i've been drinking alone

and if you want, i could tell you the truth

that this life takes a toll on you. i spend nights

If he’s being honest, he’s surprised the night is this slow. A few of the naturals have come in, settled in the seats and admired the blues of the walls, set up little knickknacks on the memorial wall, and asked for a bit of alcohol to soothe the memories – all things he can accomplish, accommodate, and the like. But for the rest of it? Rather boring.

He finds himself zoning out a small amount, leaning along the bar with Haai settled in front of him, wings spread while he scratches at her side underneath the iridescent wings, focusing on the little griffin that keeps things relatively nice around here – chasing out the rats, chasing out the bugs that seek out the warmth of indoors when the air drops colder, and pauses to get warmth.

Speaking of warmth, he scoops up Haai and sets her along his tattooed shoulders, slipping over to the fireplace to place another log on the flame before returning behind the bar and wiping the counter down, wondering if anything was going to be of interest tonight.

stitching up the loose threads of my soul

so in the morning i'm bullet proof

SuNJATA

I'm not beaten by this yet

Ingrid walked into the bar and said ow. "I guess Blondie wasn't kidding when he said a new one was being built," she muttered to herself, smirking. Bars were her second-favorite places in the world (her favorite being shrines, of course). She sauntered over to the counter to find a blonde man that had bartender written all over his face (and arms, given the tats), but he was cleaner than most. She pulled a piece of paper-wrapped ningo meat from her bag and put it on the counter as payment. "It's from Halo. Not just weird fuckin' chicken," she explained. She'd only just come through the portal that day, and since the cut of meat had been frozen in Halo, it was definitely still good to eat now.

"Surprise me. But don't make it a girly drink," she said with a grin. Next, she regarded the griffin lying along his shoulders. "Attuned, I take it?" she asked, remembering Isuma.

You can't tell me to regret

and if you want, i could tell you the truth

that this life takes a toll on you. i spend nights

He’s a bit engrossed in wiping down the bar to notice who enters, but Haai does. A small peep of a howl leaves her throat, claws and talons scrambling along his shoulders as Ingrid approaches the bar, her wings spread as Sunjata’s gaze lifts to the woman. She says nothing other than offering a piece of paper wrapped meat that she announces is from Halo, and despite the uneasy feeling in his gut about it, it’s better than almost all the trade offers he’s gotten today.

Offering her a small hum of a chuckle he nods to her. “Probably the best trade I’ve gotten all night. Tell you what, the rest of the nights drinks are on the house.” He offers her, voice accented thickly before Haai slips from his arm to inspect the trade. A matter of which he moves the griffin to the other side of the bar, slipping the meat away into a small cold storage before grabbing a glass for the woman.

“That, I can certainly do.” Ironically, Lusea’s favorite drink had been nothing close to the sweetness most of the nobles he could remember preferred, but gods the hangover with the added sugar was nightmarish.

He begins to mix the drink for her as she gestures to Haai, questioning if he’s attuned and he nods, beginning to pour the drink together. “Guilty as charged, Safrin blessed.” He responds, smirking lightly as his steel gaze lifts toward Ingrid, sliding over the drink that’s something as close as an Old Fashioned as you can get in the Hollowed Grounds. Sweet but still classy, and with enough of his favorite whiskey to make it work.

“I’m assuming you’re from Halo as well as the trade?”

stitching up the loose threads of my soul

so in the morning i'm bullet proof

SuNJATA

I'm not beaten by this yet

..."the rest of the nights drinks are on the house.”

The words were like Fun Dip or crack cocaine or something else powdery and fucking fantastic. Ingrid grinned. One thing was for sure: she was going to be here all night. The man referred to his powers as a blessing from Safrin, and Ingrid nodded in approval. "I suppose you've been in The Hollowed Grounds a while then? I only just met Safrin for the first time, and you're lucky to have her blessings," Ingrid said. She took a sip of the booze, discovering it was amazing.

"Well, from Halo in a way. I've been there for about a year, but I've been told I'm what people here call an Outlander," she said, taking another sip. "But if you ever venture to Halo, you should sell these things." She gestured to her drink. "I'm sure the people in SnowCloak would trade you every meat known to man."

