Phoenix Zhang
15 May 2025, 17:31
Snipped Moments
The fourth floor girls' restroom was empty and still, as it always was. Phoenix Harlow slipped inside and let the door close silently on its hinges. That sunlight filtering through the high windows was diffused and gentle, casting gentle shadows on the tile. Closed off, isolated from the castle proper, was the restroom. Private.
⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅
Date: 19/05/25 | Time: 16:45 | Outfit: ✕ | CC: #711919
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She liked it here. Perhaps she simply required it today, though.
Phoenix headed directly for the mirror. The largest one. The one that had the fewest cracks. Her own reflection greeted her with a calm that she could never feel.
She set the bag on the sink and unzipped it. No hesitation, at least not yet. Her palm closed tightly over the scissors, the chilly metal digging into it.
They hadn't expected it—just the two of them, during Potions class. They were smart enough, though.
Placing them on the counter, she glanced up.
Gray-green eyes gazed at her. Her features were white, eyes unseeing. Dark hair cascaded down below the line of her shoulders, curling over at the ends. It was neat. It was familiar. It hadn't changed, though everything else had.
Phoenix brought a hand up and smoothed it through, tucking it back against the side of her ear, smoothing it flat. Her mother had done it to her every day, when school let out, and later, when she was old enough, when Phoenix was doing it to herself. She'd hummed over spell theory or recited potion ingredients to her when rocking her to bed. Calming, soothing, comforting, but never, ever, like him.
Her ribcage hurt She missed her. Her mother was still present, still polite, still attempting. Something, however, was fractured since the divorce, something tense and subdued. Phoenix sensed tension beneath every smile. How that voice trembled on the fringes. How she'd ask after school but never after what Phoenix was doing. Maybe she didn't want to know. Maybe she was unable.
And my father—he did not even try
He owled her last week. Four sentences. Greeting: *Hello, hope everything is going well. Don't forget to eat. Love, Dad.*
That was it.
No "Sorry" and "I miss you."
It wasn't asked of him. At least, not now. It still stung, though.
Phoenix grabbed for the scissors.
They vibrated an off note against the palm of her hand—frail, too. She wound one strand about the side of her face. Its weight rested against the pads of her fingers. As if it wasn't a part of her. A part of a human. A human who was still standing. A human still sitting and listening to her mother recite wand motions moving through hair. A human who hadn't begun to hold her breath over the creak of tense talk beyond closed doors.
She looked into the mirror
Her look was resolute.
She did not wish to be that girl anymore—the one suspended between two silences, navigating life as though she did not feel the tension that occupied every space. She needed to be different.
Tightening her hold on the scissors.
And she waited.
Not precisely cutting. Here and now, no. But close.
Close enough to sense tension rising within her, a layer from the past being peeled off.─────
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| 𝑰𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑾𝒊𝒕𝒉: soon with @Andronica Evans | 𝑴𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈: @ |
⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅
Last edited by Phoenix Zhang on 30 May 2025, 10:49, edited 2 times in total.
17 May 2025, 14:54
Snipped Moments
Andronica Evans ----- SLYTHERIN -- WITH : @Name Surname |
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PERFECT ORDINARY | |
Andronica was walking with her saxophone in her case , swing it slightly as she walked , quietly down the hall , she was gonna go to the girls lavatory to practice , I mean no one was really up there anyways? Usually there was a lot of people in the rehearsal room practicing instruments so she thought why not the girls lavatory ? Even though it was hard to carry her saxophone all the way up there it worked , she walked happily as she did , she let out a breath and opened the door , she looked around and saw a girl , not that she knew who it was , she looked at the other though
Standing in front of the mirror
Scissors in hand
the air changed a bit around her
Andronica had stilled a bit in the door way , the girl hadn't noticed her yet which was good to ann , she looked around debating on leaving or staying to see if the girl was okay or not , andronica had tried to get a look at the girl , she didn't notice her , maybe they didn't have classes together , she thought , than she sat her saxophone down at the door and slowly made her way to the girl , and looked in the mirror " Cutting you're hair ?..." , it reminded her of when she cut her hair after her ex-friend called her a freak and the next when her parents divorced " Im not gonna stop you , don't know you're story or why you are doing such thing. " she sighed and smiled slightly " Cut my hair during Easter well-- my best friend did but , that was because my parents divorced. " she bit her cheek a bit , it still hurt to know what her mother had done to her father , and to her , she shook her head and spoke once more " I can help you if you want?" she asked ,
Still no name. It didn’t feel like the moment for names. Just two girls. One pair of scissors. A little bit of understanding in the air between them.
