whatever lets you cope

i'm only just strong enough, i'm sinking through the ground below

A familiar space is the only place he can find some amount of comfort and solitude. He’s dropped Haai off back at home in the Wilds, recovered as much as he can with the quiet panic of Nate being gone, and from there? Well, he can’t bury Haai without Nate. So he goes to the Hollowed Grounds despite the dusting of snow, heading for a place he’d made, taking in the comfort the copper and navy blue colors offered him, a reminder of sorts.

At least for a moment before his entire goal is to get fucked up and to numb the emptiness he feels, the hollowness internally at losing a piece of his soul so vital to him. He gets a few drinks deep before the bar starts to grow a bit fuzzy, but surprisingly it feels like he can feel something again. So he orders again, his head propped up on a hand as yet another one of those smoky whiskeys is slid his way across a lightning scarred bar top.

so hold me, just long enough to
show me how to find my way back home

SUNJATA

Isla

There's a guy all torn up and well on his way to giving himself alcohol poisoning in the VlamVloed, that's what Isla's been told. And normally that wouldn't be enough for a personal call out, but when the Overseer is told said guy's description, she puts down her paperwork and pulls on her coat to head out into the snow. And when she arrives, there he is of course, deep in his cups and looking very much worse for wear.

"Sunjata?" she says softly, approaching the bar with snow melting in her hair and on the shoulders of her coat. She doesn't take off the coat, not planning to exactly stop and chit chat so much as assess the situation and see if there's a reason he's getting shitfaced instead of having the lacerations all over his chest and neck sorted out. "What's going on?"

sooner or later, we all have to wake
and try forgetting everything

i'm only just strong enough, i'm sinking through the ground below

He hasn’t been paying attention to see if anyone’s mentioned him or not, and while he downs the next cup, the hand propping his head slips into his hair as he straightens up, catching a glimpse of Isla as well as registering her voice as she says his name. “Isla.” He says, the word shifting the only just healed enough wounds on his neck that sprinkle down his chest.

He turns to her, sluggishly slow, steel gaze dancing across her before he’s looking back to the bar and the cups beside him that have been drained. “Oh. A lot. Surprisingly. I’m, however, trying to numb everything.” A fleeting smile crosses his face before he’s focusing himself far more forward again. “What about you?” Surely she didn’t come here to drink.

so hold me, just long enough to
show me how to find my way back home

SUNJATA

Isla

"Hey," Isla greets, managing a smile in return and tucking her hair back behind her ear. At least he had been able to recognise her - that's something, right? "I'm here because someone said someone here was in trouble. I'm starting to think that they might have meant you," she admits, looking over his injuries with a practiced eye. "Do you want to tell me what happened there?" she asks, gesturing to his throat and chest.

And do you want to stop drinking and come to the infirmary to sleep this off? is on the tip of her tongue as well, but she's got a feelng that Jata will simply shrug her off if she goes down that route too soon. "How many drinks have you had so far?" she wonders instead, as if that might be a safer question.

sooner or later, we all have to wake
and try forgetting everything

i'm only just strong enough, i'm sinking through the ground below

“I don’t feel like I’m in trouble.” Sunjata mutters, tilting his head to glance back at Isla, only pausing in his drunken stupor when she asks what happened to his neck and chest. A hand rises to touch at the puffy red skin, before it drops and he huffs a sigh. “Remi and Ronin and I found a relic.” He pauses, lips quirking slightly. “I think I almost died.” he pauses before his lips frown deeply and he takes a deep breath. “And Haai, she did die.” His gaze is hollow and he takes his gaze away from her to look back at the glasses.

“I Uh… Five? Six?” He doesn’t know but he does lift his hand to run his finger along the rim of the glass closest to him, before he pushes it aside, closer to the bartender so that it can be taken away. “Lost count.” He mumbles with a shrug.

so hold me, just long enough to
show me how to find my way back home

SUNJATA

Isla

This is a lot, Isla blinking past the Remi and Ronin and relic thing for now to pay more attention to Haai's death and the Flood's wounds. "Oh, Sunjata... I'm so sorry," she all but whispers, reaching out to lay his hand on his forearm as he pushes the glass back. "Do you want to tell me more about it?" she offers softly. "You can come and stay overnight at the Infirmary if you like. I know Nate is out of town..." A bunch of them are, which might explain Sunjata's presence here as well.

"Even if you do want to stay here, though, I think it might be a good idea to get those cuts looked at. I can go and fetch some of my kit while you get another drink?" Because there's no way that Sunjata is going anywhere he doesn't want to - his height alone is enough for Isla to know that, without taking his sobriety into consideration. So if he doesn't want to leave the VlamVloed, then she'll have to treat him here.

sooner or later, we all have to wake
and try forgetting everything

i'm only just strong enough, i'm sinking through the ground below

Her touch to his arm stills him and he finds himself stock still in the moment as her words register. All he can offer is a small nod, the underlying uncertainty of how much he did want to talk about it. “I don’t know where to start.” Might as well start with honesty if nothing else, and Sunjata finds himself withdrawing into himself a bit more when she offers to treat him here rather than the Infirmary.

“Do you know where he is? I can’t… bury her without him.” He asks, a sudden spark between answering her questions. “I also have a room upstairs… Here might be best.” So saying, he nods to her offer, his gaze skating to the bartender to order another that’s promptly slid his way with a big mug of water alongside it.

Before she can leave fully though, he does reach out to grab her arm gently, to offer a quiet thanks, before settling in a bit more and dragging the chair closest to his beside his for when she returns.

so hold me, just long enough to
show me how to find my way back home

SUNJATA

Isla

"Sometimes it's better to start at the beginning, if you're not sure." Isla smiles gently, nodding and sitting back, though not before he gives his silent thanks. "Then I'll go and fetch my medical bag, and I'll be back in just a few minutes," she assures him before rising to her feet. And as for Nate? "I know he's with Varus and Bastien and Wessex," she murmurs (code for: Honey hasn't gotten that far in her other thread to know any more sorry).

Exchanging a nod with the barman, Isla disappears out into the night and leaves Jata in his capable hands. When she does return, it's with a stethoscope around her neck and a leather Gladstone back in her hands, the medic offering a gentle smile to Sunjata. "Shall we go upstairs where it's quieter?" she offers.

sooner or later, we all have to wake
and try forgetting everything

i'm only just strong enough, i'm sinking through the ground below

“That’s true.” He agrees, his uncertainty overcoming him a fraction of whether he even wanted to start at the beginning. But as for where Nate is, he nods, some memory blocked out by the trauma of everything else flickering in his mind at the trip Nate had planned. Regardless, he works his jaw as she departs and he downs the glass of whiskey and water by the time the Overseer returns.

He nods to her, moving to stand and clutching the edge of the bar to remain upright, it takes him some time to get into the room that had become a home when he’d broken up with Phoebe. He manages it, though, and while the room is dusty and unused, he sinks into the bed and plays with a left behind feather on the pillow while his attention flickers to Isla. “Wanna look at my neck first?” He asks, unbuttoning the shirt he wears so that she can see more of his neck and his chest where the wounds are more centralized.

so hold me, just long enough to
show me how to find my way back home

SUNJATA

Isla

Isla follows after Sunjata with wary eyes and hands ready to reach out and try to catch him, though by some miracle they make it upstairs without incident. "Are you warm enough?" she asks softly, suddenly very aware of the snowstorm that recently blew in from the Greatwood. Deepfrost has arrived and it has taken no prisoners, but they are lucky in the Grounds these days, with most being Ascended.

Either way, Isla is careful to dust things off as best she can where they're going to use them, including batting out the sheets (just about) before Jata collapses down onto the bed. Needing no light, her blue eyes flash in the darkness as she draws up a seat opposite where he's sitting, nodding gently. "Sure, let's see what we're working with," she murmurs, getting out her kit from her bag.

"So the relic didn't go down without a fight?" she guesses, feeling a prang of worry for Varus, but squashing it down lest it take over her thoughts.

sooner or later, we all have to wake
and try forgetting everything

i'm only just strong enough, i'm sinking through the ground below

Even if he wasn’t warm enough initially, the alcohol is a huge boon. Sunjata nods to Isla easily, before he’s working to unbutton the rest of his shirt until he can shrug out of it. “Yeah.” He assures her more audibly. And after that, when they’re finally settled, he lets her focus on the biggest of the wounds around his neck. “It was… A gargoyle under a trap door. And we all went down there. I - I told Haai to attack the tail while I did and she didn’t make it out.” He stutters here, pausing as he works his jaw.

“Remi broke it out and I was a dragon and it ended up latching onto me.” His voice grows quieter. His chin lifting for her to examine while his fingers twist in the blankets, unsure and anxious despite the alcohol that warms him throughout. “It dug its claws just under my neck. Ronin healed me a bit. He also hit me with something on accident.”

so hold me, just long enough to
show me how to find my way back home

SUNJATA

Isla

Isla nods to him - whether it's the alcohol to thank or not, at least he's not going to get too cold after coming back from a literal desert. She helps to peel the rest of his shirt off, sitting before him and already dousing a dressing in some water so she can try and clean away all of the dried blood. "A gargoyle...?" she murmurs, a frown drawing her eyebrows together. "I'm sorry, Jata. It's not your fault, it was an accident..."

Pausing enough to reach up, Isla touches a hand to his cheek as if to try and encourage him to relax his jaw - one of these days he's going to crack a tooth, she's sure of it. But he does manage to tell her everything quickly and without rambling, for which Isla is thankful, and she nods as she drops her hand and continues to try and clean him up. "It looks like that healing has helped to close the worst of it up," she murmurs. "You won't need any stitches, but I'll get this cleaned and dressed for you, okay?"

sooner or later, we all have to wake
and try forgetting everything

i'm only just strong enough, i'm sinking through the ground below

It was an accident. It also shouldn’t have happened. Had he not brought Haai she might still be alive, and it’s just another little thing that keeps sparking in Sunjata’s mind every time he closes his eyes. He draws in a heavy sigh, nodding, his gaze abandoning the Overseer to stare at the wood flooring. Her hand meets his cheek and it keeps him talking, because at least if he’s speaking he can’t clench his jaw as much or as hard. “I shouldn’t have brought her.” He slurs, before his chin is lifting as she works to clean him up.

“Thank you.” He pauses, his fingers twisting into the blankets of the bed and the shirt that’s been removed and dragged into his lap. “I had to crash the gargoyle into the ground. But… Lost a bunch of scales in the process.” Hence the red road rash that sparks along his chest, vibrant and painful and scraped up and sore.

so hold me, just long enough to
show me how to find my way back home

SUNJATA

Isla

"She would have followed you to the end of the earth," Isla counters, knowing that much from having been on the companion side of things. "And she's not really gone, as long as you still carry her with you. I know it doesn't really help you right now, but later maybe..." With a sad smile, she lets Haai's memory rest there for now, focusing more on the state of her patient.

And as Sunjata continues she's busy cleaning away blood and checking for infection and starting to dress the wounds on his neck, pebble blues flashing down just enough to see the road rash that's the equivalent of missing scales. Wincing, Isla nods gently. "You've been through the wars, haven't you?" she murmurs. "I've got some of that sleeping powder I made for you before. Do you want to take some before I go? You can get some proper rest, then."

sooner or later, we all have to wake
and try forgetting everything