You can't tell me to regret

and if you want, i could tell you the truth

that this life takes a toll on you. i spend nights

A slight dip of his head is given in agreement to being here awhile. Not… so long, but enough to know his way around the grounds at least. “Not quite a year, but close.” He offers, having arrived last LongHeat and gods he can’t wait for the long days, the scorching sun, the tan to return to his skin and his freckles to reappear. Perhaps a swim, too, tossed into the mix. But the comment of Safrin captures his attention as he slides the drink over to her. “I met Frey first. Then went back to the shrine a few seasons later and asked to become attuned. Safrin changed me.” He rumbles lightly with a small shrug, slate eyes lingering on her as she tries the drink.

And judging by the few drinks she’s already taken of it, he assumes he’s done well enough. At her comment of being an Outlander, Sunjata hums a deep rumble of a chuckle at that. “You and me both.” Outlanders, from other worlds, falling through portals and somehow appearing here of all places.

She suggests taking the drink to Halo and he nods his head to it but doesn’t take her up on it. “It’s called an Old Fashioned.” He offers with a quirk to his lip, a small smirk before it fades. “But I’m afraid I’m avoiding Halo as much as possible.” A surprisingly honest answer as he shrugs and grabs the glasses he’d used to mix her drink, setting them beneath the bar to be cleaned later.

stitching up the loose threads of my soul

so in the morning i'm bullet proof

SuNJATA

I'm not beaten by this yet

She nodded. "Funny. That's just about how long I've been in Halo," she remarked, but she shared none of his memories of anything being scorching. In Longheat, Halo stayed around the toasty temperature of just-slightly-less-freezing-than-usual degrees.

“I met Frey first. Then went back to the shrine a few seasons later and asked to become attuned. Safrin changed me."

"You met Frey as well?" the priestess gushed, taking another sip of her drink. "What's the herald like? I've only met Safrin since they only just got released from this place."

At his next comment, she glanced at the fire as if she hoped the light would chase the shadow of worry off her face. "It seems like just about everyone was pulled from one of the voice's portals, huh? And here I thought The Rift ⁠— that's the place I got pulled from ⁠— caused all that portal bullshit," she said, once again regarding Sunjata. (It was suddenly occurring to her that he was super hot, but everyone in the Hollowed Grounds seemed remarkably pretty to Ingrid. She figured they oughta just quit their jobs and become actors or something.) "Old Fashioned... I'll have to remember that. Can't say I blame you for avoiding Halo, though."

You can't tell me to regret

and if you want, i could tell you the truth

that this life takes a toll on you. i spend nights

There’s a small smile that blooms along his face at her comment of being in Halo just as long. He doesn’t envy her in the slightest. “I suppose you’ll at least get to enjoy warmer weather here, hm?” An accented, playful answer as the days grow warmer and the snow goes back to whatever hell it came from (Halo, likely). But he tells her he’s met Frey, before Safrin and becoming Attuned, and she seems intrigued enough that he leans a bit forward on the bar to regard her question.

“Let’s just say I’m glad I was one of the few that was able to leave the encounter with my clothes intact, though perhaps a bit flushed.” There’s more amusement to that as he leans back slightly, lips curling into the briefest of smirks before he grabs a glass and pours himself a small amount of the gin that Remi had gifted him, sipping from it lightly as he regards her next set of information, the way her face angles into the fire so he can’t quite see the darkness that cascades.

But he can, and he does, for a similar shadow hides across his face when she speaks of Halo. But masks were just that, in the end.

The comment of the Rift doesn’t ring a bell to him (though he had been there once before, briefly – in Helovia too, though the man has no memories of it, of that other life he’d lead), but he still meets her eyes as she looks back to him, crimson and vibrant against the firelight. “Afraid not.” Another rise and fall of his tattooed shoulders, though he is a small amount surprised when she tells him that she doesn’t blame him for avoiding Halo.

“Would you have avoided it if you could have? Can’t imagine this place is much better.” He gestures to the whole of the Hollowed Grounds beyond the walls of the bar he’d put together, glass in one hand and his other hand open as though he can gesture to all of it. “I’m only avoiding Halo off of personal reasons. But I’ve heard there’s an ocean with warm beaches out there somewhere. And when it’s found, I'm absolutely going there.” He smirks, leaning back along the bar and tilting his head to her slightly.

stitching up the loose threads of my soul

so in the morning i'm bullet proof

SuNJATA

I'm not beaten by this yet

Ingrid laughed. "The weather here is fucking amazing," she said. (Now would probably be a good time to point out that Ingrid was wearing more or less a bra over pants. However, whether that was because she was purposely dressing like a sorority girl on Halloween or because she just didn't own anything with short sleeves was up for debate.)

“Let’s just say I’m glad I was one of the few that was able to leave the encounter with my clothes intact, though perhaps a bit flushed.”

