#phil's chat

[king-of-the-oranges]

Phil has a bird cage in his house that he traps Brian in whenever he’s sick of us crows trying to bother him.

[mysticalblue09]

I know this is going to sound really strange but anyone have any fanfic recomendations of Tommy positively interacting with Phil's crows? Like, that's sorta of the entire premise but not entirely? you know?

[24-guy]

Reading, shot no. 1.

Disclaimer, all characters, as expected.

I felt like writing some fluff.

Phil smiled to himself as he read through the old children's book in his lap. This was one of the books he had ridden to the children he took into his murder. Despite being sat outside in the snow on the stairs, he wasn't cold. A shawl was wrapped around his wings and shoulders as he read to the crows. The snow glittered and sparkled at him as the sun drifted through the slightly clouded sky.

The book made both him and the crows happy and calm, even if they didn't need it. It brought him back to when Wilbur was a child, when he used to drag over Tommy and Tubbo once they'd found him and force Phil to read to them into the early hours of the morning when they'd all fall asleep in a pile. Back before the wars and the chaos and trauma his son had faced.

The crows had experienced it too, sitting on the perches of buildings, watching as L'manberg fell for the final time. The only difference is that it didn't effect his murder. It would always wash off of them like rain on a duck's back.

The words of the book seemed to soothe them though, Phil could see a few of the ones on the snow falling asleep. The ones on the stairs and his shoulders seemed more entertained with the stories within the book.

"Reading again, old man?" Phil smiled as Techno's voice appeared from behind him. He turned the page and, before continuing the story simply said, "it's calming for them." He gently stroked one of the crow's neck with a finger as he continued. Techno hummed and took a seat beside him, Phil shuffling slightly to the side to make room.

Wordlessly, Techno also listened in to the stories Phil recited. Phil technically didn't even need the book, he'd read through these stories so many times he could recite them word for word a million times over. But the act of turning pages and mindlessly reciting words from them, feeling the grain beneath his fingers and the soft scent of a time gone by made him nostalgic for when he had children as sons, not men.

He often read to remember, the stories each tying back to a child he cared for at one point or another.

Even Techno used to indulge in entertaining the children, play fighting with them like the pigmen children. The pigmen were mostly gone now, though. With the evolution of piglin to fight against the ever increasing players that joined their world, pigmen were either killed, evolved or went into hiding. Much like Techno. Phil was lucky to have found him instead of a different player. After a few weeks of trying to befriend the hybrid, he succeeded.

He remembered that Tommy especially enjoyed messing with Techno. He still did, just now it was one sided. Phil didn't doubt that Tommy, even if he denied it, still looked up to the older. And Phil also knew Techno still wanted to trust and had a soft spot for Tommy. Even after the betrayal and judgment, attachments came out on top in the end.

Phil closed the book gently as a snowflake landed on his hand, melting softly and with it, he faded out of his memories.

"I think it's time we head inside, don't you?" There was a low murmur of agreement from the crows. Techno nodded as well, seemingly also deep in thought.

Phil stood up slowly, clutching the book in one hand as he extended his wings to shelter both sides of him for his crows and Techno. He wasn't able to shelter himself, but as long as his birds were fine, that was all that mattered.

"I'll see you tomorrow, mate." Phil smiled and pat Techno on the back before heading into his own house, shaking the snow off of his wings as he stepped in. The crows flew to their plentiful perches in the rooms and out by the snowman.

Phil took a seat on a chair that allowed space for his wings without crumpling the feathers. He removed his hat as he leaned back as much as he could to be comfortable. He hummed softly as some birds came to him, dropping their little trinkets into his pockets and hands.

Slowly, the immortal drifted off into a nap, resting his eyes and voice from the exertion earlier of bright snow and storytelling.

[dreamsmpsideblog]

I’m going to cry, that is a threat

Guys. I love Phil’s chat being Crows so much. I love them so much. But I just can’t.,, they are so hard to write.

I’m trying to write a fic with Phil right now, and I’m visibly floundering trying to get them to work. I’m going to cry.

Like I want to make them different from Techno’s chat, both in personality and function, just for diversity. But also because what works for Techno’s chat would never work for Phil’s, because Phil’s Crows have Physical Form™.  If I want to have his Crows in the scene - which I kinda have to do - I have to keep track of them and their locations and where they are, and it is horrible. Each Crow has to be written and moved around the scene like a person, making each thing with Phil an group shot of sorts, where there’s at least 4 ‘characters’ in the scene, even if Phil is the only human, not to mention when he’s with others.

With Techno’s chat, I can just put in train of though italicized lines, and then that’s it. I don’t have to personify them to much, and its implied that every line is a different person speaking. So I can include them much easier, as I don’t have to keep track of them or anything.

With Phil though, his Crows are new characters, and I have to keep track of them, and make sure their characterizations stays stable for each Crow, and keep them separated and individualized.

I’m trying to give them a hive mind of sorts, and make it so they just share general feelings and snippets of thoughts, instead of talking in full. If a Crow brings trinkets (Bits) they can talk in full sentences. This way I don’t have to specify which Crow is saying what and develop five new characters for each scene. It just doesn’t work quite right, and I’m literally slugging through mud trying to get them to act right.

I love them so much, and I love their existence and the concept, but I’m getting such a headache here.

[tang0w0tek]

they're the smallville high school crows

phil's chat supremacy

[recycledcactus]

i love the canon (and headcanon) that phil’s chat are crows reincarnated from people he’s killed because then all the stupid stories they tell him are just the dumb shit they did in real life because i’d imagine people who didn’t know they were reincarnates would be like ‘How tf did you break your nose?? you’re a crow???’