"Well, we'll reconstruct it and make lots of copies, you can be in the research arm of my school. Anybody know how long the spellbinder knockout usually lasts?"
"I don't think it matters. I'm staying here until he wakes up regardless of whether it's another five minutes or several hours."
Phix snuggles her coughing boyfriend. "Note to self, do not be interrupted while incanting," she mutters.
The coughing has gotten to be less pronounced, but - yeah. Still coughing.
"Speaking of. Um. Adana? Can you...?" She motions to the remains of Max's previous meal.
"I'll stick around in case the dragon decides to continue to be dangerous under several tons of osmium."
Max snuggles his magic fairy princess kitty. He's not going anywhere.
And she too departs.
"Phix," snorts the dragon.
"It's short, it's memorable, it's punny, and since there aren't any other sphinxes around, it's unambigous," snaps Phix.
"There was my mom. Would you like there to be more sphinxes? I have a friend who can resurrect the dead. We can fetch some more sphinxes. We've been waiting because if you were just going to kill her again it'd be pointless, but now here you are. At my mercy. In my stronghold. Totally, spectacularly mistaken about how many of me there are, rather hilariously in context."
"I'm pissed about the torture," adds Max via magic marker. "Instead of asking."