🔥 Declaration of the Prickled Phoenix

For those who’ve been punished for surviving things they never should’ve had to endure.

I will no longer apologize for the space I take up.
I will not shrink to make others comfortable with the discomfort of my truth.

I have walked through systems designed to ignore nuance, to flatten trauma, and to commodify survival. I’ve sat across desks and behind phone lines trying to translate my pain into bullet points and timelines.

And when I bristle—when I prickle—it’s not because I’m unstable.
It’s because I remember.

I remember being financially controlled while smiling in public.
I remember justifying my basic needs to people who never had to explain theirs.
I remember handing over my power just to stay alive.

But I’m not that version of me anymore.

This house, this asset, this nervous system—I fought for it.
It is not a loophole. It is not a scheme.
It is the evidence of my healing and my war.

And if the system can’t see the difference between a safety net and a snare,
that is not my burden to carry anymore.

Signed,
Orioni
(The Prickled Phoenix)

🖤🕊️🔥