Dystopian Future

"Great more people" he muttered, he knew it wasn't a bad idea to bring along more people, safety in numbers and all, but with more people there it also meant more people that could get in the way. No matter how great his powers where, he knew he couldn't protect four people if something happened, he could maybe bring them all to the spirit world, but not even that was guaranteed. He saw the logical behind Zemin's word he did, especially to bring in the ghoul seeing that he was less likely to be known about the vampire, he just didn't like it, not at all. "At this point some fucking warping magic would have been great"
It would have solved the problem with ease, but it wasn't magic he knew, he only knew of it. He didn't even knew if anyone could use it anymore, and if anyone could, he didn't know that person, but he sighed as he took a sip from the teacup.
"Well your plan isn't as suicidal anymore, far from great but better at least. However, I need to tell you I can't protect four people at once if needed, so if anything happens, well I will try but no guaranteed." he didn't want Zemin to count on his help if they were that many. Knowing the risks was one of the most important parts in any plan.

"Isn't that a cold thing to say to someone?" he raised an eyebrow, it wasn't wrong of Zemin to assume that, and it had been the case up until recently, but saying it to someone would still be considered rude. "I mean I let you live here without asking for something, I do talk to you, help you and even wish for your happiness, trust me it's not something I do everyday."
It was strange to think that he cared about someone else, however he had came to that conclusion seeing Zemin in pain the other day, and that he wished for him to be happy. He may not care about Xue as much, but he cared about the younger more than other creatures. However hearing Zemin's reaction made him sign.
"You always over do it. You really are like an excited puppy" he only stated, not being upset by his words. "You don't need to make everything I do into a huge thing, just a simply thank you, or good to know is enough"
He smiled towards the man before he laughed, did the brothers really thought of him that clueless, he knew they cared about him to some extent, it's just that it didn't do much difference towards him, or maybe it was that he didn't know how to handle it, and had chosen not to react.
"I know you do, seeing you are sitting here planning on killing a vampire with me, or when you followed me when I burned my hands as the world had ended, and I do speak with your brother, and somethings he say makes me understand that" he answered, unsure of what to think about that Alec may care one day. That was something he cared less about, he didn't care about the ghoul at all, and what he thought about him didn't matter at all. However he didn't know if he should say thank you to Zemin, seeing that they cared because at the moment he didn't know what to do about it, so he chose not to comment it further.

Less suicidal, well that was something positive at least! Zemin shrugged his shoulders with a wide grin across his lips as he spun the teacup around its own axis. It went round and round and round, but none of the liquid managed to escape. Probably because of the centrifugal force that was created because of the spinning movement. Those things were ones that actually really interested the wolf. He liked subjects such as physics, biology, mathematics and chemistry. Every subject had its own direction, it’s own story to tell that made the world make a lot more of sense. Fuck, he wished he could go back to school and continue his education, fulfil his journey towards becoming a doctor. That would’ve been quite an accomplishment for a pure blooded werewolf, maybe even more than so. People like him rarely ended up with neither an education or a job, which was on some levels understandable. Most werewolves had problems when it came to keeping their temper in check, since that part usually failed resulting in a less than attractive transformation.
“I’m sorry”, he eventually said and pouted with his lower lip. “I never mean to overdo it, it jut happens! And when are you going to learn that I am an excited puppy? You really need to accept that part of me”, Zemin muttered and crossed his arms, leaving the teacup alone for once. He looked up towards the ceiling and started gnawing at his lip. It came in so handy as it was close, easy to reach for the sharp teeth. The whole puppy thing was something he didn’t actually mind. Many people seemed to really love it, while many other found it annoying and hated it. That actually made him wonder how Ezra felt about it, the excited puppy acting. Or not acting, but rather behaviour as it was completely genuine.
“I just need to know”, he suddenly began and turned the dark brown gaze back towards the shaman. “Do you find my puppy like behaviour loveable or the other way around? Rather..do you like it or find it annoying?” Well, he just simply had to know obviously. The question had escaped the plump lips before he’d been able to stop it.

Zemin went back to spinning the teacup around its own axis, allowing the cute smile to return.
“But do you like it? Knowing that we care about you?” He wondered and placed his elbows on the desk, messing up the order of the files and documents. Their current conversation had made him completely loose track of the plan. He didn’t even know if they would go through with his idea or not. But even if they decided on doing so, they still had to give it a lot more thought and work. And not only that, as they still had to take many other aspects into consideration. What would happen if someone managed to bid over them? What if the vampire didn’t want to buy the wolf, resulting in their actions being totally unnecessary. There were so many things that could go straight to hell. Even if they worked through the plan hard and carefully, it could still end up being a total flop. Zemin didn’t like those - flops. They were never a good thing, never ever.

