The Zodiac Cycle

3.13 Bonds

(Just the outfit is relevant, stats and hair are different)

Elizabeth clasped the cloak around her collarbone and stepped back, looking in the mirror. The outfit Stormy had made her was formfitting and soft. It had a grey and black jumpsuit with a green corset over it. It had matching green leg sleeves that had a ring around her middle talon to keep it down, and gold trim. She had a gold ribbon tied around her left elbow, and an elbow length, fingerless grey glove on her right arm. The glove also had a gold trim. The jumpsuit clasped around her neck and had no sleeves, and she wore a long black cloak with a hood to tie the outfit together.

Stormy had laced bits of steel and armor through the outfit to make it both fashionable, and safe. She had stood for an hour or so as he made measurements for it, and then sat talking with him while he made it, having her try it on throughout the process. The final product was magnificent.

Stormy was a nice guy, and easy to get along with. He seemed flirty when he was around the whole group, but alone, he wasn't.

"You like?" He asked. Another thing was that he was passionate about his armor-making, and good at it.

Elizabeth nodded. "Its perfect."

"Look at this." He fiddled with the hood, and put it on her head, allowing her to realize there were two zippers so she could put on the hood without her antlers getting in the way. That was ingenious!

She laughed. "Nice!"

Stormy beamed. "I knew you were a good first option." He stepped to in front of her and put his fingers in a square to look at her face. "You are my muse! I've never designed for a wendigo before." He stepped back into his workshop area, out of the changing room, and started cleaning up the scraps of fabric.

"I've never met a phoenix before either." Elizabeth admitted. She closed the curtain on the changing room, clasping the cloak so she could take the outfit off. "Aren't you immortal?"

Stormy chuckled. "Nah, it doesn't work like that."

"You don't rise reborn from the ashes?"

"Well, we do." He seemed like he didn't know how exactly to explain it. "But it's just that. We are reborn, reset. A phoenix loses all their memories and capabilities from their past life when they die. We go back to ground zero."

"Oh- is there any way to get your past life back?"

"Nope." He sounded a bit sad. "We might end up with the same people and maybe the same personality, but I, Stormy, am not who I used to be. It's called a Reset."

"Do you fear it?" Elizabeth put the outfit in a nearly folded pile and pulled on her other clothes.

"I don't fear death, no." He hesitated, "but I do fear leaving people behind. I cant imagine how much it would hurt Mark if I was reset. He was threatened with that once, and I won't let it happen again."

"You and him are close?" She opened the curtain once more to see that Stormy had stopped what he was doing and was standing there, sullen.

"I love him." Elizabeth could barely hear Stormy whisper.

She was quiet for a moment. "You sure flirt a lot with strangers for someone already in love."

Stormy laughed. "That's a bit hard to explain."

"I can tell it pisses him off." Elizabeth pointed out.

"Yeah, I know that too, but it's also my way of teasing him. Like I said, it's hard to explain, but we've talked about it before."

"So... you two are together?"

"Yes and no. It's a bit complicated." He sat down and crossed his arms, huffing.