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

Started September 23, 2020 by @Tired-but-passionate

tune

Just when Alister thought Matteo forgot about his obsession with him, the little boy turned and attacked him with his hug. Alister laughed though, and hugged him back. When he saw Evan looking a little sad, he pulled him into the hug too and they formed a little Matteo sandwich.
Just as Kali was stroking Quinn’s hair, Malachi was stroking Kali’s. He also didn’t know what to say, but watched them with a smile on his face. ”Chat noir… chaton blanc…” he cooed. After a moment he raised his head to look at Alister.
“Um, we can, of course, give you time before you decide, Alister,” he told him. “Just let me know when you’re ready to choose.”
Alister turned to look at him, and nodded.

Matteo was quickly soothed by the hugs from both his father and his papa. He nuzzle into them determined to never let them go again, it was way too scary to do so the first time.
Quin was more or less the same as he purred when kali stroked his head gently, leaning into her hand. Kali was also leaning into malachis hand as the head strokes felt really good.
She leaned into malachi as he talked to alister and just felt a decent bit relaxed.

Some time later, they had moved out of the infirmary. Malachi had sent the Storm siblings, Evan, and Matteo off to eat and rest. Now, he had gathered himself, Kali, August, and Charlie (who was feeling better), into a side room that might have been an old prison cell or holding room. Of course, the little Quinn was also there, and they had given him a small pack of crackers to eat. The book sat on a small table, and Malachi stared at it, eyes sparking with something like confusion and maybe a little nervousness.
“Alright,” he sighed. “I think it should be destroyed, but we should know how this works in case something like that happens again… or if that group of women soldiers continues to target us. What do you guys think?” He looked up, watching the others’ faces.

Some time later, they had moved out of the infirmary. Malachi had sent the Storm siblings, Evan, and Matteo off to eat and rest. Now, he had gathered himself, Kali, August, and Charlie (who was feeling better), into a side room that might have been an old prison cell or holding room. Of course, the little Quinn was also there, and they had given him a small pack of crackers to eat. The book sat on a small table, and Malachi stared at it, eyes sparking with something like confusion and maybe a little nervousness.
“Alright,” he sighed. “I think it should be destroyed, but we should know how this works in case something like that happens again… or if that group of women soldiers continues to target us. What do you guys think?” He looked up, watching the others’ faces.

Quin was happily eating his crackers, his humming filling the silence of the room while everyone thought to themselves a way to deal with the present issue on hand.
Kali stared it down, "it should be destroyed but..it's too valuable. I dont know what's in it but it has to have something we can use against the aliens. Against the group of girls." She sighed, petting Quinn head.
"Someone should read it." She spoke, looking at it.

“Read it?” August tilted her head. “Not aloud, right?”
Malachi shook his head. “Reading aloud, straight from the source might give us a less than desirable outcome.” He looked pointedly at Charlie, who scowled.
“Just let me read it,” she said. “I promise I won’t do anything, and I’ll understand any non-English words in there.”

Kali glared at Charlie, letting out a scoff. “You? I wouldn’t trust you to read it farther then I can throw you. Malachi should read it, if he has any language barriers then he can ask you or me.”she crossed her arms at Charlie as she spoke.

August tried to hide a snicker at this exchange. Charlie glared back at Kali, then glared at August, who threw up her hands. “C’mon Charlie, let Mal read it. It doesn’t really matter if we just need the information, right?”
She sighed. “Fine.”
Malachi looked a little uneasy, however. “To be honest, I don’t trust either of you to read or hear anything from this book. August, what languages do you know?”
August paused to think. “Ah. A little bit of German, and you taught me a little bit of French, and that’s about it I’m afraid.”
Malachi sighed. “Well, I’ll read it. We’ll deal with other languages when we get to it.”

Kali snickered at Charlie when august ended up siding with her idea.
“Huh, I wonder if it has your information in it Charlie. It probably does.” She commented as she glared at her.
Quinn was uneasy with the small arguments that were happening, and just how kali and Malachi we’re both tense.

For a moment, Charlie’s eyes flashed with genuine fear. Malachi held a hand out to each of them. “Now, now, let’s not go there. We can’t do this right now, with a dangerous object in front of us. Let us forget past conflicts and focus on the situation at hand.”
He lowered his hands, turning to the book. Upon opening it, he found what looked to be a profile for a female soldier. A girl’s photo was on the left-hand corner, with her name and ID number at the top. Hana Allen 102. Most of the information was written in the alien’s language, with an English translation underneath.
“Oh.”

Kali lifted a brow at Malachi. “What’s oh?” She couldn’t deny feeling smug that she made Charlie afraid, though immediately felt bad about it since she felt same.

Malachi pursed his lips. “Maybe this won’t be so bad? It might have more information than we think. See, here? It has strengths and weaknesses, her abilities, her history of experimentation, her… her trigger words…” The list of words was in Russian, like Kali’s. “We can know this group more intimately, at least. Though you’re probably right, chat noir. It will have Charlie’s information in here, along with yours.”

Malachi pursed his lips. “Maybe this won’t be so bad? It might have more information than we think. See, here? It has strengths and weaknesses, her abilities, her history of experimentation, her… her trigger words…” The list of words was in Russian, like Kali’s. “We can know this group more intimately, at least. Th
ough you’re probably right, chat noir. It will have Charlie’s information in here, along with yours.”

She definitely tensed at the mention of her own information being held in the book, but she wasn't anymore tense then she was earlier. She hated that book, but they couldn't destroy it. It held too much valuable information for them to destroy it.
"We can't destroy it because it could give the upper hand against the aliens..'

"So, we lock it up," August said. "Keep it in a safe place, and no one except us–" She glanced at Charlie. "Well, most of us know about it." Charlie frowned at this.
"I suppose that is the best we can do," Malachi agreed. "However, I can think of a few things we could do before we put it up." He looked down at Kali. "Do you want to see if we can find information on the woman who attacked you?" he asked. "Or, do you want to find information on you and your life before the aliens?"

“My life, before the aliens..?” She looked at him and then the book. Would the aliens really have kept record of all of that in there. She.. really wanted to know what her life was like before the aliens but she doubted it would be in there.
“We should out about the girl first if anything. That way we will know what to do the next time we come across her.”

Malachi nodded. “I just thought… since you lost your memories…” he glanced away for a moment, then nodded again. “Do you happen to know her name?” He asked. He started flipping through it to see if one of the girls’ photos looked even remotely similar to the woman. The others were quiet, watching.

@imNOTdenki