all of the strangers are gone

The House of Midnight feels far larger when LongNight drapes itself across Caido, when the lanterns in the rooms and the fire in the hearth is the only warmth around for what feels like miles. Sure, the Refuge is only a walk away, but with vast stretches of darkness between here and there, it feels much, much farther. Something about it almost reminds Isla of that very first LongNight, when she'd been alone in the infirmary at the Temple. She can spot herds of luxere trotting through the snow in King's End just as she had done in the Grounds, their antlers aglow like a mob armed with torches, and the silence and the stillness is reminiscent of back then, too. Of course, she'd also died during that first descent into darkness, a thought that doesn't particularly fill her with joy. It perhaps explains why she's keeping back from the windows as she heads up towards the loft space, some folded blankets in her arms with a couple of books piled on top as well. "How is it looking?" she calls up to Sunjata. ISLA

SUNJATA

angel loves to keep me spinning, much too high to see
that all these chains have started thinning & hell is breaking free

There’s always been a love hate relationship for Sunjata when it comes to LongNight. His first LongNight here, Lusea had returned. He’d also helped burn down the old bar. The next, he’d spent it in Torchline, away from the monsters but with its own set of traumas. Eventually, it had turned into one of the years Nate left to help rid the Grounds of the monsters, been kidnapped by his father shortly after that, only to be rounded out by a good LongNight before he was gone forever.

So maybe, just maybe, Sunjata’s hiding himself away, trying to ignore the majority of everything else. It helps with Isla here, but the wood still creaks and he can see the Luxere in the dark, glowing, thriving amongst the snow.

He’s focused intently on getting the bed situated and the desk on the opposite side, and when Isla steps up the stairs, she’ll find him tucking the last of the blankets for the bed on top of it, aglow by the lanterns in the room, revealing a small sheen of sweat from the work he’s put in.

So used to the Refuge, he doesn’t harbor a hold on his shifts, and with it the spiral of horns extends from his skull, curling around his ears from his dragon shift, the only indication of his awkward discomfort around the season. “Look’s livable.” His accented voice rumbles as his gaze lifts to her and offers a small smile. “How’s the clinic coming along?”

every choice, every lie, demons that he kept inside
angel now that i've stopped spinning, could you come clean?

It does look liveable, Isla smiling as she casts her gaze across the loft and steps up into it properly. Perhaps a little basic and lacking in the personality and taste she knows Sunjata is capable of giving it - but all in good time. "A desk, a bed, a trunk for clothes - what more could you ask for?" She nods to him, moving to settle the extra blankets at the end of the bed. "The clinic is starting to feel real," she admits, a little bashful as she considers the tucked away space on the ground floor. There's only one bed and it's a much smaller area than the vast ward she'd manned at the Grounds, but gods - Isla really likes it. "I have a basic stock of medicine and I've written a list of ingredients to get once Longnight is over, but it's functional. I wouldn't feel embarrassed to give someone a checkup at this point." Glancing over Sunjata with a suddenly medical eye, now that she's talking about it - she raises a curious brow at his horns, but opts not to say anything about it. Instead, she reaches for the books atop the pile of blankets and holds one out for him to see. "I, uh... well. I didn't know if you'd want me to stay, the way I have been at the Refuge. But if you did, I found a couple of novels I could read out loud." They're trash, of course - swooning romances and mysteries, but you can only recite so many medical texts. ISLA

SUNJATA

angel loves to keep me spinning, much too high to see
that all these chains have started thinning & hell is breaking free

There is a soft laugh that sounds almost warm when Isla lifts off the things in his room that have made it a ‘home’. “Certainly have all the essentials.” He adds with a soft laugh, a shrug of a shoulder as he finishes up and stands a bit straighter to stretch out his back, eyes following the blankets and the books she brings.

His gaze lifts as she answers about the clinic, though, and his smile twists to something softer — understanding lingering in his look. “Good. You might have to if I pull a muscle.” He teases her lightly, a soft amusement humming out of him. He settles once he’s finished stretching, though, he sits on the bed, feeling the weight shift as he glances back at the book she offers out.

He leans across to peer at it, raising a brow. “I was under the assumption you would.” He murmurs softly, as if it would alleviate any worry she might have. “Is this your favorite out of the two?” He asks, peering at the cover before his gaze lifts back to her, acceptance for her plan to read the night away with mystery romances if she wished to.

every choice, every lie, demons that he kept inside
angel now that i've stopped spinning, could you come clean?

There are many creatures contained within King’s End, and while some are wonderful and effervescent, there are others many will want to steer clear of.

Like that shapeless, smoky, vapor-looking thing in the distance. Unless, you know, you want to go approach it.

It moves with no real purpose, floating along above a couple treetops, before carrying on, as if nothing happened at all. Phew!

---

You’ve encountered a Enenra. This counts as a rare creature encounter for the purposes of levelling, but does not count as a Random Event for levelling or MP. There will be no further admin/re intervention. If you choose to follow this creature, you do so at your own risk, however, just having it in this thread is enough to satisfy your levelling requirements. (You may not kill your rare creature without admin permission. )

Enenra (rare/mythical) - Cousins of the Banshee, Enenra are creatures of smoke and vapor who possess a shapeless form, when the attack they generate a physical body of any appearance they like.

