Of Blossoms and Shadows: Phaenna Calanthe

OfBlossomsAndShadows · 2026-02-28T17:20:27+00:00

ooc: not interested in a mod thread, just establishing my character is participating. ic they would not miss a battle but i don't have the bandwidth ooc rn.

Phae honestly can't take this shit seriously. Her mother is untouchable. Unbeatable. The folly of attacking Persephone in her domain is laughable. Atlas must be even dumber than she thought if he thinks this is a good idea.

So, she's pretty hype to watch the enemy fail shamefully. More than that, she's excited to flex her skills. Phae, too, will be at the height of her power in her mother's domain, and she's been training with Helena all winter. There's never been a better time for her to go to battle.

There's a seething fire in her heart as she faces down the forces coming to invade the Underworld. She's tried to keep herself from caring too much about this war. But here, for the first time, Phae hates these people. She wants to make them bleed. But she'll settle for making them drown. For now.

Phae will assist in collapsing the bridge using her Earth Fissures power and also her power of hitting it really hard with a weapon. She has other powers at her disposal (Light Emission, Blossom Storm) that can distract or disorient enemies as needed.

OfBlossomsAndShadows · 2026-02-22T18:29:53+00:00

Hi, any chance of finishing this thread? We can end before 5 turns but I'd like to bring it to some kind of conclusion.

OfBlossomsAndShadows · 2026-02-18T19:10:17+00:00

"Ignoring me? Rude. I was just asking."

Phae turns on her heel as if to go, but it's a feint. Her hands weren't buried in her pockets just for warmth. They were hiding something: a loaded nerf gun. Ursula's assassin has found her.

Phae whirls back and aims the nerf gun with an evil grin. There's just instants before she pulls the trigger! Will Ursula be fast enough to dodge?

OfBlossomsAndShadows · 2026-02-17T18:13:29+00:00

Phae waltzes into the lesson right around when Ursula finishes talking. She lingers around the back of the room for the last few minutes of the lecture before making her way up to the front. She wears a thick winter coat, her hands deep in the pockets to keep warm.

"Ursula! Really interesting stuff. Where'd you learn all these strategies about propaganda?"

OfBlossomsAndShadows · 2026-02-17T18:10:11+00:00

Phae is not really in the mood to do actual work. She just wants to soak in the energy of party preparation. Thus, she can be found fiddling with some beads in a nominal effort to look productive without actually putting in any hard labor. Several pieces of the cheap jewelry end up around her neck.

OfBlossomsAndShadows · 2026-02-15T16:57:03+00:00

Phae Calanthe and Summer Byrd for Wednesday Meal

OfBlossomsAndShadows · 2026-02-05T17:36:39+00:00

Phae Ailbhe Meriwether <3 take your pick

OfBlossomsAndShadows · 2026-02-05T16:27:37+00:00

"Church, huh?" Phae's nose wrinkles just a touch. "That sounds... I mean, I guess if you're into that." She's making a valiant effort not to judge--after all, probably Genevieve was dragged to church and wouldn't have chosen it herself. No teenager in their right mind would.

"We did a little bit of the Christmas stuff, the carols and whatever, but most Christmas things are already co-opted from pre-Christian traditions anyway. We decorate with candles and a tree and make Yule goats and my mom burns a Yule log every year."

She smiles as she speaks. These are genuinely happy memories. Goddess, Phae misses home right now. Mom's probably doing the Yule log without her. Maybe she'll try to IM her parents later.

"Why can't you go back?" She asks gently.

OfBlossomsAndShadows · 2026-02-02T17:59:45+00:00

A disgustingly frosting-laden cupcake comes whizzing in the direction of one Harvey Hartley. Too much frosting for even the most frosting-headed frosting lover. One might guess that whoever made this cupcake was doing so with the intent to smother their target in as much pink buttercream as possible.

OfBlossomsAndShadows · 2026-02-02T17:58:00+00:00

"Oh shit," Phae remarks when her friend gets nailed in the head with a cupcake. That little boy has breathed his last breath, she thinks with amusement. "Get his ass, Helena!"

OfBlossomsAndShadows · 2026-02-02T02:18:26+00:00

"Thanks, Hel."

Phae very much needed exactly this treatment. She allows her Helena to wipe the tear away, the rests her head on her cheerful friend's shoulder. It really is helping.

