Emily chuckled at Skye's response and shook her head in amusement. "Probably not. There is a girl there that I think could probably take just about anyone." She conceded. "And duh, of course you should do it. My suggestions are always good suggestions, haven't you figured that out by now?" She teased.

"Well I've definitely had worse times with weirdos in malls." she replied, sticking her tongue out at Skye.

She appeared to be considering it. "Nah, can't be. Maybe the teasing you improved the experience. Maybe." She nodded sagely while they walked out of the mall complex, grateful that the transport would likely have less stressed out passengers than the frantic people running around the mall.

She joked, but the smile was not leaving her face, it in fact seemed to be stuck there with some kind of solvent.

"We'll have to see about that, then," she murmured, her orange hair getting that now more common reddish tint to it. There was about to be a new queen on top, if Skylar Jade Sinclaire had anything to say about it. And as far as she was concerned, she did. "Well, you haven't steered me wrong yet, but hey, our friendship is still young~" she teased, sticking her tongue out in return.

"Of course you had worse times," she countered. "Because you spent today with the best weirdo." Her voice was very matter-of-fact in tone and she kept that confident air about her, that this time was only half-exaggerated. Hell, she was feeling empowered just joking like that, and she was actually starting to believe it.

"Maybe. But either way it was because of me and you admitted it," she said victoriously. As they rode back to the mansion, Emily wasn't the only one with the cheese-eating grin plastered on. They had to have been a funny pairing, but it was public transportation in New York. Nobody really cared. And that was okay with Skye, honestly.

When they got to the Mansion, Skye eagerly grabbed Emily's hand as they made their way off the bus, her hair now that very vibrant shade of yellow.

Shaking her head in amusement Emily almost closed her eyes, just feeling the slight change in her friend's feelings, enjoying the current vibe a lot. "Bite your tongue, my advice is always this good."

Emily snorted, loudly. "You have a high opinion of both yourself, and your weirdness, hmm?" she asked, a teasing edge to her voice. The confidence was very enjoyable, and a good sign that Skye might be getting the whole idea now and dragging herself out of the depression she'd been in. As far as Emily was concerned, Cognitive Behavioural therapy had the right idea, helping people to change their way of thinking to something inherently more positive was a very good way to help them.

Maybe her degree wasn't totally useless. "If you say so." She replied in a soft sing song voice. Emily actually leaned against Skye gently on the public transport, still clearly very aware and awake but with her eyes closed. How could she really relax in a tin can with a ton of other people? She was just trying to envelope herself in her friend's confidence and happiness and drown out everything else, with mixed success.

Emily actually laughed as they were getting off the bus and going into the mansion, Skye basically dragging her. "Hey calm down, where's the fire?" It was one of those funny expression's she'd heard that Emily actually really liked.

"As long as your company stays this enjoyable. The advice is just a plus," she murmured. "Maybe I do, maybe I'm just messin' with ya," she said with a smirk; honestly it was a little bit of both. Skye usually did have a high self-confidence, after all.

She was surprised when Emily lay her head on her shoulder, but Skye smiled, wrapping an arm around her shoulder and letting her head lean softly against the other girls the two of them bathing in a soft indigo light.

"Hey, calm down where's the fire?"

Skye stopped in her tracks, the yellow briefly flickering to purple and back like a weird strobe light. "I'm just excited is all...you know....new game hype," she said with a nervous smile. Yeah, it was totally excitement from a new videogame that was making her react this way...

She was very amused at how much Skye inadvertently complimented Emily. Her brain definitely didn't work the same way that Emily's did, she tended to cover up things with sarcasm and wit, whereas Skye was so genuine and honest. It was sort of refreshing, Emily enjoyed honesty in other people a ton, even if she wasn't really a person to give out much of it herself.

The ride back hadn't been... That bad all things considered. And the mansion was immediately quieter as they entered the frost-dusted grounds than it had been recently, Emily was definitely very thankful for this.

There was always an odd mixture of joy and sadness this time of year. Emily had decided that it was probably the combination of kids that didn't have anywhere to go and appreciating everything that the mansion staff did for these children and teenagers.

She blinked a few times and narrowed her eyes at Skye. Was she planning something? Usually excitement didn't mix with nervousness like that. "Skye? What's up?" She asked, no teasing or edge in her voice, just genuine curiosity.

"Oh, it's nothing," she said honestly. "Just this weird mix of excitement, I guess. I mean I'm really looking forward to this, and I haven't been this excited in forever, but at the same time...part of me expects something to go wrong, ya know?" she said, pouring her heart out as her calmness returned.

