Phoenix Zhang
From Stumbles to Supports
It wasn't as if Phoenix had planned on getting lost. She simply. wasn't paying attention.
⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅
Date: 15/05/25 | Time: 17:45 | Outfit: Robes | CC: #english, mandarin
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The day had started well enough. Grey sky. Empty corridors. A break between classes. She had gone from the communal room claiming to get to the library, but in some way her feet had gone somewhere else. She did not want to admit it, but at times she walked to get out of the din—other people, all the talking, the weight of being noticed.
So she walked.
Along unfamiliar as well as familiar corridors. Along staircases which changed on the whim of the moment and doors which refused to yield until courteous appeals in Latin were made. She ran her hand along the cold stone wall, allowed her thoughts to stray very far elsewhere.
Everything had felt too noisy in her head lately.
She had moved to the right along a row of closed windows as the following occurred.
The steps were normal. Firm. A bit lopsided, as was everything in the castle. She went down them unflinching.
Single step.
Two.
Her foot caught on something slippery—a bit of spilled potion, maybe, or possibly just sodden moss—and at the same time the ground gave way beneath her.
Her equilibrium disappeared.
She slipped.
Her knee hit against the edge of a step and she went forward with an inarticulate cry of surprise as she crashed heavily on her side halfway down the following flight of stairs.
Seared through her was the pain. Her ankle rolled under her. She ground her teeth together, rolled half on her side involuntarily, and let out an exasperated moan.
It wasn't cinematic. Not dramatic. Just stupid. Clumsy. Real. She paused for a second, her eyes blinking at the wall. There were dust motes in the air. From a room above her came the muffled sound of students. Nobody had seen her anyway. Small blessings.
Phoenix slowly sat up, testing her ankle. The moment she put her weight on it, a searing shock wave ran through her leg. Not broken, maybe, but not something she was walking on. Raw palms. Raw pride.
"Brilliant!" she snarled at the offending stairs.
She rolled back her sleeve and examined the minor scratch on her fore-arm. Nothing to weep about. Not for her, anyway. Still, however, it hurt.
She sat for awhile. Breathing. Listening to the muffled hum of the castle in the silence. To the odd groan of stone. To the distant thump of wings against an airy window. To the muffled laughter in the distance as if from another world.
She pulled the injured leg close to her chest and rested her chin on her knee.
She would get up in a minute.
She just had to sit on it at first—the burn, the hurt, the embarrassment of it all.
She'd then calculate how to make her way to the Hospital Wing. Or not. Perhaps she'd simply limp off somewhere quieter and wait it out.
However, she was not crying.
In case people were curious, she had fallen because the stair had shifted. Obviously.─────
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| 𝑰𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑾𝒊𝒕𝒉: @none @Amelia Randensmith | 𝑴𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈: @ |
⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅
From Stumbles to Supports
Credit: Ellie Randensmith!
Arggg!!! Amelia thought as she mixed her potion in potion class. Today is NOT my day she growled to herself. But I have to get this over with..
Though since she was in such a bad mood, she could not seem to get her potion to work. If this doesn't work I will cry! She screamed in her head.
Amelia looked at the book though and tried again. And again. Aand again. After she finally got the potion correct and finished mixing up her potion, she thought she heard a cry of pain. Uh oh, I hope whoever is hurt made it ok to the nurse. she thought.
When the professor said it was okay to leave, Amelia dashed out the door and ran down the staircase, running to where she had 'imagined' the cry. Oh I really want to help, but how? Where is this voice coming from?? She was about to go sprinting down the staircase when she realized she could get hurt herself. I don't want to do that! Amelia thought. She barely avoided something on the floor -what was that?- and then spotted a student sitting on the ground. Oh no! Amelia said. Are you okay? she asked the girl.
Reducio
color=#002e7a= speech and italics = thoughts!
Words: 205/200
Outfit: Hogwarts robes
Interacting with: @Phoenix Harlow
Words: 205/200
Outfit: Hogwarts robes
Interacting with: @Phoenix Harlow
☆ "Everybody wants happiness, nobody wants pain, but you can't have a rainbow without a little rain."☆
Amelia Randensmith
Phoenix Zhang
From Stumbles to Supports
Phoenix didn't rise up right away. She sat frozen stiffly on the cold stone floor, her arms wrapped tight across her knee and her teeth gritted shut. Her ankle pounded with every beat of her heartbeat, but the worst wasn't the searing pain. The worst was being seen this way—on the floor, defenseless, pathetic.
⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅
Date: 15/05/25 | Time: 17:45 | Outfit: Robes | CC: #english, mandarin
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She looked up to the girl who'd overheard her falling. Great. Just great. Someone actually did hear her fall. Too late to make a quick getaway then.
"I'm fine." She said it finally, too fast, too loudly. Her words rebounded off the walls, harsh and guarded.
She wasn't fine, it seemed. She knew well enough now—whenever she breathed slightly deeper than she should, her ankle shot a stabbing pain through her body reminding her she'd fallen quite hard. Great. Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant
Phoenix winced as she stood up, shifting her weight forward and grinding her teeth together. Not broken, and yet very sore. Still, she resented the idea of anyone aiding her. That diminished her more than the fall itself.
"Just a moment," she said under her breath, without glancing up at Amelia. "Not as if I have not handled worse."
But her hands trembled slightly where they rested against the ground, and her pride was doing a very poor job at holding her together.
