee.

Yin could not come back to his room fast enough.

The word 'treat' seemed to have some affect as she stopped what she was doing for a moment and even purred. He thought that was a pretty good indication that she might want another one, so he shifted his body a little bit so as to reach behind himself and grab the bag of treats.

And that's when she slipped from his chest, probably because of the sudden movement. If she hadn't already growled at him for trying to touch her, he might have reached out and grabbed for her before she could fall to the floor. She was faster then he was, anyways, as suddenly felt his tie pulling on the back of his neck, digging in to his stitched skin and making a trickle of dark,slow moving blood to seep out and run down his chest.

"Princess Eva...Please let go of my tie." He said from between gritted teeth, more upset about the damage she was possibly doing to it then what she was doing to his neck.

Oh ya, and the blood probably smelt god awful. Enjoy, Eva. Enjoy.

As soon as the rabo let go of Alex's tie, he was lifting it up to inspect it for damage, rubbing a hand on the back of his neck and coming away with blood on his fingers. Oh s**t, he was bleeding! He glared down at Princess Eva, who was suddenly gagging and glowering back up at him.

Whatever, she totally deserved it!

He reached a hand to the back of his neck again, feeling around gingerly to make sure all of his stitches were still in place. Everything seemed to be in order. He then used the same hand to wipe up the blood that was currently trailing it's way down his chest, leaving a dark red smear in it's wake, and he was just wondering how he was going to clean himself up when...

...The door suddenly swung open. Yin had impeccable timing, it seemed, and Alex for a split second, just sat there completely stunned, his heart jumping practically into his throat. Yin had stopped in the entrance way, and was just staring, and Alex stared back, not having any idea what to do or say. Even if he did know, he wasn't sure he could even talk at the moment.

Yin was here. He was back, and while it wasn't under the best of circumstances, and also while the current scene laid out in front of him might have been extremely confusing (and really, Alex had no idea how it looked to the weremantis), Alex couldn't help but just feel...happy? It had been a week. A week since the last time he saw Yin. And now..he was here and it made Alex so happy that it hurt.

All week, Alex had harbored some deep dark fear that the other boil was going to leave, and he was never going to see him again. So never mind the rabo on the floor, who was obviously smarter then she looked and scheming against the zomboil (or so he decided). She could point at him all she wanted. She could glower at him all she wanted. Alex wasn't looking at her, and he didn't care about her at all in that moment. Right now, he only cared that Yin was here. Right now, he only had eyes for the weremantis standing in the entrance way, and those eyes were filled with everything Alex felt for him. He'd already stripped his soul bare for Yin a week ago, and had told him how he felt..so now the weremantis might as well see it as well.

This was all assuming Yin was even paying attention to Alex at all, and not just the rabo on the floor.

When Yin broke his gaze from Alex's, he was finally able to look away as well, noticing that Princess Eva was prancing on over to her owner and waiting to be picked up. Now that he wasn't looking directly at Yin, it was easier to find his voice, and he answered the other boil as though he were speaking to Alex and not the rabo that was being scooped up into his arms.

"Yes we were just...playing, and Princess Eva got a hold of my tie and accidentally pulled a little too hard. No harm done, though..just a little..bleeding, but that happens sometimes." He shrugged, not wanting to have Yin get worried just because there was blood smeared down his neck and chest and his hand. It hadn't hurt, and the stitches were all in place so the flow of blood stopped as soon as the tension from the tie had been released.

He had been looking down at his hands as he said this, but when he glanced back up to see what Yin was doing was surprised to see that he had gotten quite close, and was looking at Alex's neck with concern.

"It's really fine! Just..maybe a--a wet towel or something to clean up with?"

Looks like somebody else was also avoiding the subject, now that the opportunity had arrived when they could actually talk about it again. Really, though, Alex was just relieved that Yin didn't seem upset to have found Alex in his room. And the other boil was acting concerned about Alex, which was also a good sign, right?