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Mrs. Van Rotte just smiled, her expression calm even though worry and frustration gnawed anxiously away on her insides. She hadn't spoken to her son in two months. Two months. There had been some calls from the school, but they had all been hang-ups, and that had been worrying enough. When she had called the school back in reply, the administration had little to reassure her with, their answers when she asked about her son's whereabouts vague at best. Busy with classes, busy with his exam, probably out with his friends.....

It just wasn't acceptable!

And then there were other calls, other hang ups, and those had been from Alexander's personal skellyphone. She recognized the number, but she just didn't understand what was going on. And then, finally, a message, left when they were out of the house one day. Hearing his voice had been a relief, but did nothing to soothe the rising frustration she was having with him. She'd sent texts, she'd sent messages, she had mentioned countless times that she had some important news to tell him.

No answer. None. Not a single one.

So now here they stood. Her new daughter, the newest addition to their growing horde, pacing the hallway, looking as nervous as she possibly felt.

"It will be fine, don't worry, Sophie" She smiled, moving forward to place a skeletal hand on the ghoul's arm. "I'm sure he will be thrilled to meet you, and to have you at the school with him." If only he had answered any of his calls or messages, then he would actually know that he even had a new sister, and that she was here. Teenagers were exasperating.

And so they made their way to Alexander's room, which wasn't really all that far away considering they kept most zombies in the same general area unless they specifically asked for something fancier with the money to back it up. The Van Rotte's had the money, certainly, but it seemed rather wasteful to throw it at something so menial.

Soon enough they were in front of a door, and Mrs. Van Rotte reached forward to rap against it smartly, then took a step back to wait.

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

Just another day like any other day. Well, besides the snow on the ground outside, but Alexander could totally ignore that was even happening when he was holed up in his underground bedroom like this, flipping almost idly through the pages of yet another large and dusty tome on his search for answers. Answers to insanity, information on Fear cores and artifacts. Anything that could help, in any possible way. He was settled down and prepared to be at this for hours, not expecting any outside interruptions.

And then came a knock-knock-knocking on his door and he jumped in his chair a little bit, head swinging around to look towards it as though he could see through it to who was on the other side. Company didn't stop by his room often. Usually he just got a text to meet somewhere, or a note slipped under his door for him to discover at a later time. Still, it was not exactly unheard of.

He pushed his chair back with a loud screeching/scraping sound against the floor before rising a little unsteadily to his feet, his joints stiffened from sitting in one position for such a prolonged period of time. He reached up to run fingers through his hair, effectively tousling it in that somehow-it-came-out-perfectly-styled way as he shuffled his way towards the door, reaching for the knob and pulling it open.

And then just standing their blinking in surprise at the sight on the other side.

The green skinned ghoul was barely even noted to start with, because Alexander's eye landed on his mother and all he could think for those first few moments was oh s**t oh s**t ohshitohshitohshit. Before he finally opened up his mouth and stammered out, "H-hey mom. What...what are you doing here?" He tried to smile, but it was a fairly pathetic attempt at doing so, his face unable to hide his sudden panic.

"Alexander!" His mom greeted him enthusiastically, with a large smile, her voice far, far too sweet. "I just thought I would stop in and introduce you to your sister."

Wait what was that? His eye flickered towards the ghoul, back to his mom, to the ghoul, then to his mom again.
"................
........
......
...
..My what?"

Alexander was simply stunned. He had no idea what to say, or do, or how to even react. A sister? A new sister....how was that even poss----

"Is she adopted?" He blurted out, having been staring at her with his mouth agape for a few seconds now, his head rapidly turning back towards his mom.

His mom tutted at him, her arms rising to cross over her chest as she looked him over with a critical eye. "Really, Alexander? Really?" The sweetness in her voice was gone, replaced with that all to familiar tone that surely indicated that her son had a lot of explaining to do. And then she let out a sigh, long and loud and suffering.

"What do you think?" Her voice was definitely on the aggravated side now. The first time she'd seen him, spoken to him in two months and this was the best he could do? A blank and dumbfounded stare. No hugs, no apologies just...Alexander being Alexander.

Alex himself was struggling a little bit here. He already had two brothers and three sisters, and while adoption in his family was quite common, his own immediate family had never chosen to do so. Why would they decide now, just months after his baby brother had been born? He wanted to ask, to have his mom explain, but chances were she was not in the mood to do so and besides...that might have actually been a bit rude considering this ghoul...his sister...was standing there and...