"I'm just this weird cocktail of emotions," she admitted. "But...I'm happy, and excited, and still wading through these not so good feelings, but...I'm getting there. I'm getting better," she said solemnly before her face brightened again, her hair instantly turning bright yellow as she flashed a smile.

"Now, let's go~" she said, grinning mischievously as she went back to practically dragging her friend down the hall.

Emily really ought to get as good at digesting and recognising her own emotions as Skye had been getting. It was maybe trickier for her, with the muddling that came from other's being around. She knew her feelings on some things for sure. "I feel like some respectable counsellor when you talk like that~" she teased. She wondered what Gemma would make of the advice she'd given Skye. She supposed no solution or advice was perfect, and Skye seemed much improved than she had been.

"You are a weird cocktail of emotions, and wading through blue emotions is fine. They're still a part of you. And you being a weird cocktail of emotions is also awesome." She corrected.

Rolling her eyes with a soft smile she sighed for dramatic effect. "Oh if you insist."

Emily led Skye to her room after a quick stop over at the microwave to make some popcorn of course, and soon enough they were at her door. She unlocked it and let them in. She had a room to herself. She had enough privacy issues without adding more ontop of them. Emily's room was... surprisingly ordered and clean, given how all over the place her personality could be.

"You should feel like that. But me being a weird cocktail of emotions doesn't really feel awesome. Not usually anyways," she admitted again. But Emily was right, it was a part of who Skye was. All of it was. The good, the bad, the blinding flashes of light combined with the deafening kaboom.

Once the popcorn was finished, they made their way to the room which was...surprisingly clean. "You're a lot more organized than I am," she admitted as she looked around, setting her bags in a corner and pulling out her new game.

She struggled to open the box for a moment, but finally got it loose and got everything set up. Videogames were second nature to her, and she could practically do this with her eyes closed. Once the setup was done, she handed Emily the other controller--player one, actually. Yet another sign of trust was Skye giving up first player. Or maybe she was just being nice because she was the guest, who could tell?

Once the screen loaded, both were taken to a character creation screen, which was actually pretty in depth. There were dozens of characters to choose from, each with their own specializations and abilities, which could be further customized as the game advanced. "Whoa," Skye murmured with a light whistle, deciding on the ferret mage, and customizing her with a pink mohawk because of course she did.

Once the game started and they were thrown into the introductory mission, Skye's hair had settled on a very content orange.

Well, at the very least Skye was thinking about her personality and emotions with some positive emotions too now. Emily figured most people had things they didn't like about themselves, or really just couldn't stand. She also figured most had things that they really didn't mind or actually kind of liked.

She yawned a little as they moved into her room, dropping her bags absentmindedly in the corner. "It kind of varies. It's one of those things that I do when I can't sleep, so more often than not it's clean, even if I'm not really a clean person by nature." She admitted.

Emily set up some cushions on the floor for them to sit on and sat cross legged while Skye set it up, wandering what sort of game it was like. It did look extremely silly.

Skye's character was absolutely adorable. Emily hadn't really played with character creation all that much in these sorts of games, but she supposed as Skye was doing it she may as well. She definitely didn't spend as much time playing around with it, and the end result was that of a gothy looking bat-girl rogue.

She may or may not have giggled when the game started and an adorable cutscene played out, introducing them to their first mission.

The game, Skye found, was an equal mix of adorable and action-packed, edge of your seat fantasy. In fact, it was just as good, if not better than the internet had implied. The first few levels passed quickly, and Skye had deviated from her usual style, opting for a more crowd control and defensive path, which would set up Emily's bat-rogue to deal major damage while being protected from overwhelming attacks.

Her eyes locked on the screen as the first boss appeared and the learning curve definitely started to show itself. It was immune to most of Skye's status inflictions, and had a ton of health. "Oh man...alright, I'll get in front and throw up my defensive spells while you try to attack from behind that, got it, Mari?" She froze, dropping the controller for a moment. "Emily. I mean Emily..." she said, the light turning blue, pulsing faster and faster as she buried her face in her hands, her body heaving a little as she fought back sobs.

And I'd been doing so good, too..."

Okay, so it was maybe, definitely not quite that Emily was being carried. She wasn't really used to playing things this complex or thought requiring. She liked games a lot, she'd just never had much of a talent for them, partially due to the limited time she'd been able to allocate to learning and enjoying them.