She released a sharp, exasperated breath. Her hair fell over her eyes and she slapped at it more forcefully than needful. "You don't need to just stand and look at me. I will be fine in a moment."
There was another beat. Then softer—a surrender rather than a statement—she said, "Probably."
Phoenix finally looked up properly this time. Frowning at her, Amelia made Phoenix feel more uneasy. "I suppose." She swallowed a third time and spoke very quietly. "If you'd take me to the infirmary, that would. be good."
Her face stiffened. She loathed every word in the sentence.
"I can walk. To a point. Just need to lean against somebody. Possibly."
She hadn’t thanked her yet. Not yet. Too real, too raw, too soon. But she did look at Amelia’s face a moment longer and there was something there—something that seemed almost a truce.
"Please don't make it a big issue, all right?"
This was as close to a thank you as she could manage, and beneath the pride and the pain, deep inside her, she did mean it.─────
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| 𝑰𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑾𝒊𝒕𝒉: @Amelia Randensmith | 𝑴𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈: @ |
⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅
From Stumbles to Supports
Banner credit: Andronica Evans
Please don't make this a big issue, all right? Phoenix had said.
And now Amelia was walking her to the infirmary to make sure her leg was okay.
She totally respected Phoenix's wishes, understanding how it would be to be in her position. Amelia would have felt really embarrassed and wishing for it to not be a big deal either.
So she walked her to the infirmary, staring at the ancient walls and old-looking stair cases, thinking mostly to herself.
Finally, Amelia said, Ok, I won't. and immediately regretted her decision to say this. Ugh, why would I say that? I should have just kept quiet and not make a big deal about all this.. Why can't I keep my stupid mouth shut at these times? Nope, I had to speak up and say 'I won't'. I should apologize, she thought to herself.
Umm sorry about that.. she said, blushing. I just can't seem to keep myself from talking I guess..
There I go again, talking even more!
I really am sorry though. I should just keep quiet and take you to the infirmary.. Amelia sighed, her face the color of a tomato.
Sometimes I wonder how I can even manage to create such embarrassing moments like these. Phoenix just wants to get her ankle treated after falling and yet I have to blurt everything that I think. Well I certainly learned a lesson from this! I shouldn't speak all of my thoughts! I should keep some of them to myself.. Amelia thought.
Reducio
Thoughts are in italics, speech is this color!and phoenix's speech is this color!
wc: 262
mentioning: @
interacting with: @Phoenix Harlow
wc: 262
mentioning: @
interacting with: @Phoenix Harlow
☆ "Everybody wants happiness, nobody wants pain, but you can't have a rainbow without a little rain."☆
Amelia Randensmith
Phoenix Zhang
From Stumbles to Supports
Phoenix limped along beside her, her teeth clenched tight on both the agony in her ankle and the embarrassed truth that she needed assistance. The jolting with each step hurt her ankle, but she grumbled on what dignity she could hold in this situation. The stone corridors lengthened on and on before them, and she couldn't help but look at the ridges in the floor instead of her face.
⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅
Date: 15/05/25 | Time: 17:45 | Outfit: Robes | CC: #english, mandarin
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When the girl spoke—that little "Okay, I won't"—her chest constricted. Not with anger, per se, because that would be less bearable. Something else. The girl took trouble, actually took trouble, and Phoenix could sense the discomfort in those words. She had heard her own voice sound so tentative breaking small talk.
And the apology. And the other one. And the girl's face turning this ridiculously bright red.
Phoenix stopped.
The silence between them filled with nothing but sounds far off in the castle—the groan of wood, stifled voices, the perpetual susurration of draughts around old interstices.
"Stop," she'd finally told her, her tone gentler than it had been since the fall. Not harsh or aggressive this time. Just tired. "Stop apologizing."
She shifted her weight and winced as her grumbling ankle finally caught up, and looked at the girl.
"You're assisting me," Phoenix explained, the words slowly as though translating them into another language. "You heard me fall—and yes, someone did hear me fall, the one thing I didn't actually want to go and do but hey—you went searching. You helped me when you could have walked away."
Her fingers ran over the ridged stone wall, seeking something to hold.
"I'm no good at this," she admitted, the words almost a whisper. "At accepting help. At enjoying without thinking I'm getting something for it. At normal conversation where people speak and other people respond without doubting three times about every word."
There was a ghost of a smile flickering across her mouth—bitter, rather than humorless. "You talk too much. I don't talk enough. Or talk about the wrong thing. Books, theories, ideas that are meaningful to me, but less meaningful than. less than however it seems people, other people, make it so easy."
She limped forward, slower this time, less focused upon getting as fast as possible to their destination and more upon merely getting there at all without falling again. The last thing her ego could tolerate was falling once more.
"You don't have to be quiet," she says as she completes another dozen gimlet steps. "It's really. invigorating. Most people that talk to me, they talk because they want something. Something to write in an essay, or they're trying to tell me that they're smarter than I, or they're speaking because they hate silence. But you just. talk. Like a normal person talks."
"Don't apologize for being yourself if there's nothing wrong." Phoenix limped on attempting to get to the Hospital wing faster. She couldn't possibly stand here any longer in case the girl tried to apologize again or worse break into hysterics. ─────
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| 𝑰𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑾𝒊𝒕𝒉: @Amelia Randensmith | 𝑴𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈: @None |
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