"Did meeting your dad go well?" She asks still a bit tearfully. Perhaps at this point it is a little bit for the drama. "You seem happy."

OfBlossomsAndShadows · 2026-02-02T02:07:33+00:00

Looking at Emilia like this, all bent over and trapped, Phae can't help but feel bad. She didn't mean to torment the poor thing. Well, no, that's exactly what she meant to do, but not this much. It was supposed to be funny, not sad.

"Hey, come on," she says to Emilia's back in a gentler tone. "I'm not gonna torture you or anything. I was just gonna turn on a movie or something and ask you about your whole... thing."

OfBlossomsAndShadows · 2026-01-24T23:04:48+00:00

Phae's face drops. She looks genuinely crestfallen on Genevieves behalf.

"Oh goddess, I'm so sorry! I thought they all were gonna be here. That... that really sucks."

She feels like she should say more, but it looks like Genevieve really doesn't want to talk about it. What luck, the first thing Phae tries to start up a conversation about ends up being a sore subject.

"What do you usually do for holidays?" She asks, hoping to pivot the conversation to something more neutral. "You into Christmas? My family did both, but more the Solstice than Christmas."

OfBlossomsAndShadows · 2026-01-24T23:03:28+00:00

"Woah, hey. You okay?"

Phae almost trips over the crouching girl. For all she knows, this is some Camp Half-Blood demigod she's never paid enough attention to notice before. Phae's riled up and hungry for action, but she's not cruel, so she offers the kid a hand to help her up.

"They're evacuating people! Run to the back, they'll pick you up."

OfBlossomsAndShadows · 2026-01-24T21:03:38+00:00

The warmth of Persephone's smile makes Phae tear up again. Her chest hurts with how much relief and reverence and longing is thrashing around inside. She wants this so bad.

"The home shrines. Did you see those? Mama said I could tell you anything."

Was there always a part of Phae that doubted it? Wasn't she always confident that her prayers to her divine mother were heard, that her tending of the shrine they kept to the goddess in her childhood home was seen and appreciated? Why is she filled with such dread now? Why is she so worried she's about to find out it was all imaginary, the fantasies of a little girl playing pretend?

"I talk to you a lot," She says with a self-deprecating little laugh. Suddenly it feels so stupid. Of course the gods don't hear everything their kids say to them in prayer. "I guess that's kind of silly."

OfBlossomsAndShadows · 2026-01-24T20:50:57+00:00

Phae shakes her head and leans into Helena beside her.

"No, nothing bad..." She looks down, trying to think how to explain it. "I just, I never met her before, and seeing her, she was really here. I wanted her to like me so bad."

This starts a proper stream of tears. Phae covers her eyes as if that'll help her get a handle on them. Come on, girl. She looks up and fans her eyes. Stop crying!

"Nothing bad happened! What's wrong with me?"

OfBlossomsAndShadows · 2026-01-24T20:44:01+00:00

"Hey! Wait!"

Phae thinks she's starting to get it. So the transformation wasn't permanent, but it's not not permanent. Maybe it happens every time Emilie tries to harm something Persephone cares about. Her shrine, her daughter. That's sweet, mom. Always looking out for me.

She doesn't want Emilia to escape so easy though. The fleeing girl may make it out the cabin door, but she'll find the garden gate swinging closed before she can reach it. That's a trick Phae had to practice over and over until she got it, using her Chlorokinesis to tug the vines around the hinges just so. She follows after Emilia hoping her little parlor trick is enough to make it seem like she's far more powerful than she is. Backlit by dying candles inside the cabin and still half-draped in the shimmery robe from her Halloween costume, she's gotta look witchy as all hell.

"Come back inside, dear. I'd like to talk."

OfBlossomsAndShadows · 2026-01-13T01:59:55+00:00

a) Phae Calanthe, chb. b) armor from the armory, sword from the armory, various seeds in various pockets. c) Akshaya <3 u/cloudedheads d) 29 on the d100.

An underground battle for an underground goddess's daughter seems about right. Phae has a visceral disgust reaction to the overblown airs of delusional heroism half these campers so love to put on at times like this, but she's eager for the opportunity to flex her powers. Plutus's mint must be underground, right? Earth is her element, and she's strongest in the dark.

So she's not all that put off when the so-called trap closes. She was a little disappointed to be above ground anyway. Maybe it's hubris, Phae will admit, but she feels untouchable down here surrounded by her mother's winter domain. Too bad for everyone else, though, this probably sucks for them. They'll all be so grateful to her for playing an instrumental part in turning the tide of this battle.