Standing in front of the mirror
Scissors in hand
the air changed a bit around her
Andronica had stilled a bit in the door way , the girl hadn't noticed her yet which was good to ann , she looked around debating on leaving or staying to see if the girl was okay or not , andronica had tried to get a look at the girl , she didn't notice her , maybe they didn't have classes together , she thought , than she sat her saxophone down at the door and slowly made her way to the girl , and looked in the mirror " Cutting you're hair ?..." , it reminded her of when she cut her hair after her ex-friend called her a freak and the next when her parents divorced " Im not gonna stop you , don't know you're story or why you are doing such thing. " she sighed and smiled slightly " Cut my hair during Easter well-- my best friend did but , that was because my parents divorced. " she bit her cheek a bit , it still hurt to know what her mother had done to her father , and to her , she shook her head and spoke once more " I can help you if you want?" she asked ,
Still no name. It didn’t feel like the moment for names. Just two girls. One pair of scissors. A little bit of understanding in the air between them.
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PERFECT ORDINARY | |
Word Count: 370
Hair but blonde with White streaks || Clothes
Hair but blonde with White streaks || Clothes
𓇼 ˖°- 
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Phoenix Zhang
18 May 2025, 04:45
Snipped Moments
Of course Phoenix heard the door open. She wasn't so remote in her thoughts that she missed it. Her eyes flicked up to the mirror, watching the reflection change behind her. A second figure. Another girl. A stranger, by the sound of it - no familiar voice, no house colors she immediately recognized.
⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅
Date: 19/05/25 | Time: 16:45 | Outfit: ✕ | CC: #english, mandarin
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She stays silent. Still. Waiting for the figure to pass by. But it would not. The footsteps slowed and then stopped. The girl did not concentrate immediately. Just stood there, maybe looking or thinking. The air changed. A little thicker.
Phoenix tightened her grip over the scissors, however.
She didn't want people to watch her. Having come all the way to the girls' lavatory for precisely that reason-no one came here, it was quiet, and she thought she could do it without anyone watching.
Cut it off, leave it behind. The hair, the old version of herself-the girl in the photos with two smiling parents and a world that still made sense.
A long thin breath escaped her.
"So I thought it would make the whole experience a little easier, being by myself," she murmured, not turning. "It didn't."
For now, the scissors hung heavy in her hand, as if filled with everything she'd never want to say out loud. She focused her gaze on them. Silver glint. Cold, precise. But her fingers had gone taut against them, and she couldn't quite bring herself to move.
Behind her, the other girl was still there. Not filling the silence, not asking questions. Just… staying. Unusual from most people.
hesitating
She hesitated, then slowly lowered her arm, fingers uncurled from the handle - reluctant but deliberate - and extended the scissors back - offering them, quiet, open - without looking over her shoulder.
"You can do it," she said, softer now. No melodrama, no ritual. Only weary trust. Only a choice.
Now that they finally met in the mirror, Phoenix confronted the girl head-on. Not guarded. Not cold. Just... exposed, in a way she hadn't meant to be, but couldn't quite hide.
Since she was a child, nobody had given any haircut with utter gentility and well-practiced wizardry. Those days laid before everything started, before letters, fights, and silence which accompanied her into each room today.
Phoenix, however, did not grin. She did not flinch either. Not once did she take back the scissors.─────
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| 𝑰𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑾𝒊𝒕𝒉: @Andronica Evans | 𝑴𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈: @ |
⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅
Last edited by Phoenix Zhang on 23 May 2025, 06:10, edited 1 time in total.
23 May 2025, 05:44
Snipped Moments
Andronica Evans ----- SLYTHERIN -- WITH : @Name Surname |
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PERFECT ORDINARY | |
Andronica watched the movements the other girl had made , any signs of nervousness , hesitation or wanting her to leave , if she wasn't welcome than she wasn't welcome , she wouldn't push the girl . She looked at the others hand as she gripped the scissors in her hand , Andronica bit her lip , the movement reminding her of when she cut her hair back in march , she still couldn't believe one of her closest friends called a freak for rejecting him , that hurt and it still hurts after all this time. the girl than spoke jolting Andronica outta her thought's to pat attention .
