Swallow Your Affection

Waiting Game

"So-"

Phil's voice absently floats in your direction.

It was a gloomy day, rain harshly splattering against the wood roof.

Both you and Phil were seated on his balcony, staring into the rain, keeping just out of reach of the cold droplets.

It was a day after the Butcher army left, and depending on their pace, who knows how close they were to Techno.

The two of you had nothing to do, grounded on self absorbed words and seated in each other's company.

"Why aren't you leaving?" Phil asks.

His gaze is firmly locked on the rain, and even with such a serious sounding question he had no tenseness. Mere curiosity being the only thing in his tone and body language.

"Leaving?" You question, "As in... you?"

"Yeah. Why aren't you leaving?" He taps the iron ring on his ankle with an absent small metallic tink.

You huff, "Why aren't you?"

"I'm playing a game that requires patience, that's why." He chuffs a small noise at a random thought before continuing, "If I leave now, the next time I come back they'll be aggressive, so why not keep position and possibly get good information?"

You laugh, "What information could you possibly be getting??"

"Nooo idea-" He cackles for a second, "But knowing Techno... it'll be useful to have something cataloged in my brain."

You huff.

Sounds scary.

Phil shifts, wings spreading briefly as he adjusts to cross his legs.

Which makes you notice how disheveled they looked.

Which made sense, you supposed.

Phil had a lot of stuff happening in his mind at the moment, and it's understandable that he'd be too focused on stress to look at much else.

"Preen?" You question, gesturing to his wings with a hopeful look.

He just cackles at the question before nodding, "Eh- sure why not."

With a happy scoot, you pull yourself backwards, letting Phil's one good wing extend out to you.

Preening was always so calming. Gentle hands, doing gentle work, smoothing feathers and letting anything dead ease out naturally.

It was silent for a while, just you and Phil sitting in the calming, bittersweet atmosphere.

Bittersweet in the sense that you both were stuck here. Kind of.

"You could totally leave right now. Don't you want to see Tommy?" Phil's voice is quiet. Still curious, but almost littered with concern.

Like he thought you should leave right now.

You smoothed over a few more feathers before a long arduous sigh came from your mouth.

"Well of course I do. But leaving you here for what I want to do just feels... wrong." You huff a laugh, "Besides- I don't know how to get there."

Philza laughs at your answer but doesn't do more to question you. He takes your answer, glad you answered him to begin with, and tucks it into his mind.

"Classic you." He says.

"Classic me." You reply.

"I don't get why you think so intensly about how people are feeling." His wings shift in your hold as he speaks, shuffling his arms around to get comfortable yet again, "If you stop caring about strangers, you won't feel that bad when bad things happen."