"Alright," you hum as you sit the large piece of wood down, "now all I have to do is carve out the shape."

You sit the long piece of pale wood on the kitchen table where you had all of your carving tools spread out. You had already cut down a lone tree and took out the part of the tree you would use for the staff, the rest you had cut up for fire wood.

The now clean Rose walks into the kitchen, happily meowing and she jumps up onto the counter, sitting to watch you.

You pick up the large knife you would use to remove the bulk of the excess wood. You begin to cut off the unnecessary wood. Your fingers move fast and smoothly as you chop at the wood.

In only a matter of three hours, you had completed carving your staff. You smile as you pick it up.

"What do you think, Rose?" you ask.

'It looks like a fine staff,' she mewls approvingly.

"It is pretty good, huh?" you chuckle and sit the staff down, "now all I have to do is form a crystal to stick in the top."

You open up the bag that had been sitting against the wall. One by one, you begin pulling out the ingredients you needed in order to make the crystal. You frown when you didn't notice any phoenix feathers in the bag.

"I must have run out," you mumble to yourself, "maybe Eridan has some."

You had wandered down the other fork in the path and continued until you came across a fairly large house. It looked very neat, and in a much better condition than your own home. You take a shaky breath before you walk up to the house; you knock on the door and wait for an answer. You hear a faint 'coming' from the far end of the house, followed by rushed footsteps. The door opens to reveal Eridan, his hair tussled and face covered in black grime.

"Oh, hello (y/n)," Eridan greets, "I didn't expect you today."

"Yeah, well..." you trail off.

"I'm guessing you need something?" Eridan guessed.

"Yeah, I kinda do." You reply sheepishly.

"Well, how about you come inside for some tea." Eridan offers.

"I'd love to." You smile at the taller figure.

Eridan steps aside and gestures for you to come in. You smile as you walk in; Eridan closes the door behind you and leads you into his lounge.

'Damn everything is so much fancier than mine.' You think to yourself as you glance around.

Eridan offers for you to take a seat and you do so.

"I'll go clean off this grime, I'll make some tea and then I'll be right back." He tells you and walks off.

You begin to hum as you look around the room, fiddling with your fingers nervously. You were never really good with people and you still got nervous whenever you spoke to someone, you were just good at hiding the nervous signs you showed.

While you were in the middle of your thinking you hear a loud curse come from another part of the house. Your brow furrows as you stand up and make your way out of the lounge.

"Eridan!" you call out.

There's a short pause before another curse is hear. You follow where the sound came from and finally find Eridan in the bathroom, standing in front of a mirror. He had a damp cloth in his hand as he tried to scrub off the grime.

"Do you need some help there?" you chuckle, raising a brow.

Eridan jumps slightly before glancing over at you.

"Oh, uh, that would be great." He says sheepishly.

You giggle as you walk towards him. You take the cloth from his hand and begin to wipe the grime off of his pale skin. You felt your face heat up, and you notice that Eridan's face had also begun to turn pink.

"This stuff is really hard to get off," you laugh, "what caused this?"

"Well I was in the middle of trying to create a potion to help Anna with her garden but I must have done something wrong." Eridan admits.

"Oh dear," you manage to say through giggles, "that's no good."

"Yeah, now I have to start again."

"Well, what if I made you something to help you since you've been helping me?" you offer.

"Really?" Eridan smiles.

"Of course," you shrug, "I can make you a wand that will help keep the magic stable and you can also use it as a weapon if need be. I used to have one a few years ago."

"That'd be great." Eridan smiles as much as he could as you continue to scrub his face.

Once you finish cleaning off the grime you sit the cloth down, you bring your hands back up to wipe away the droplets of water from his face.

"Alright, let's go get that tea." Eridan says abruptly as his cheeks darken.

"Oh, of course." You nod and the pair of you makes your way to the kitchen.

"And then the ogre tripped over a log and I managed to escape." You finish off your story and take another sip of tea.

You laugh when you see Eridan's shocked face.

"Yeah, it was quite a close call," You laugh, "so do you have any stories?"

Eridan freezes when you say that. You raise a brow at the strange reaction.

"I don't have a very interesting background." Eridan shrugs.

"Oh, well, if you think of any you should tell me." You shrug.

You glance at the window to see that the sky was now a bright orange, the sun was sitting on the horizon, getting ready to hide until tomorrow. You drink the rest of our tea and sit it on the small table in front of you.

"Well, I should probably get going." You smile.

Eridan nods and the both of you get to your feet. As you were on your way out, Eridan stops in his tracks.

"Is there something wrong?" you ask.

"Didn't you come here to get something?" he asks.

"Oh, right!" you exclaim, "Do you have any phoenix feathers?"

Eridan thinks for a moment before nodding. He walks off, leaving you standing in the hallway. Only a moment later Eridan comes walking back. He hands you a small glass jar, you look inside to see the fiery feathers of a mature phoenix.

"Thank you so much." You smile at Eridan.

"It's no, uh, problem." He stutters.

Eridan opens the door for you and you walk out.

"I'll see you tomorrow with your wand," You say, "bye."

"Bye." Eridan replies.

You turn back around and head off down the path.