PHOENIX WOODS
xxxhow it should be
xxxmany years after the disasters that we’ve seen
xxxwhat have we learned?
xxxother than people burn in purifying flame
While Alex was gone, Phoenix took the precious few seconds to try and pull himself together. He wasn’t the only one dealing with this, he reminded himself, and having meltdowns wasn’t going to help anybody. This would work. It had to work. For everyone’s sake. He made sure everything they needed was in the bag and that he had the tea and the promised baked goods, knowing that keeping himself busy was key. He just needed to get through the next few hours.
He managed to shoot a smile at Alex as he came back. Alex reaching out to fix Phoenix’s hair was such a natural familiar gesture, but Phoenix flinched away from the touch for a fraction of a second, his body reacting almost instinctively to the wrong hand. “No. I think… we needed to say it,” he admitted softly, before taking Alex’s hint to move on and picking up the bag. Alex joking about Triss getting hurt made him crack a proper smile.
The walk back to Zada’s was quiet, but Phoenix was glad for that. Reflecting on and discussing what had happened seemed like something they should do when everyone was back in their correct bodies and the whole thing was behind them. Carrying the bag gave him something to do with his hands and made the absence of Alex’s hand feel less strange.
They let themselves back into Zada’s and went back into the main room. Phoenix dug the healing paste out of the bag and handed it to Triss. “You only need a little bit, and it should start to work right away,” he instructed. “I also brought some protective tea. Me and Abuela figured it out a while back, when the attacks were… really bad.” When him and Alex still weren’t talking to each other. The memory alone made the hollow feeling in his chest come back. “It’s all herbs, fruits, and flowers known to have a protective effect in necromancy and other forms of magic, and I grew them myself which means their effects should be increased. We don’t know for sure if it makes a difference, but I think we need to do everything we can to protect ourselves.” He explained it mostly for Triss’ benefit, as he guessed she was the most likely to question it.
He managed to shoot a smile at Alex as he came back. Alex reaching out to fix Phoenix’s hair was such a natural familiar gesture, but Phoenix flinched away from the touch for a fraction of a second, his body reacting almost instinctively to the wrong hand. “No. I think… we needed to say it,” he admitted softly, before taking Alex’s hint to move on and picking up the bag. Alex joking about Triss getting hurt made him crack a proper smile.
The walk back to Zada’s was quiet, but Phoenix was glad for that. Reflecting on and discussing what had happened seemed like something they should do when everyone was back in their correct bodies and the whole thing was behind them. Carrying the bag gave him something to do with his hands and made the absence of Alex’s hand feel less strange.
They let themselves back into Zada’s and went back into the main room. Phoenix dug the healing paste out of the bag and handed it to Triss. “You only need a little bit, and it should start to work right away,” he instructed. “I also brought some protective tea. Me and Abuela figured it out a while back, when the attacks were… really bad.” When him and Alex still weren’t talking to each other. The memory alone made the hollow feeling in his chest come back. “It’s all herbs, fruits, and flowers known to have a protective effect in necromancy and other forms of magic, and I grew them myself which means their effects should be increased. We don’t know for sure if it makes a difference, but I think we need to do everything we can to protect ourselves.” He explained it mostly for Triss’ benefit, as he guessed she was the most likely to question it.