"Why apologise for something that most likely will happen again. I have even started counting on it" he sighed, maybe it wasn't a good thing, but it felt like every time they managed to have a nice conversation or something else, the other man took it to far. And by now Ezra only waited for that moment, at least it wasn't one that bothered him this time, made him uncomfortable or angry, no it rather reminded him of a young child reacting to something. "I never said I didn't accept it Zemin. I have started to learn to roll with it, for better or worse. It's just sometimes acting like a puppy isn't the best thing to do"
Ezra took the last of the tea before he refilled his cup, with carefulness and feeling, doing it all before. He wondered if he maybe would have acted childish at some points if his childhood had been different. Maybe he would have had a part of his childishness left. Or maybe Zemin just acted like that because he was a wolf. Ezra was just about to lift his cup when Zemin spoke again and he let it be on the table.
"Why does my opinon matter? It shouldn't, not really. The key question is if you like it. I mean if I wouldn't like it, I wouldn't accept a part of you and should you change because of my opinion, or be true to yourself? Other opinions shouldn't matter, because if they can't accept you for being you, well what's the point of having them around?" Ezra asked before he took a sip from the tea cup. "However I can't say it's a trait I either like or dislike. It's something you do, and something I have accepted. Sure it can be a bit annoying, but I say it's because I have a problem being social to begin with, and even more when you act like a puppy, seeing normal people don't do that."

"Why do you always need to have an answer to everything?" he leaned backwards and if he could have see he would have been staring at the celling. "You say or do something, something a normal person wouldn't react to, for me it's often challenging everything I know, feel, or have experienced, and instead of accepting what I tell you, you wish to know more. Because a normal person would most likely be happy to hear that someone cares about them, for me, I have never had a fucking person care for me my whole life! the first things I expect from a person is betrayal, and even if I can't feel the pain, I still expect to be hit. And when none of those things comes, I need to rethink everything, and I don't know how to feel about it. So I can't tell you how I feel because I am still adapting to it all. So your simply questions needs more complicated answers than I can give, it's just not black and white anymore"
He almost whispered the words, he had started feeling that he could speak freely with Zemin, but it was still strange to do so, needing to explain everything, but also trust someone not to use it against you. Ezra was still surprised every time he told Zemin something.

The words slowly but surely sunk in which eventually allowed Zemin to grasp them. He should really try to get a grip on himself, stop being so goddam nosy and stupid all the time. At this rate he’d make Ezra hate him faster than then speed of light traveled. Maybe it’d already gotten to that point only that the shaman didn’t feel like sharing his actual thoughts? That was also a strong possibility. However the wolf wasn’t able to stop acting like his actual self around the other man, because he didn’t feel uncomfortable or anything like that at all. It was actually the other way around, to be completely honest. He’d almost immediately become way too careless and puppyish around Ezra way too fast. Even during the first day they’d met.
All of these sudden realisations made Zemin very quiet and he felt completely and utterly ashamed of himself. He looked down towards his hands, which he’d enclosed in a tight grip. The shaman was correct, nothing was ever enough for the werewolf, no matter how much or little he was given. But that wasn’t one hundred percent true, as Alec was more than enough. Every single thing he ever gave to the older man was able to fill up the screaming and urging holes in the wolf’s body - the parts of him that cried for company and cuddling, sex and appreciation. Great, now he actually began to miss the ghoul for real. Stupid thoughts, stupid conversation.
“I’m sorry, I never mean to be too demanding and I understand if that’s annoying”, he mumbled and stood up from the chair, with his head bent down and his hands clutching at each other. “I’ll just leave the documents and files here, but I’d appreciate if you and Rivik don’t look through the ones that are about me”, he continued shortly and started walking towards the door, where he stopped and turned around. “And thanks for the tea..I think we’ll be able to come up with an excellent plan in the end.”

With those words hanging motionless in the air, he once again turned around and quickly walked through the corridor outside, towards the stairs. As soon as he sat foot in the attic a large, black wolf happily greeted him. And Zemin thought he himself acted like a needy puppy.
Hey, what did you guys discuss? Xue wondered and jumped up next to his older brother, whom had sat down on the couch with a sigh.
“Adult things”, Zemin shortly answered and wrapped his arms around the cuddly pile of fur next to him. “But you see..I don’t feel like an adult and all of this..my entire life..I just miss being able to act like a stupid child”, he thereafter mumbled.
But you are an adult, the younger one stated and looked somewhat confused. I mean, you’re like twenty five by now, so you’re no longer a teenager, he continued and studied the older one with worried eyes.
“I know, but I feel like one..and I look like one as well, so I could totally fool people.” What a great, ingenious plan! Because that’d totally help the situation out. Sarcasm.

