Looking up at Juliana, Phoenix suddenly finds herself believing again that she could actually have...a friend. Nodding at the woman's wise words, Phoenix rubs her face dry with one sleeve and stands up while speaking to Juliana, "Thank you for your kind words Juliana, more than you know. You are correct in part, but mostly I think I just needed to let that grief out of my system. This (unfortunately public) incident just happened to be where I blew my lid. You see, it wasn't long ago that my tragedy happened and Boog just stepped right into that gaping wound unknowingly ripping it wide open again. He had no way of knowing I wouldn't accept and return his polite greeting as he intended it. Indeed, a meeting among our kind is usually rare enough to be reason to chat privately and at least say hello."
Walking back into the first room, Phoenix first apoligizes to the general crowd for the disturbance, then to Joe for the near rule breaking, then finally walks calmly towards Boog. "Sir, I find I must apoligize to you most of all. I know that what I did was more than rude. I hope you'll try to forgive me for my outburst as I'll try to forgive you for the intrusion you made."
To the crowd nearby, Phoenix and Boog seem to stand facing each other silently but in reality, she is conversing with him through the mindlink he forged minutes ago...
[sblock]'Pardon my reaction, but I was but recently made an Elan, and not by my choice. I understand this is not the normal way of it, so you must have assumed I would welcome a conversation with another newmade. I understand this now, but my loss and trials are so fresh in my mind that you happened to break the dam holding back my emotions.'[/sblock]