On the phoenix
In mythology the phoenix is an immortal bird that, when it's time, burns to death. In some versions of the myth, it's intentional. Sometimes things happen to it and it's forced to begin the cycle anew.
I admire the phoenix so much. After all, immortality is just another way of expressing the will to endure.
But sometimes I also wonder. I wonder if the phoenix, in the moments of burning, regrets it's choice, secretly hoping to prolong it's current pace because it's happy where it is. I wonder if, the moments before it's forced to start the cycle, it looks back at it's choices that lead up to it, and wishes it chose differently. I wonder if it regrets it didn't do more in that life. I wonder if it looks forwards to it's new life.
When it's done burning, I wonder if it can look back at it's old life. Would it look and wish that it burned again, hoping to get back it's old life? Is it able to carry it's old memories and grow and be a better phoenix? Would it hope that some of it's old life comes with it? Does it look at it's next burning with dread, or hope?
I don't know where to put this, was thinking in ~creative or ~health.mental or ~misc. I've been pretty out of it and super depressed still, but this is just some of the things I've been thinking about.
I wrote a bit about where I've been here
My favourite head canon for the Phoenix:
it's a fire elemental, meaning that regular flames do not hurt it at all, and its own flames do not hurt either. It's like our hair: just part of us, partially decorative, and can be longer or shorter depending on mood.
that it decides when it's time to start fresh, and it's immortal, meaning nothing can kill it other than its flames
that it remembers everything, but its body becomes young again. A self incubating egg in fact. And hatched as a young chick which much experience but little attention span and impulse control. And depending on the cultural environment of this new youth, a new personality with new preferences emerges.
that once fully grown once more, it spends most of its time being introspective about all its memories and choices
that an immortal body and unlimited re-do's doesn't mean living without pain. Others may have been burned by it, and it remembers all of the things it has done and neglected to do
(Bonus head canon: people are immortal as well, but we only get 0-120 years on this plane, then instead of starting over we fall asleep until we wake up to a new body with new life to it. The Phoenix will get to re-meet all of the people it's interacted with or failed to adequately interact with, and catch up)
Greetings, fire bird
brothersibling!My introduction to the phoenix was via Big Bird in China. Being a kid in East Texas,
almost all the cultural reference points for China I had been exposed to were either negative or highly stereotypical. But I remember being captivated by this window into a wholly different culture. Big Bird's connection to the phoenix, his sense of wonder, lives with me still.