Ezra didn't have time to react or answer before Zemin was gone, and he actually felt guilty. He hadn't meant to make the man leave or feel sorry, he only aimed to be honest, and for once he wished he had lied, something he rarely did. Maybe speaking freely with the man was a bad idea, if he made him feel sorry for it. And there once again he was back to being confused. Ezra utterly hated it, he had felt at peace when he came to the conclusion that they were better off as friends, but not even that seemed to be easy enough for him to do. He could almost laugh at the fact they he couldn't even be friends with someone, without making it messy. Maybe he shouldn't speak about how he reacted, and instead pretend he was like everyone else, but well he couldn't do that, he knew that. And just like he had told Zemin, you should always be yourself, people had to accept you, but seeing that he hurt Zemin being himself made him conflicted. He sighed as he stood up walking over to check on the potions, but that couldn't distract him enough, especially since they didn't needed any more work, they should only brew now.
"Did everything go well?" Jax jumped up and down when he reached him "Did you figure out a plan?"
Ezra sighed once more, they hadn't even been able to figure out a good plan, a way to handle all this. So not only did their talk end up making Zemin sad, they hadn't even figured out a whole plan.
"No" he only answered as he passed the wolf, who stayed where he was. Ezra needed some air.

He soon founded himself outside on the stairs he had been sitting on earlier that day. The sun was about to set, he could tell since it was colder, but he wasn't to bothered about it. Maybe because he didn't easily freeze, or because he was well dressed, but most likely because he was so caught up in his thoughts that he didn't notice. All this was to complicated for him, and he thought that maybe it was easier to leave it all behind when they were done with the vampire. The brothers would go on with their life and he would go on with his own life. He was more than sure that he would manage to do that, it would take some effort, but he would manage, and it was easier than this mess. He sighed as he laid down, closing his eyes, just trying to relax, pushing away all thoughts!

The hours slowly passed by and Zemin almost fell asleep, still tightly hugging the large teddy bear beside him. But when the sun had finally set, a loud bang woke him up from his little slumber.
“Ouch, who put a chair right below the stupid window?” Alec whined as he limped through the door leading from the bedroom.
Why didn’t you use the front door? Xue wondered and rolled his eyes, wriggling his way out of the older brothers grip. He took a swift jump down on the floor where he shook out the black fur, before walking up to the annoyed ghoul.
“You’re lucky you're cute”, the other man muttered and stroke the soft fur.
“I’m also cute”, said as he started pouting. Would he ever stop with that? The answer was a big, fat no.
“Do you even have a reason to look so depressed?” Alec wondered and stood up. He thereafter pulled a hand through the red hair and sat down next to the older man - the older man who looked to be around twenty years old. Thank god the years didn’t treat him badly at least.
“Yes, I do!” Zemin exclaimed and looked even more sour than he’d done a couple of seconds ago. “Ezra thinks I’m too much and that I always overdo things..that I act too much like an excited puppy”, he explained and lowered his gaze with a small sigh.
“Well, you are an excited puppy, aren’t you now?” the ghoul pointed out whereafter he raised one of the perfectly trimmed eyebrows.
“I know..but I’m like twenty five by now, so maybe..maybe I should just stop acting so childish?” The wolf mumbled and snuggled up next to the taller man, soon burying his face against the slender neck.
“But it’s who you are! Don’t think about it, I’m sure he didn’t mean anything bad by it”, Alec assured Zemin and stroked the lightly brown hair.
“I like having you here, you know that right?” The pouring puppy whispered and looked up towards those gorgeous eyes, slowly raising one of the neat hands to fiddle with a strand of red hair.
“Hm, yeah..and I like being here.” Their eyes met for a short second and they shared a tiny smile between them.
“Help me cook dinner later? Please.”
“You know I don’t eat so why would I know how to cook?”
“Because you love me and I know very well you can cook!”
“Do I have to?”
“Yup, it’s sadly an order and not an option.”

