PHOENIX. [sequel to 067]

06. little tells.

"the cryo archon, respectfully," he says before moving his head away from yours.

you were about to question him about what exactly an "archon" was, but you weren't given the chance. lady tsaritsa turned around, so that her body is facing everyone in the room. her face never changed expressions; that small gentle smile of hers always stayed plastered on her face, though, not in a forced manner. there's something so ... genuine about it.

her icy toned eyes glance between you and everyone one else in the room. she doesn't speak for a few moments, as neither does everyone else in the room. everyone remains silent, just as her. you could practically hear dottore's breathing with how quite it is. his chest slowly rising before falling once more, small little exhales and inhales, you basically hear it all. and there's something so relaxing to it.

"well," the archon starts as she clears her throat. she takes a long inhale before she places a hand on her hip, "arlecchino and damslette, continue with your missions, captiano tries to establish relations with fontaine in ... a better manner than whatever it is you're doing, dottore."

her gaze shifts onto the two of yours and you see that genuine smile falter, slightly, "dottore, continue your work with the balladeer. however, is that ... elixir of yours, only eligible with gnosis'?"

inhale, exhale. you hear it from him once more as she speaks towards him. do they not get along? you weren't too sure, seeing how dottore still speaks to her with respect and how she seems so gentle with him; yet, they each have their own little responses to each other's presence. little tells.

though, everyone in this room seemed off put by how dottore treats you. like they ... know something you don't. especially the older man, pierro. he never makes it obvious, but little tells. his gaze would harden at the sight of dottore clutching onto your waist, and small sighs had left his lips in that experimentation room earlier.

... what did they know? clearly, it has to be something quite important. maybe it was why you died? or the events leading up to your death? well, obviously, they'd know that. they didn't die. you did.

"yes, fair lady. everything else has resulted in clone death," dottore answers, catching her attention once more. you could feel his breathing fasten, slightly, but it did fasten as she took steps closer towards him.

"clone death, how?" she asks him.

everyone's eyes laid upon the two of you. it's as if daggers had been pushed through the two of you with how they were looking. so shocked, so ... intrigued.

"i'm not quite sure what you're asking of me, fair lady."

"how did they die? you never mentioned any 'clone death' in reports."

"... the elixir was sort of, how does one say this, an "on the fly" sort of thing."

"but clearly there had to be multiple trials, no? otherwise clones wouldn't have died? hm, dottore?"

"why are you interrogating me?" dottore's voice slightly raises in tone as he speaks to lady tsaritsa.

"surely, you wouldn't be withholding information from your lady, would you?" the tsaritsa continues to pressure him. her smile drops as she finishes speaking.

"not at all, fair lady. that would be treason."

"mhm, correct, il dottore. we'll speak later."

"...i see."

"as i was saying," the tsaritsa switches topics quickly, standing so everyone may see her face and expressions, "since this elixir of dottore's seems to be a 'gnosis' only, sort of situation, we will be hosting a feast. a peaceful dinner for all of the archons across the nations, if things go well, we may even be able to end the warn with the nations."

"that isn't wise, lady tsaritsa," captiano chimes in. he doesn't seem .. as nervous to speak to the tsaritsa as dottore had been, but you also weren't feeling his breathing patterns, so maybe he was, "we're already in possession of barbatos' and morax's gnosis, which should be enough for now, my lady. if we were to invite them all here, we open ourselves up for multiple attacks, and having this many harbingers out in the open for them to attack is unwise."

he makes valid points, yet, pierro seems to have a handful of words as groans audibly in his chair. you watch how his hands ball up against his skin and how his fingers dig into his palm.

"are you doubting your own abilities, captiano?" pierro questions with a harsh tone.

"against the archons? absolutely. i would be a foul not to, i'm not a god by any means," captiano responds while his voice raises as he speaks.

"yet, you have more than capable colleagues."

"don't drag me into this shit," dottore blurts out after pierro mentions "more than capable colleagues". his tone was harsh, definitely harsher than earlier, as his breathing fastens once more.

"mind your manners. however, if my fair lady wishes to hold a feast for the archons, than that is what will be happening, captiano. you are under no position-"

"we get it, you married her," childe groans as his fingers tap against the wooden table, cutting off the old man.

"excuse me?"

"that's why you're defending her so advertently, yeah? because you're married? everyone knows it," childe speaks while dropping his shoulders in a shrug, "surely, you understand how the idea sounds. yeah, let's gather all of the archons in one singular area, line up on a wall, and fucking rob them of their godhood!"

so the gnosis' are tied to godhood, you think to yourself. you've been thinking to yourself for quite some time, about how everyone seems to not get along. captiano seems to be the most reasonable, childe and pierro seem to be argumentative with one another, and dottore and the tsaritsa definitely have ... some History. the damslette and arlecchino seemed to get along, or maybe they just aren't as vocal as the men.

"well, maybe if you wouldn't have fucked the geo archon, we wouldn't be in this fucking predicament, ajax."

"the fuck does that have to do with this? did you want morax's gnosis or not?"

"of course, you're still so disrespectful. you just don't want to have to face the man that you manipulated, and tried to drown the nation of."

"i could care less about that. maybe you should stop thinking with your dick and start-" childe starts to speak before getting cut off of a loud 'ahem' from the tsartisa's lips.

"boys, my decision is final, cease your pointless arguing, especially in front of a guest," she says, gesturing towards you with her hand.

"oh, he's not even a guest, everyone knows they're fuc-"

"childe. enough."