...Oh, she was introducing herself! Alexanders blank stare went back to her as she gave him her name. It took him a moment to process it before he gave a rather weak, "Hi." In response, his hand partially rising from his side in a small wave-like gesture.

And then she was calling his mother 'mum' and saying something about ties, and handing him a strip of black and red from her bag and it was...Oh it was a tie! He could feel his lips pulling up into a smile suddenly almost of their own accord. There was nothing, nothing in this world that could get to Alex's heart faster then a tie.

He liked this new family member already, and he didn't even know her yet.

"Thanks!" He said, face brightening up. "No no, I love it! It's perfect! Look, I'll even put it on right now." He was practically itching to do so, and sure enough he was already reaching up to loosen his tie, pulling off the skull clip from the knot and sliding it over his head to turn and toss onto the chair behind him in his room by the desk, before slipping the new one around his neck and beginning the process of tying it, which for him only took a matter of seconds.

It was the one and only thing he could actually quickly.

First day, hey? Well, that much seemed obvious. But still, "Really? Well, maybe I should show you around later then! Do you need any more help unpacking?" His initial shock over, his excitement was beginning to take over. He still couldn't quite believe that this was meant to be his sister, and that she was saying 'mum' and ya, it was freaking weird but...Alexander was a pretty easy going guy.

And then their mother was clearing her throat, an eyebrow arched and he winced a bit, turning to look at her, knowing full well that there was no way she was finished with him yet.

"Alexander." When he looked over towards her, her face had softened a little, but only by the smallest of increments. "You know we need to talk before I leave, right?"

"Well uh, ya uh..I--I guess so.." His shoulders were hunched, his hands found their way into his pockets where his fingers slipped around Yin's badge, the pin that was always somehow warm.

"Good. Then I think maybe you should take us all out for lunch." She smiled, though he could tell she still wasn't happy with him.

"Ah, ya, sure. I think I can manage that." He nodded, slowly.

"And you can tell me all about what you've been up to the last two months." That too sweet tone was back in her voice.

"Uh..ya, of course!" His return smile was nervous, and he shot a glance to Sophie, a silent plea of 'oh dear Jack, help me please.' He couldn't quite yet wrap his head around the fact that she was meant to be his sister but...it would come.

Yes, he was liking what was apparently his newest sibling better and better, especially considering she seemed to catch his hidden and silent plea and was doing her best to help him out. She was getting extra points from him by the minute, though he hoped the super kindness wasn't just some kind of show she was putting on for his..their...mother's benefit. He glanced at the paper she produced from her bag, then back to his mother, who was frowning a little but he could tell she didn't want to say no.

"Ya, actually that would be really good for her to go to, and they don't do these tours very often. In fact...this is the first one I've seen. Much better then just me showing her around, or her working it out herself. I'm sure they'll have loads more info and---"

His mother held up a hand, her eyes closing in defeat. "Fine, go. But we are still having a talk before I leave, Alexander."

He nodded with perhaps a little more enthusiasm then necessary.

"Of course! We'll do that when I get back? Just uh..maybe just me and you though, okay?" So far he thought Sophie was nice, he did, but he had known her for all of five minutes now. What he needed to talk with his mom about should have been done privately. "Are you going to be all right to stay in my room until I get back?" As soon as he offered it, he cringed inwardly, realizing how incredibly filthy his room was and how she would likely try to clean it and how there were likely things in there she didn't need to see.

Thank fully she craned up to look past him into his room, lifted two white eyebrows, and shook her head. "No, no I think I'll stay in Sophie's room until you return. I have to leave on the train by five so please don't be gone all day." She frowned at him again, then turned towards Sophie and gave her a warm smile.

"Have fun dear. Make sure Alexander makes it back on time for me, please?"

Alexander just rolled his one pale eye, then moved forward to grab the sleeve of Sophie's jacket.

"Come on...sis..." Dear jack that felt weird to say about this complete stranger. Still he tugged her along as he made his way towards the stairwell.

Alexander was only moving fast because he wanted to put as much distance between himself and his mother's judgmental looks as inhumanly possible. She had to know that something was wrong for Alexander to not contact her in two months, and he still had not come up with a single thing he could say, not one solitary excuse. He couldn't tell her the truth. Couldn't tell her that he had actually died, because if he did that he'd have his bony a** hauled out of school so fast...

And then he wouldn't be able to help Mort, or see Yin, or get to spend any time with any of his friends.

Of course, now he had a sister here as well, as hard of a concept to grasp as that was. Somebody new to look after, and oh dear jack what if she was spying on him for their mom?