"Maybe at some point we could drop back by your place at the Refuge and pick up some things to make it feel more like home," Isla suggests with a lopsided smile. "Though I don't know about you, but I still feel like we can't go outside when it's LongNight. It feels wrong somehow." Like tempting fate or something. As for him pulling a muscle, she has to resist the urge to elbow him in the ribs as he stretches, shaking her head. "With your luck, you just might," she agrees. Sunjata sinks down onto the bed and Isla feels herself relax a little, nodding her agreement with him and peering over at the book, placing the others back down. "I don't know if it's my favourite yet," she confesses. "I started reading it back in the Grounds, but I never got to finish it." War and all that. "I thought I could restart it and see where it went." She's about to ask if he wants to settle down with the book now when, as her pebble blues flick up, she catches a glimpse of something beyond the window, reaching out to touch a hand to Sunjata's shoulder to get his attention. "Did you..." She blurts, and if she had a heart in her chest it would be pounding. "Gods, I think that was... Morgen called it an Enenra, didn't he?" ISLA

SUNJATA

angel loves to keep me spinning, much too high to see
that all these chains have started thinning & hell is breaking free

A low hum of agreement slips from Sunjata’s lips at her admission, a slight nod offered. Even with them being in Torchline for a time, Sunjata and Nate hadn’t often ventured outside during LongNight without a good enough reason. “After LongNight.” He agrees, offering her a lopsided smile with the way the scar tugs up. One that twists to a soft laugh as she says he’d likely pull a muscle.

It would be his luck.

He scans the book cover before asking her if it’s her favorite, flipping it open to the first page as he scans the title. His lips part to say something right when he notices the tension in the air and his gaze shoots up to the window, too, and as Isla’s hand touches his shoulder, the skin beneath it starts to change with his interlocking plates of his dragon shift, covering his chest and arms and up his neck. “He did.” Some creature like a banshee but not, evidently, certainly one Sunjata didn’t want to take chances with.

The book is set down and he stands to go and draw the curtains over the window in the loft, pulling them tight to block any viewing from outside, as if it were a LongNight monster and this was just a few years ago. When he’s satisfied with the covering, he turns back toward the bed, trying to soothe his thundering heartbeat beneath the jagged, scarred plates of his dragon partial shift. “There. Just like all those LongNight traditions, we’ll just keep the curtains closed.”

every choice, every lie, demons that he kept inside
angel now that i've stopped spinning, could you come clean?

Her fingers flinch instinctively to feel smooth, sleek scale overtake the flesh beneath them, but by the time Isla is glancing down at Sunjata, he's already rising to his feet to shut out the world. And if there had been breath in her lungs she'd have sighed it out in relief, offering him a grateful smile and a nod. "That's one tradition I'm happy to keep up," she agrees, picking up the book again and glancing back at him. "Are you okay?" she asks, gesturing to the horns and the dragonscale turning his shadow into something ghoulish on the wall behind him. That and, well, Isla can hear his heart pounding as if it were in her own chest. (Chance would be fine thing). "We could go downstairs to the bar for a bit if you want." The nice, fully stocked bar with hopefully no Enenras lurking. ISLA

SUNJATA

angel loves to keep me spinning, much too high to see
that all these chains have started thinning & hell is breaking free

“As am I.” Sunjata offers with a soft huff, turning back from the windows and the shadowy banshee-esque creatures out around the brothel in the snow. His gaze finds her again as she picks up the book, catching her gaze as the question hits and he immediately nods, even if the truth of the matter isn’t entirely right. He isn’t exactly okay, but he isn’t bad either. “I’m fine. Just not a fan of LongNight.” He offers a small smile with a roll of his shoulders in a shrug, the plates knocking against each other with the movement before he tries to will it to hide under his skin.

The horns stay, though. He can’t quite push those away just yet.

As for the bar, though, they do have more windows down there to close the curtains to, so he offers her a nod and a hand to start heading out of the loft. “A drink sounds nice. And we can close up the rest of the curtains on the way.” Make it a more official LongNight, after all.

A few curtains get closed on the way down, Sunjata not taking the time to peer out the windows before closing them, sure that he’d rather not know what was out there, before the wide expanse of the bar is in front of them and he immediately moves to step behind it to grab a couple of glasses. "A shame neither of us could get the luxere's to hang around." He adds absentmindedly.

every choice, every lie, demons that he kept inside
angel now that i've stopped spinning, could you come clean?

"That makes two of us," Isla says with a soft smile, watching as the dragonscale melts slowly back into Sunjata's skin. "I don't remember ever having a peaceful LongNight, honestly. Maybe this will be a first, as long as we don't count what we just saw out the window." Speaking of which, there are more windows to cover as Jata rightfully points out, and so the medic sets down the book on a bedside table for later and follows his lead down towards the bar. Like her counterpart, Isla does herself the courtesy of not looking out of the windows as she draws the curtains shut, and while Sunjata heads behind the bar, she moves to close blinds and drapes, grateful for the shutters already on some of the other windows. "Mm? Oh, that's right - they're were used for protection against the monsters, weren't they? I heard they're partial to singing, but honestly, you could have serenaded them and they probably still wouldn't have come near this place." Ah, the perks of being an Ascended. "Do you think the monsters really are gone for good now?" ISLA

SUNJATA

angel loves to keep me spinning, much too high to see
that all these chains have started thinning & hell is breaking free

“I had one.” He offers unhelpfully, trying his best to reminisce on the one single LongNight that hadn’t been bad. Truthfully, the worst of it had been the snowball lobbed at Nate’s head when Locke had dropped by to get out of the darkness. Still, neither Sunjata or Nate had trusted it all that much, and he supposes when faced with the terrors of LongNight (even the small amount of times he had) it sticks with you. “So far so good.” He offers about this LongNight. If that was the worst of it, Sunjata’d be glad.

They get downstairs, however, and Sunjata and Isla work to shut the blinds and curtains, before he’s grabbing a couple of glasses and a bottle of something relatively cheap, pouring a bit into both glasses before setting hers on the smooth surface of the bar for when she returns. “Partial to singing and those that are pure, wasn’t it?” He muses, before huffing a sigh and taking a sip of his drink and feeling the burn on his tongue and throat. “But unfortunately, I am not pure and I can’t sing.” A rumble of a chuckle slips from him, before he exhales into a sigh.

“I hope so.” He draws a bit quieter, glancing up at Isla. “Were you a part of it to end it for good?” His horned head tilts slightly.

every choice, every lie, demons that he kept inside
angel now that i've stopped spinning, could you come clean?

"One? Gods, treasure it. If this one is uneventful, maybe I can say the same next year." Isla grins across the bar to him, finishing up by rattling the front doors (to triple check they are locked, naturally) before returning to sit down on the bar stool opposite. "So far so good," she agrees - and she'll drink to that, too, lifting her glass to clink it against the Flood's. Only to nearly choke on it as he speaks. "Oh, well, fuck," she says through a chuckle. "I'm not pure and I can't sing either. I guess we'll just have to hope for the best between us, hm?" It can't be worse than what they've been doing already to survive, right? They're standing in the brothel they planned to build, after all. Sobering somewhat as she casts her mind back to the fight in the Hollowed Grounds, Isla nods. "I was with Nate, actually. And Kiada and Adam, as well as an Ascended I had never met. He didn't make it, though." She sighs, before glancing up at the Flood. "I've been really considering becoming an Ancient," she confesses. "I just can't seem to make myself make the decision, you know?" ISLA

SUNJATA

angel loves to keep me spinning, much too high to see
that all these chains have started thinning & hell is breaking free

A hum of a chuckle manages to slip from Sunjata’s lips as their glasses clink in a small toast, sipping from it and relishing the light burn in the back of his throat — numbed a fraction from the drink before. He doesn’t expect her to pause and almost choke with his comment, but it does manage to bring a twitch of his lips in amusement. “I think we can manage it, between us.” He tips a wink toward Isla with another rumbling laugh, before leaning back slightly on the stool behind the bar as he readjusts his legs.

The smile falls, however, at the mention of her being with Nate and Kiada, and his gaze scans her face for a moment. “Hm.” Is all he can offer, incredibly unhelpfully, until she mentions that she’s been thinking about Ancienting. Now that is an easier topic for Sunjata to muse on, and he cocks his head slightly as he peers at her and thinks. “Why not Ancient? I mean… What do you get these days by remaining Ascended?” He doesn’t mean for it to come out harsh, and he realizes it with the wince that crosses his face.

“I just mean that, the Voice is gone. The connection there and the upgrades aren’t something you can hone and work on any longer. And if you’re worried about how you’ll handle everything coming back to you, you won’t be alone.” He’d be there, to help her should she need it. And at the very least, she’d be able to taste and smell and get drunk again. (At least, he thinks so.)

every choice, every lie, demons that he kept inside
angel now that i've stopped spinning, could you come clean?

Between us is fast becoming a staple in Isla's life, and she'd be lying if she said she wasn't grateful for it, that she hasn't started to rely on it since that stormy night on the Last Step. That sentiment stays caged behind her teeth, though - she's already got enough baggage to sink a ship without adding this on top. Speaking of, one of those heaviest items is already coming to rear its ugly head again. Sunjata might wince, but Isla appreciates the bluntness, smiling across at him. "It's true," she says, gazing down at her hands, flexing her fingertips until they shimmer with the razor tips of scalpel blades. "I suppose it's the prospect of moving on, maybe." Blinking quickly, she dismisses her upgrade with a soft shake of her hands. "As an Ascended I can just exist, you know? And if I ever get fed up of that, I can just... end it, and I don't think anyone would care. This would be agreeing to keep going. And what if this new goddess ends up pulling us into another war to be on the wrong side of?" She's rambling now, her smile curling into something more apologetic. "Sorry. I don't mean to be morose," she mumbles. "I've just done nothing for so long, doing anything else feels scary." ISLA