Ingrid snickered and sipped her drink. "You turned down an actual sex God? Talk about high standards."

It was probably better that he had no memories of the past, because Ingrid had been an equine, and Sunjata had been a pegasus with a part-bird superiority complex. It was less complicated that way. But back to their conversation... Would Ingrid have avoided Halo?

"No. Definitely not with this as the alternative, 'cuz this place was locked away from the Gods, well, except for the heralds. Don't get me wrong: Halo is fucking freezing. Cold weather. Cold hearts. But Halo is an island paradise compared to the cold of the Godless nights and hellish monsters people from here told me about... But yeah, you can bet your ass I'll be visiting that ocean."

You can't tell me to regret

and if you want, i could tell you the truth

that this life takes a toll on you. i spend nights

Her comment about the weather here being amazing causes his nose to wrinkle slightly, a hum of an amused laugh leaving his throat. “It’s alright. Better than Halo though, I’ll give you that.” But he pauses enough to let his gaze take her in. “Once LongHeat arrives, you’ll need to get new clothes if you think you’re warm now.” A playful wink is sent her way before he leans back from the bar to sip from his gin once more.

She snickers when he tells her about the Frey encounter, and his lip curls into a small smirk at that. “Not entirely. I was committed at the time, Frey thought it better I indulged with her.” But that was neither here nor there, and for a second he wonders if that was the day that Phoebe had conceived, and he takes a deeper sip of his gin and tries to focus more fully on her.

“Ah, the hellish monsters.” He rumbles, glancing around the bar briefly before he leans forward along the bar again, a bit closer to her as though he’s giving her a secret. “A friend of mine burned down the last bar at LongNight. One of the monsters opened the door using someone’s body who was left out in the night. I tossed the body back outside, but the monsters had already gotten in, started writing with the blood left behind.” He leans back then, head tilting to look along her face a bit longer than before.

Then, he begins to make her another drink, imagining she might need it. “Burned it down to keep them out. Worked out in the end.” He shrugs slightly. “But I’ll be glad when I can swim in the ocean and pretend none of that happened.” He slides the drink over to her again with a light smirk. He’d seen enough blood for lifetimes.

stitching up the loose threads of my soul

so in the morning i'm bullet proof

SuNJATA

I'm not beaten by this yet

He winked, and she raised her eyebrows, a lip-biting grin spreading across her face. "New clothes for Longheat? How am I supposed to wear less than this?" She gestured to her bandeau. "I'm a priestess, not a streaker."

Then he talked about meeting Frey. Ingrid wasn't sure you could cheat on somebody with sex incarnate, but maybe his girl was the jealous type? Whatever. Ingrid had a more important question: "Tell me, is there anyone who would hold you back if you met Frey now?" She leaned forward onto the bar, drumming on the counter with one hand and supporting her chin with the other.

“Ah, the hellish monsters.” He leaned in towards her, and suddenly he was close enough for her make out each fleck of blue in his eyes. Ingrid took a sharp breath. She found herself holding it unconsciously while he talked about how the bar had been destroyed. "What do you mean they 'used' a body? I thought they could just transform from beasts into people, like, I dunno, a reverse Attuned that also wants to murder you." The last thing he mentioned there was fucking terrifying, but he said it like he was talking about what he ate for lunch. "Writing in blood? What the fuck did it say?" she demanded.

Then, seeing what he was up to behind the bar, Ingrid realized she wouldn't have to make her current drink last any longer. She tipped her head back and chugged everything left in the glass.

"Burned it down to keep them out of what exactly? What counts as inside or outside when the walls are piles of ashes?" She chuckled. "You sound like you could use another, too."

You can't tell me to regret

and if you want, i could tell you the truth

that this life takes a toll on you. i spend nights

He catches the raise of her eyebrows, wondering if he’s caught her off guard, but his smirk never leaves his lips as he continues to let his steel gaze meet hers. “There are ways.” He hums to her with a small amount of amusement before his own brows raise and his smirk grows a bit brighter. “Priestess, is that what they call you? I’ve had a number of nicknames but never one so… Dignified.” His voice drops a bit lower on the last word before he snorts and pulls back a bit to explain the interaction with Frey.

A knowing glance from his gaze and the same smirk that remains on his freckled face is granted her way. “Not anymore. I’m afraid I don’t go and visit Frey much anymore ever since I kissed Safrin.” Perhaps it’s a bit shit eating, but he’s amused by this conversation and he scans her face to see how she takes the fact that he’d kissed the goddess of the stars.