Ezra had almost fallen asleep when Rivik walked up next to him, and placed his head on the shaman's stomach. Ezra patted him slowly, without giving it any thoughts.
"You look depressed" Rivik commented and Ezra only hummed as an answer. "Are you upset with me?"
"No. Sure you can be a rude mother fucker, and I felt like your attitude wasn't helpful before, but I am not upset with you. It's who you are, and I like you that way"
"I am sorry, I just can't stand him"
"I know, and I am not asking you to be friends with him, just don't make him leave, because I can't take down the vampire on my own. After that, well I am thinking of moving on then so you don't really need to see him anymore"
"Why? I hate him, but you don't. You even seem to get along with the brothers fine" Rivik was clearly puzzled by his statement.
"It's to fucking complicated, to exhausting. I made him upset because I was honest. Seeing how different we are. He get's excited about to much, always want to know more. For me it changes everything and makes me rethink all I ever known. It's to much work, even as friends"
"Well you people are always making things so fucking complicated"
"Yeah because you aren't a complex creature" Ezra muttered and he could tell that Rivik was smirking.
"I am, but I don't make things as complicated. I make almost everyone hate me, and that's it" Ezra stroke the fox, knowing he made people hate him because of distrust and he saw their souls, but mostly because he thought everyone was an idiot"
"I am starting to feel that you are doing the right thing" Ezra closed his eyes again, not that it made any difference, being as dark as before, but why keep them open if you couldn't see anything.

"The ghoul returned" Rivik informed him and Ezra only nodded, hopefully the other man can make Zemin feel better. He sighed, being frustrated that he cared so much about that. He hadn't done anything wrong, but he still hated the result. Why was he so bothered by that? True he hadn't meant to hurt Zemin, but the other man needed to know how he felt, and Ezra felt like he could talk to the werewolf about things, yet it always seemed to end up with one of them hurt in someway.
"Don't think about it" Rivik stated and Ezra laughed, the fox was so much easier and he patted him once more. "Why don't we do something? Go for a drink?"
Ezra thought about it, it was the longest time since he had been out, drinking, but maybe he should do that, maybe that would ease his mind, yet he didn't move, trying to convince himself that alcohol wouldn't solve his problem.

After some prime convincing from Zemins part, Alec followed him down to the kitchen with Xue tailing after the two men. The older man turned on the lights in the dark room, which made it a whole lot lighter and more welcoming. It was actually a pretty decent kitchen when you took a closer look at it. All the cabinets and counters were very detailed, made out of some dark sort of wood. Then there was the fridge and freezer, which were both huge and well organised. For someone who liked to cook it was basically a dream. Especially when compared to the brothers old kitchen. It had been so small and cramped they’d barely fit a stove in there, and the freezer and fridge had been put in the same appliance. So they hadn’t had a lot of space, something that had resulted in simple kinds foods. Macaroni and cheese had been one of their main dishes in the household, when they didn’t eat raw chickens and fish. Well, sometimes, when Zemin managed to get his hands on some really nice fish, they’d actually made both sushi and sashimi. During their childhood they’d eaten a lot of those respective dishes, together with a lot of spicy food and baozi. Maybe he could make dumplings? They were two people after all, so it wouldn’t take too long.
“So what are we actually making?” Alec finally wondered and opened the fridge.
“Dumplings”, Zemin answered happily and pushed the younger man away, so he could have a better view himself. “Xayah gave us those shrimps awhile back, so I’m thinking a shrimp filling would be great”, he continued and started taking out everything they needed. Since he planned on making quite a bunch of potstickers, he had to use all of the shrimp and two eggs, some water, garlic, carrots, and ginger. He took out a plastic bowl in which he mixed all of the ingredients after shredding them, while Alec made the dough.

“Great”, Zemin stated after maybe twenty minutes of work. He took a step back and wrapped his arms around the ghoul, whom had a lot of trouble making the dough. After maybe five minutes, Xue had had to shift and help him out. The more people the better dumplings.
“Don’t feel sorry for me..you know I don’t even eat food”, Alec muttered and looked away from his friend, who’d started making small, pancake shaped circles out of the dough.
“I know, but it’s still really cute and I jut can’t help it”, the wolf answered and gave the handsome face a small peck on the cheek.
“Why are you like this?” The younger one whined and grasped both of Zemins hands, while he leaned in closer.
“Because I’m such a good cook while you completely suck at it”, he said with a smirk, something that resulted in their lips meeting.
“Guys, now, really? It’s gross!” Xue shook his head before he looked away, continuing to roll out the dough and form it into flat circles.
“Okay, okay, I’m sorry”, the older brother laughed and pushed Alec away. He gave the ghoul a quick glance and then turned back towards the shrimp mixture.

Ezra gave up, he knew as soon as Rivik had utter those words he wouldn't ignore the idea. He slowly stood up, knowing he needed to start moving if he wished to reach a bar.
"Can I borrow your eyes?" he asked the fox as he took him into his arms.
"Finally. I watched how you walked over here, you could think you are really drunk" Rivik taunted as Ezra took up the contact. He saw that it had started to became dark outside, and he was glad that the spirit could see fairly easy in the dark, and he made his way towards the house, he needed to collect a few things, and get Jax before he left. The spirit was easy as he was laying right infront of the door, almost making Ezra fall. Jax apologised and Ezra nodded, not making a thing from it, knowing the wolf hadn't done it intentionally. He could hear the others in the kitchen, making food.
"What are they making?" Rivik tried to smell it out.
"Dumplings" Jax informed them, since he had heard them talk.
"Why don't you ever make those?" Rivik wondered as Ezra walked towards his office.
"Because I don't like it that much, and I know you would hate it"
"What about me?" Jax wondered wagging his tail.
"You eat everything!" Rivik glared at the wolf, just as Ezra took his sketchpad, looked the office, looked at the cauldron one last time before he was satisfied and soon left the building.

He walked to a well hidden bar, one that didn't allow humans in, and that was his main reason for visiting that one. Besides that it wasn't better than any other bar. Just as annoying people, the same drinks and music, or well they had live music, so at least that was something. Jax walked beside him, guarding him as Rivik was placed in his arms. He turned towards the slum districts. It was mostly under water at this point, making you walk on planks to go anywhere, but it also kept normal humans away more easily. As they reached the bar the security guard outside looked at him.
"Do I look like a fucking human to you?" he asked, irritated that the man thought that. It was a silly question, knowing that it was exactly what he looked like, wishing to blend in. "And do they look like normal animals to you?"
The guard looked at the spirits instead, having an easier time to judge them.
"We can talk if that convinces you" Rivik smirked and the guard gave them a cold look.
"I don't wont any trouble" he warned them as he let them inside, as Ezra was interested in such silly things. The bar was less crowded than he thought it would be, not that he complained, it made it easier to order something and find a table.
"Two glas of wine and one vodka" he ordered and the bartender looked at him, but as he understood that they were spirits, not normal animals he nodded and served him what he asked and ezra made his way to a table.

“Hey, I think Ezra went out”, Xue said and looked over his shoulder, in the direction of the front door.
“To where?” Alec asked, nosy as always, just like a certain Zemin also tended to be.
“How would I know?” The wolf asked and shook his head, before continuing to play with the small circles.
“Can you guys stop and help me fill these?” Zemin asked and pointed towards the small dough circles.
“You don’t even have to ask”, the ghoul answered and immediately started helping the older one of the brothers, filling the small dough plates with filling and passing it onto Zemin who skilfully closed them. “Damn, you’re good at this”, he said and looked rather impressed, after watching the other one closely. He actually thought it was quite impressive, especially how fast the man seemed to close the small bundles.
“I’ve done this since I was like five. Our mom taught us”, the werewolf said with a small smile and nodded towards Xue who also gave a short nod.
“Yeah, we’re pretty good at this because of her. And to be completely fair, dad was also quite the cook”, he said and left a pat on the older ones head, leaving flour in the light brown hair.
“Stop! You’re messing my hair up,” Zemin exclaimed and shook out the thick hair, making the white powder fly all across the room. “You know how much I love my hair..so why even?” He closed the last dough plate and went to wash his hands, which allowed him to brush through the hair. Maybe it was kind of odd, how much he actually cared about his looks, but he couldn’t exactly stop. Because in the end those things were the only ones he could control and he needed control in his life, more than most people were able to understand.

It seemed he’d zoomed out for a pretty long time.
“Hey, I’m already boiling the dumplings”, the younger brother said and sent a quick glance towards the older one, waking him up from his sweet little slumber.
“I can see that”, Zemin answered after some silence and went over to look at the cooking process. “They look nice, don’t they?” He continued and looked very pleased.
“Yeah, I’m actually impressed”, Alec admitted and clung to the older wolf, giving him a bunch of kisses across the cheeks.
“Don’t be, these aren’t even my best ones”, he told the ghoul and smirked. “You should’ve seen how pretty they looked a couple of years ago, when I used to make them more frequently..I was a real dumpling master, even my mom said so.” He returned the kisses, with a small blush covering his cheeks.
“You still are, obviously. And so are you”, the ghoul pointed out and gave Alec a large grin. “I wish I could actually eat them, but sadly that’s not an option since they’ll taste disgusting”, he thereafter mumbled and frowned.
“It’s okay, at least they smell good, right?” Zemin asked and pulled both younger men into a hug. “Thank you for the help guys, dumplings are supposed to be made by a group of people and not only one. I think we pulled off that part pretty well..now we only have to wait for them to finish and for Ezra to return..”