His pace slowed once they began to make their ascent up the stairs, and he remained silent, lost in his thoughts until Sophie spoke. "Hm?" He glanced over to her, "Oh, uh...ya, no, she's been trying to call. My fault for not answering." He mumbled, frowning in thought for just a few more moments.

"Ah, no need. I can't avoid talking to her forever." He finally smiled, his tone becoming much lighter as though he were making a joke out of it. "And of course I want to come with you. If I had better things to do, do you think I'd have been holed up in my room when you got here?" He laughed, trying to ease her nervousness, though she didn't seem to even hear him as she continued on and on, his smile growing broader and broader in amusement.

And then she said ties and he openly laughed, reaching up to run fingers through his unkempt hair before it flopped back down in place, covering his empty eye socket as per usual. "Yes, ties." He just couldn't hide the amusement in his voice.

"I have a bit of an obsession. If you take a glance in my closet back home, there are probably close to 500 in there."

He wasn't even ashamed of it.

"Do you collect anything?" Might as well get this meet and greet and learn all about your newest sibling ball rolling, right?

It was hard to remember that this ghoul had been living with his family while he had been...well, for all intents and purposes, dead. Imagining her there, eating at the dinner table, playing with his siblings, brought with it a small pang of jealousy. Of course he missed home, and would like to visit more often, but things here at the school were always so serious. The students here were on the cusp of something they shouldn't necessarily be a part of or have to know anything about, but at the same time, could he just go back to unlife as usual, knowing all of the things he knew now?

No. He could not.

Did he wish that he had never come to the school, and had never become apart of what could only be described as a war? Well, that question was a little bit trickier to answer. There were things that he was happy about, and that he couldn't imagine not having anymore, despite wanting a more normal teenage unlife.

The more he thought about it, the more he realized that there were things that Sophie was going to need to know, as much as he hated to admit it. When he got a chance he would have to give his bro a text, and maybe between the two of them they'd be able to figure something out, decide what to tell her now. He nodded along with her words, listening while still thinking of other things. "They've talked about adopting a few times, actually. My aunts and uncles, well...I'm sure you've met them. Most of them have families with adopted zombies as well, or strays that sort of happened to wander upon our horde that we took in. I'm glad they finally decided to do it." He grinned, turning towards her again.

And as she went on and on about making and designing clothes, his eye might have brightened considerably. She had made him a tie, which meant sh could potentially make more ties. And clothes. Alex, despite appearances, quite liked clothing. Having a new sister was just getting better and better all the time.

"I will cherish it forever." His pale eye twinkled, and he was smiling, but his tone was quite serious as he said it. Then he reached out to tug on her kerchief with one hooked finger. "I like this too. It suits you." He stopped tugging on it to let his hand fall back to his side. They had managed to make it up the stairs and down the hallway, passed the common room, and to the doors that led outside.

Oh crap, she was asking about his eye! Should he lie to her? He had certainly lied to his mother about it....Though what would be the point of lying now, if only to tell her the truth later? He wanted to make a good impression as well, and somehow he didn't think lying was a good way to start. Still, he could be vague, right?

"A fight got a bit out of hand. My Fear shield was down and my attacker stabbed me in the eye...." He shrugged. "I keep meaning to get a new one. Maybe you'd like to come to the maul with me to pick one out, sometime?" He pushed open the door and held it there for her to exit ahead of him.

Alexander supposed his explanation hadn't been a very good one, but it was the same one he had used on his mother, who...also had not been at all happy with it. Ah well. Really to him it was just not that big of a deal. He could get a new one. He should have gotten a new one by now but hadn't really thought about it recently. A lot of it was taht not having the eye served as a reminder to him, to be more careful, that he was not immune to getting hurt just because he was of Halloween and could dissipate. Hunters probably knew how to keep students hanging in the balance between their Fear shields going down and dissipation quite well. So yes, a reminder. He couldn't let something like this happen again.

Out into the briskly cool air they ventured, the snow upon the ground a reminder that spirit week had only just ended. There was something strange in the air. Despite the fact that things really couldn't get much worse, the zomboil couldn't help but feel almost..uplifted. It was offputting, to say the least.

"You need to stop promising me more ties. I'm starting to think I finally have the perfect sibling." He grinned while they trudged along through the white abomination that covered the ground, though each step seemed to cheer him up more.

"Did mom seem..upset at all recently? I know she's been trying to get a hold of me, but I've just been...very busy." Yes, an explanation was probably going to be necessary at some point.

"It isn't much further to the meeting spot, though we might be a bit late..." He hadn't really bothered to check the time on the posters.