But it doesn’t last as he tells her the story of the monsters, withdrawing from the closeness of her to mix her another drink. “There were buttons of a sort that could only be opened with a heartbeat. They used the poor man to open the door before killing him and coming inside.” His tone is a bit more matter of fact at this point. “Don’t transform, no. They just take. As for what it said? It said ‘too late’. They’d already gotten in.” He tilts his head to her at this, finishing the drink up and sliding it over to her, taking the empty glass before he leans along the top of the bar again toward her.

“Half of the grounds were in the Temple. We closed off the Rathskeller and let it burn, taking the monsters with it.” He explains a bit offhandedly, until his gaze snaps to hers with amusement at her comment. “Mm, well, I’m not quite finished with mine yet.” He winks once more, sliding his own glass toward him still just under half full.

stitching up the loose threads of my soul

so in the morning i'm bullet proof

SuNJATA

I'm not beaten by this yet

"There are ways."

Damn, that was smooth. Like, James Bond movie smooth and complete with the paradoxically cold smolder, but alas, Ingrid was a girl more suited to a Tina Fey production.

“Ways of wearing less without streaking? What, like nipple tassels? Because that’s something even I won’t stoop to.”

Then, he mentioned that he'd never been called anything as formal as 'priestess'. "Well what's the wildest fucking nickname you've got? I need something to call you other than 'that hot bartender guy,'" she said with a wink, shifting again to rest her head on both hands and smirking at him.

"I’m afraid I don’t go and visit Frey much anymore ever since I kissed Safrin.”
Ingrid's jaw dropped so far, it unhinged and clattered onto the floor. "You kissed... Wh... Well fuck, how was it?" she asked.

Then, as he withdrew to talk about the Rathskeller, her blush faded, replaced by pale shock.
"It said ‘too late’."
Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Fuck that.
She saw the drink sliding towards her and (with a casual fuck you to her liver) drained the glass the second she got her hands on it.
"...so what, can fire kill them?"

You can't tell me to regret

and if you want, i could tell you the truth

that this life takes a toll on you. i spend nights

The comment of nipple tassels does draw a deeper laugh from him as he shakes his head. “Depends on your definition of streaking. Is it still streaking when only one person sees you?” Another playful wink before he sips easily from his glass, wondering how much more he could catch her off guard – how much more he can jest and test her while still not knowing anything of her other than the nickname they’ve called her.

As for him? He cocks his head slightly with another light smirk. “Maybe I’ll keep them a secret just so you can keep calling me that.” He suggests before another hum of amusement leaves him and he shakes his head. “Here, let me give you a few to pick from.” He sets his glass down to make a joke of counting them off on his hands, eyes and head tilting up toward the ceiling as though he has to think long and hard about it. “The Korofi Flood, the Rebel, the Panther, the hot bartender guy…” He trails off before his gaze slips back to hers. “There’s room for more.”

But he really does catch her off guard with mentioning his kiss with Safrin, and his lips curl a bit more into a brighter smirk as she asks what it was like. “Like kissing the stars.” He winks, amused before he makes her drink and slides it to her, jesting that he’s not quite done with his own drink as she downs the second glass immediately to a dark raised brow from him as he leans back to fill a glass with water because she’s absolutely going to need it.

“Magical fire, I think, does the trick.” He says with a small shrug. “Here, drink this. You’re going to need it Priestess.”

stitching up the loose threads of my soul

so in the morning i'm bullet proof

SuNJATA

I'm not beaten by this yet

Ingrid paused. "No. When one person sees you, it's just called a good time," she replied with a shrug, lips slowly curling into a grin as he winked at her. She was going to have to start coming through the portal more often, because this bartender was way more fun than the dude who served her mulled whiskey in Halo. He's also prettier, she added silently.

“There’s room for more.”

"Oh, I'm sure I'd be able to come up with a few," she replied, sipping her drink. "But I don't think I'll be able to come up with anything as badass as 'The Rebel,' so I guess I'll just have to stick with hot bartender guy." Quite honestly, The Rebel sounded a little too sexy to be real. Maybe it's his stripper name, she thought.

On the topic of kissing Safrin, she just gave him a nod. That was to be expected, right? Of course the star goddess would be heaven. Duh.

“Magical fire, I think, does the trick.”

She watched the water slide across the table with disdain. "I hope that's vodka," she said, taking a sip and already knowing it wasn't. "Fine. Whatever." She downed the water in a few gulps. "Happy?"

You can't tell me to regret