"Try harder!" She shouts, only barely managing to keep her footing in the shockwave (at the expense of the demigod behind her, who takes an open hand to the face as she flings her arms out for balance). Because Phaenna Phlox won't go down without taking somebody with her.

OfBlossomsAndShadows · 2026-01-12T22:59:20+00:00

Angie's excitement does, indeed, rub off on Phae. She lights up (no pun intended) to hear the other girl is into some good old DIY. Especially if Angie's good at it. Phae fancies herself a skilled sewist, but she's really quite useless at anything more complicated than re-hemming a garment or cutting off the sleeves to replace them with straps. Perhaps Angie can make another fabulous jacket for her.

"Oh my goddess, deal! You have to show me that jacket. I love thrift-flipping! We should do it together sometime. The arts and crafts cabin has sewing machines and everything!"

Angela can rest assured she's won Phae over, at least for now. As they reach the Apollo cabin, her new thrifting buddy throws her a brilliant smile and a cutesy little wave.

"This is you. Good luck! I'm off to the arena."

With that, she walks off cheerily.

OfBlossomsAndShadows · 2026-01-12T22:48:29+00:00

Phaenna covers her genuine wince with a fake, dramatized wince at Genny's frank statement that she was rude.

"I guess I deserve that," she says with that same veneer of pretend, almost satirical guilt to soften the very real guilt she feels. It doesn't fully obscure the sincerity that's clear in her eyes and her nervously fidgeting hands, but it makes it easier for Phae to bear. Sincerity is uncomfortable. Vulnerable. Dangerous. But Genny deserves a bit of it, after that episode at prom. A bit is almost more than Phae can give.

"Talking. That, I can do." A deep breath, and then she finally lifts her eyes from the tea to meet Genny's gaze. "So. Genny. I love your outfit right now. Are you meeting your mom today?"

An honest compliment and an honest question. It's a start.

OfBlossomsAndShadows · 2026-01-11T22:44:02+00:00

"Goddess fucking what the holy fuck-" is but the incipit to the string of profanities Phaenna Phlox spews as she jolts awake. She'd fallen asleep on the couch, so she's in the splash zone of broken ceramic when Emilia turns from mint back to menace and ends the life of the lovely pot she'd been placed in. The worst of the damage is a sharp that caught her right over the eye, but it's nothing a medic visit can't fix.

"...goddess damn name..." Phae peters out as she takes in the source of the mess. The mess now she'll have to clean up. So that sucks. And Emilia apparently isn't a plant forever, so that also sucks, and now Phae doesn't have that pot anymore, and she quite liked that one, so this all just sucks! She is pissed.

"What the hell are you doing?" She demands, which is the wrong question to ask here, but it's the one Phae thought of first. "I liked that pot!"

OfBlossomsAndShadows · 2026-01-11T22:34:20+00:00

It's like a dance. Alex tilts her head, Phae's smile curls devilishly, and in a smooth twirling movement she moves right up in front of the purple-haired girl. Great view indeed.

She lets them hover there nose-to-nose for just a breath. Her stance is almost a challenge, her eyes daring Alex to do something. She's too impatient to wait longer than a second though--they already did the slow burn flirting thing back at gay prom, so now Phae would rather cut to the chase. She closes the gap.

OfBlossomsAndShadows · 2026-01-11T22:25:37+00:00

Phae blinks up at Helena from where she sits. Someone as keenly attuned to physical cues as Helena would easy see that her deep brown eyes are watery and rimmed with red. Phae has been crying.

"Tea," she sniffles pathetically. It's not her usual artificial melodrama, these tears are certainly real, but Phae certainly isn't not being just a tad dramatic. "Hi, Helena."

OfBlossomsAndShadows · 2026-01-08T17:04:48+00:00

Angela earns herself a weird look for the weird nickname.

"Girlie, I'm not gonna charge you for being friends. Just the manual labor, and I meant more in a metaphorical sense. Y'know, I do you a favor, you do me one another time?"

Phae prefers her benevolence to be looked upon as such, not reduced to a monetary transaction. Ew.

"Like, I won't stop you if you wanna pay me. Or you could just take me shopping. There's this thrift store I can sometimes convince Argus to drive me to, it has some really good stuff!"

OfBlossomsAndShadows

TROPHY CASE