Andronica didn't responded immediately to the other , she just studied her , mostly people would either leave or something but Andronica felt like this girl need to say what was on her mind , and she would be here to listen , there was no room to judge anyways , she had her own struggles , she than pused a bit as the girl extended her hand back to Andronica , he reached her hand up and hesitantly grabbed the scissors and sighed softly not out of annoyance but out of relief that she wasn't being pushed away , Andronica simply nodded and spoke softly , trying to lower her usual high pitched to fit the mood hut that didn't really work" If you need to talk about why you are changing your hair , you can tell me. I'm not here to judge just to help." she spoke with a slight smile , honestly she didn't even know why she was being so nice to a stranger , she sighed mentally as she hummed a song , usseewa by ado to herself while looking at the girls hair , did she was a specific style or was it up to Andronica? She didn't ask and waiting , hoping maybe the other would say so .
Andronica didn't responded immediately to the other , she just studied her , mostly people would either leave or something but Andronica felt like this girl need to say what was on her mind , and she would be here to listen , there was no room to judge anyways , she had her own struggles , she than pused a bit as the girl extended her hand back to Andronica , he reached her hand up and hesitantly grabbed the scissors and sighed softly not out of annoyance but out of relief that she wasn't being pushed away , Andronica simply nodded and spoke softly , trying to lower her usual high pitched to fit the mood hut that didn't really work" If you need to talk about why you are changing your hair , you can tell me. I'm not here to judge just to help." she spoke with a slight smile , honestly she didn't even know why she was being so nice to a stranger , she sighed mentally as she hummed a song , usseewa by ado to herself while looking at the girls hair , did she was a specific style or was it up to Andronica? She didn't ask and waiting , hoping maybe the other would say so .
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PERFECT ORDINARY | |
Word Count: 330
Hair but blonde with White streaks || Clothes
Hair but blonde with White streaks || Clothes
Phoenix Zhang
23 May 2025, 14:03
Snipped Moments
Phoenix watched the reflection carefully as the other girl reached out her hand towards her. Fingertips touched the scissors very briefly before curving over them. Phoenix allowed her hand to sag limp but did not stiffen, yet the slight trembling did not cease even when they'd fallen from her hand. That touch had happened more gently than she'd intended it to.
⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅
Date: 19/05/25 | Time: 16:45 | Outfit: ✕ | CC: #english, mandarin
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The girl — still unaware of her own name — stared back at her. Not pushing. Not demanding. Simply waiting. And it affected Phoenix in her chest. She'd never waited before, not in this way. Not in a way where what she said or didn't say would count with somebody. Not since the divorce and the world shattered and created Before and After.
The moment remained between us but the tension did not. Rather, it lay out in the open. And open proved adequate to bring Phoenix to speak.
"I don't know if I can say," she began slowly, her low rasp sounding more as if it hadn't been used in days. "But… perhaps it isn't all about the hair."
She looked at her reflection once more and her hands clenched feebly at her sides. Her reflection in the glass was tired. Her skin pale. Her eyes — her dulling gray-green — duller than they ought to have been. “It’s hard. Back home,” she continued, each word guarded. “Nothing just feels… right. Like I’m just making it through the day in clothes I don’t fit in any more. Like I don’t know who I’m meant to be any more.” She blinked harshly but didn’t turn her face from the glass. "I got on with my mum. She'd do my hair every morning. She'd hum and it wasn’t any tune you'd recognize — ancient pure blood things, gentle things." She said nothing at all about her father. He barely acknowledged her before things went wrong.
Her lips tightened.
I guess I thought if I did this, then I would feel like I'm doing something, in control somehow. Or at least like I'm not just sitting waiting for the situation to get any worse.
Phoenix let her hands rise to rest alongside her own hair. "But not too much. Below my shoulders, perhaps. I don't want it cut off entirely. I just don't want to look so much like her — the girl who thought everything would always be the same."
She finally turned away from the mirror and glanced over at the other girl again. She said quietly, "You don't need to say anything. Just… thank you. Because you didn't leave."
She remained silent for a moment. She didn't smile, but her taut mouth softened slightly.
Continue at any time
And Phoenix sat somewhat more upright — as if preparing herself for a small but permanent thing.─────
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| 𝑰𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑾𝒊𝒕𝒉: @Andronica Evans | 𝑴𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈: @ |
⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅
