“You don’t know what they did to me. To us.” (a continuation of an abruptly deleted thread)

If he was being honest, Malachi had completely forgotten that Quinn was still there. From the moment the child spoke he tensed up, accidentally squeezing Arden slightly in his arms.
“K-kiss? Dating?” A wave of confusion and disturbed embarrassment washed over him. ”Non, non, we met only yesterday, why would we be– patienter, were we acting like we were-”
He stopped himself. Now that he thought about it, he realized he was acting too friendly. And she was doing the same back to him! The realization hit him like a train, he wasn’t sure how to feel or act. What did this mean?
Eventually the only words that his brain could conjure were spoken. “I- je suis profondément désolé, Arden, pardonne-moi s'il te plaît, je ne voulais pas te donner la mauvaise idée ou quoi que ce soit- uh, do you want me to put you down?”

(i'm deeply sorry, Arden, please forgive me, I did not want to give you the wrong idea or anything-)

He just followed after Charlie, clinging onto her as much as he could but still allowing her to walk, he let them talk looking around Emery's area before hearing them talk about him.
He moved pulling Charlie with him as he touched Emery as well, suddenly appearing infront of emery which would probably scare the crap out of her, or just shock her either one.
"sorry…i..panicked.." he muttered, holding onto them both as he looked down in embarrassnent.

Emery made a sharp intake of breath as they felt something touch them; it was a bit of a shock after being sucked into researching and hacking for so long. Then Matteo came into view, and they quirked their brow in confusion. They should’ve seen him go to touch them, right?
“Um, it’s alright kid, I would do the same thing,” they said.
Charlie watched them with interest. Why had Emery been so shocked when Matteo touched them? The way he touched them both as he spoke… Charlie thought back to the moment when they’d lost Matteo, and then it clicked.
“So… just by saying that we couldn’t see you, you became invisible?” She was half asking him, half wondering to herself.

"yeah, your doing more then Alright Ali." He let the nickname slip out, smiling at him like a proud parent ajdjejd "Yeah, I'm just hopping that we can locate him and he won't be injured in any he's strong, and smart so I'm not super worried but it's still there you know?" He moved to put a comforting hand on Noels shoulder for a good bit.

He blushed when called by his nickname. "Yeah, I am, now that you're holding my hand," he ventured shyly. "And yeah, I get it. It was the same with Noel."
Speaking of which, his sister put her own hand atop Evan's, rubbing it with a solemn expression on her face.
They were about to turn a corner. Vixen's fox ears quivered, and she whispered to August with urgency.

He heard her question and got spooked just a little bit, jumping slightly.
"u-Uh-! I think so-? I don't really well- know how it works..all i know is that i yelled at the alien and they couldn't find me and that's how I got away from them, so i figured it would work with you guys but i don't know how to turn it off…or how it works…" He almost fidgeted with his hands before realizing he nodded to keep hold of them.

Emery slowly turned back to their work, deciding to just listen. Charlie rested her head on her hand, looking at the boy.
"Maybe just say that we can see you again?" she suggested.

(no, they still need to go on for a bit before they hit the District 6 border)

"……" She was silent for a majority of Malachi's freakout, because she had come to the conclusion that Quin wouldn't have assumed that out of nowhere.
She had been…doing things that made it look like they were dating.
….
WHAT WAS SHE DOING WHY DI SHE ACT LIKE THST WHY DID SHE ENJOY ACTING LIKE THAY WHY SHE DID LET HIM DO THAT TO HER AND SAY THOSE THINGS TO HER WHY WAS SHEE FREAKING OUT WHY WAS IT SUCH A BIG DEAL TO HER IT SHOULDN'T BE SHOULD IT?
She was extremely zoned out. And bright red.

Quin was confused "What?"

He glanced down. “Arden? Chat noir?” Seeing her so red and yet so out of it made him giggle, but it didn’t last long. He turned back to Quinn.
“Ah, sorry, I tend to go back to French when I get stressed or something. It’s nothing. Um…”
He really wanted for Arden to answer so he knew what he should do, if she was still okay with him carrying her.
Of course, there was also the question of how and why their relationship came to be this way. He was pretty sure they’ve never spoken to each other or acted like this before this moment, and it had always seemed like she’s never liked him anyway. Sure, she said they were friends, but then it seemed to go way past that much quicker than he expected. What had changed? He thought back to the many times when she had tried to both kill him and saved his life, and he smiled. Perhaps it had always been like this.

(Husjhsdjh)

"I can try…" he swallowed, "Um, You can see me again." He spoke as he let go, he wasn't using it with much eumph or force so it he wasn't using it at all, it usually came out when he was very emotional. Not just causally. "Did it work?"

Charlie blinked as he disappeared as soon as he let go, a little weirded out by his disembodied voice. Emery looked back to see if he was still there.
“Uh, no,” Charlie’s said. “Hmm, maybe the effect will fade over time.”

Malachi laughed. “You know what, I’ll just keep carrying you. I like doing it.”
Beside them the creature yawned, then looked at them curiously. She had been humming quietly this whole time, figuring that the two of them didn’t want to be interrupted in their shenanigans. Malachi leaned against her, a little dizzy from the shock from a few moments ago.

"Ah, if I may be of assistance?" Emery volunteered. "I know from both human and alien studies that one's ability is usually strengthened when aided by strong emotions. Perhaps using any emotion he has to strengthen the command when he speaks will break the effect, and clearly, the emotions he has are quite strong."
"True, and he was pretty freaked out when he first disappeared," Charlie replied, then attempted to translate what they said into kid language. "Hey, how about you try again? But this time, you do it with more feeling. You use the feelings inside of you and put them into your words. Does that make sense?"
She seemed to genuinely want to help Matteo, despite how uncomfortable he had made her feel during lunch. He was just a small thing, he didn't know any better, she thought.

"Wow, you're actually being genuinely concerned for my wellbeing?" Malachi chuckled. "Nice change of pace. And I'm alright, though I'm still wondering if my injuries are sticking around longer than I'd like, even though you healed me. A lot that's happened recently has been making my head spin, haha."
A smile grew wide on his face. "Aww, you're cute when you're concerned too," he said. "Of course I want to carry you, I just said I like doing it. It's no trouble."
He kept leaning on the sphinx, just for a little while longer.

(sjdjkdjkdjkdk)

"Et alors? Well, it's kind of a big deal when you've expressed mostly apathy about my wellbeing up to this point." The smile was glued to his face as he watched her, it wouldn't leave for a second. "Oh non, you definitely did something, otherwise I would still be unable to walk. My head and back just ache sometimes."
Snickering at her denial, he continued, "But I think you are. You can't change my opinion any more than you can change the fact that you said I'm pretty, mon chéri."
He stopped leaning on the sphinx, taking rhythmic breaths to keep himself steady. The constant smiling and seeing Arden flush slightly again made it difficult to make deeper breaths though.

(Hehehehehehehe)