whenever people include hybrid instincts into their characters its always so fucking cool seeing the ways they can be a character's greatest asset but also their greatest tell
So... I want to talk about this clip.
There's always been this joke amongst the crows that Phil's bird instincts cause him to perch a lot and in his playstyle that's something that just makes sense. It helps him be safe from threats while also getting a good view over the situation so he can come up with the best plan to deal with it.
Now why is this the time where I want to bring this up? Because Phil doesn't have a reason to perch technically. The room is small enough that he could easily see it all from the ground and he's not getting swarmed nor is there any direct threat so why did he perch as soon as forever left?
Cause he's cautious, anxious and scared. He already had a gun pointed at him mere moments ago, he's watching a good friend of him fall apart without him being able to do anything about it and he is unsure of what to do because one wrong step could be disastrous.
Perching is Phil's way to assess a situation, to analyze it and to find a good way to deal with whatever is happening at hand, this obviously doesn't work when the threat isn't necessarily physically but mentally. But it still gives him that same sense of comfort.
Perching means safety. It means analyzing. It means caution. And most importantly it's a sign of worry.
There's a reason why he instantly jumped to the ground as soon as Forever came back, Phil didn't want him to know how worried and scared Phil was. Phil knew he had to keep some type of front up, so this was the closest he got to showing how he truly felt down in forevers base