Skye on the other hand evidently had played a lot more than Emily, working out what she was doing much before the purple haired Brit did. Emily was honestly not enjoying the gameplay itself so much as the adorable spectacle and the hanging out with a real friend more than anything else.

But at some point it had just.. clicked, and after a couple of hours she knew what she was doing, everything was going smoothly and then they were starting to coordinate and function well as a team.

Until... they weren't.

She intensity and shock of the sadness hit her like a physical blow, Emily gasped and dropped the controller. Blinking a little in shock and turning to see Skye breaking down Emily had an internal freak-out about how to quickly quell this before it got any worse.

It wasn't like she'd never had a panic attack or anything, or been around people that had. She could help. Sure. Yeah.

She took a very brief moment to steady herself against the wave of anguish hitting her, moving physically close to Skye and gently whispering. "Hey hey. Skye. Breath."

Then Emily did something she'd not actually done to anybody, even family, in a long long while. She wrapped her arms around Skye and hugged her tightly. "It's okay. Breath."

Skye was trembling as the sobs turned into full on crying and the blue lights began to pulse faster and faster and she was lost in a torrent of sad thoughts. Outwardly she'd tell herself she was over it, but...she still sorely missed Mari, and that unintentional slip of the tongue sent her right back over the edge.

But she felt something against her rigid, tensed body, and what she heard was distant at first, but she found herself in an embrace, which after a little bit she returned, turning to hug Emily back, perhaps a bit too tightly at first. She buried her face in Emily's shoulder as she cried a bit more, focusing on her breathing and where she was now, physically.

"I...I'm sorry," she murmured into Emily's shoulder, her voice cracking and somewhat squeaky. "I have been having a good time, I promise...I just...ugh..." She looked up to see their characters back at the thankfully recent save point, literally sitting idly. Her brown eyes focused back onto Emily.

"I'll be okay. I'm not gonna...you know..." she made a weird 'explosion' gesture with her hands, giving a weak smile as the blue lights became less erratic.

Emily felt her core rock around a little as Skye sobbed. It was intense. She'd been very close physically to Skye a few times, but not while she was in turmoil, and the only time she'd even been near her like that so far was when she'd just met Skye and was in the process of trying to ignore and avoid her. That wasn't how she felt now though. She wanted it to stop, and not just because it felt awful for her too.

Emily took another steadying breath, hoping that Skye wouldn't hear her it, though with how much of a mess she was it wasn't that likely. The Brit gently held the other girl as she felt her embrace tighten, just letting her sob and started gently stroking her cheek. "It's okay. Just keep breathing. You're fine." she murmured in her ear letting her slowly settle.

"You do not need to apologise. Ever." She shot back with sincerity and heat. "You're an honest, warm person and that's one of my favourite things about you." It was funny, her first instinct had been to stroke her friend's hair, but the blue mohawk somewhat hampered the gesture. So she stroked her friend's cheek instead.

Emily made sure that her eye roll was visible before reaching in, hugging Skye front on, tucking her arms around the other girl and squeezing her, her face on her shoulder gently. "Oh shut up." she soothed softly. "I'm not worried about that." She didn't think it was necessary to add that she was worried about Skye.

She kept breathing, shakily at first, but then it became more steady over time. "I feel like I'm bringing you down...and it was supposed to be fun," she said, leaning into Emily's hand as she stroked her cheek. She found a weird comfort in that; it was nice.

When told to shut up, she actually did, holding Emily close and closing her eyes as the blue slowly became calmer. Indigo. But even as the light subtly changed, she didn't let go, she just sat there, in the moment, her breathing steady and strong. She wasn't worried about Skye's power going off? Then what was she worried about? Her?

She felt her cheeks blush hotly as she just closed her eyes, getting lost in the hug and these feelings of comfort. She was single, and still coming to terms with that after all that time she'd been with Mari, but...she wasn't alone, and that was....nice.

Emily held herself close to the other girl, frustrated at her own lack of power. She wished that she could do the things she'd heard of other empaths doing, taking pain away, easing sadness. It wasn't the sort of thing she thought of often, but she was definitely frustrated by her lack of ability right now, that was for sure.

Emily was out of practice with this whole hugging thing, but she definitely wasn't letting go, she was just doing her absolute utmost to absorb as much of Skye's pain as she could.

"Just breath, it's okay. I'm not going anywhere. Take all the time you need." She soothed. Emily was going to be processing the whole thing later, when Skye was alright and she had some privacy and distance to have her own personal freakout about the whole situation.