The dorm roof, Saturday night

[thishouseishaunted]

Tonight was Longest Night, the most major holiday of the year where Mae was from. And Mae was still in Fandom instead of home in Possum Springs with her family. There were any number of reasons for this: her last class was just yesterday and she didn't have time to rush home. Her family couldn't really afford bus tickets back and forth that often, so it was cheaper for Mae to stay in town.

And it wouldn't be the same at home anyway. It wasn't last year. No one there had forgotten about the Incident, so Mae would just end up lying around feeling guilty and depressed while her parents offered meaningless platitudes about things "getting better" in the new year.

Instead she was here, where everyone celebrated Longest Night four days late and under the wrong name. She could lie around feeling lonely and depressed, and had in fact planned to do just that, until the island gave them all candles for the day. Fandom knew, even if no one else did: Longest Night was still the longest night, and that was worth celebrating. So she went on a scavenger hunt through the dorms for supplies, scribbled some signs on notebook paper and pasted them in the common rooms, and headed to the roof to throw her own little Longest Night party.

LONGEST NIGHT
It's the darkest it'll get all year tonight
and that's spooky and cool
Come to the roof for hot drinks
and a fire like snacks and stuff

Or don't. Whatever.
More snacks for me.

[open to all who might still be around the dorms!]

Comments

Mingle and hang

[thishouseishaunted]

There are candles everywhere, raising the ambient temperature a degree or two and filling the roof with a nice, flickering glow. Mae's scattered around blankets and pillows here and there for lounging and/or snuggling in. Oddly enough, though she wasn't careful about the candles when she was laying out the blankets, none of them are anywhere near enough to set the bedding on fire. . . .

Re: Mingle and hang

[hashtag_chocobro]

Prompto's fear of the dark came from a very real and significant place (no matter what Nina had to say about it!), so something called 'Longest Night' quite frankly sounded terrible and miserable to him, but...he still knew it was probably a lot different for people in other worlds, especially since he knew his was one of the few worlds (Hyrule definitely got a shout-out there, even if there were scary things around Hyrule, like, all the time, too) that had to deal with night-only terrors like his.

Plus, a party was a party, and there was guaranteed snacks. And he didn't really have a whole lot of terror-free nights left, really, so it would be nice to make the most of them. So he was definitely there, ready to get his party and his snacks on without the threat of daemons, thank you very much.

....he hoped.

Gods, Fandom, please don't do that to him.

Re: Mingle and hang

[thishouseishaunted]

Mae came from a family where ghost stories were traditional winter holiday fare, so she wouldn't guarantee her Longest Night party would be entirely spook-free. But at least they'd be fictional!

"Prompto! My party is official not a total failure."

Re: Mingle and hang

[hashtag_chocobro]

Hey, as long as giant-ass daemons half the size of the school with weapons just as big as they were didn't start crawling out of the ground, they were golden!

"Glad I could help?" Prompto offered in response, with a faint laugh, because that was a pretty low bar, if his presence there was what made it not a failure, in his opinion. But it did actually feel good if that were the case. "Those were your notes in the common rooms, then?"

He felt he should have figured that one out from the 'more snacks for me' part.

Re: Mingle and hang

[thishouseishaunted]

Mae's style was distinctive.

"Yup. Tonight's kind of a big deal where I'm from. It felt weird spending it just by myself."

Re: Mingle and hang

[bookbeltof_love]

Solstice was more of a thing in Nina's world, really, than most of the holidays they celebrated here, but solstice was usually, like, a pretty quiet time at the Academy so Nina hadn't really been thinking about it too much until she'd noticed the scribbled on notebook paper signs and...

Well.

Far be it for Nina to miss a party!

Though she was bundling up because, like, it was cold.

"Oooooooooooh, pretty.....................," she breathed, when she wandered up onto the roof.

Re: Mingle and hang

[hashtag_chocobro]

"Niiiiiiinnnnaaaaaa," Prompto had to greet her when he spotted her, of course, dancing over the candles a little to bounce over and bug her a little, because, like, he was obligated and stuff. "I trust you were able to avoid the mistletoe okay yesterday?"

He had a feeling she'd be too devastated to even show her face in public for, like, at least a couple of days if she hadn't.

Re: Mingle and hang

[bookbeltof_love]

"Your warning was appreciated," she said, beaming at him. "I spent a very productive day hiding in my room!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

A beat.

"And, like, texting Sabine and Iris," Ear-ris, not Eye-ris, "varying degrees of nonsense!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Re: Mingle and hang

[hashtag_chocobro]

Prompto grinned back a little proudly; it was hard not to feel good knowing his efforts had been appreciated and had the result he'd pretty much been going for.

"Man," he then noted, with a snort, shaking his head. "I've seen the nonsense you send Noct. I think I'd almost be afraid to see what nonsense you send Iris."

But he'd be willing to put a few gil down on the idea that at least half of it was about Noct.

Re: Mingle and hang

[in_sidon_we_trust]

"It's simply marvelous, isn't it?" Sidon gushed back in response to Nina's admiration of the candlelights, and he absolutely did not let the very bulky big pink coat and several scarves he was wearing prevent him from opening his arms in an appreciative gesture toward all the lovely luminescence. "Oh, Nina! You should see my room! The way the little flames glean and glow off the water is absolutely glorious! I rather like this one a lot!"

Re: Mingle and hang

[bookbeltof_love]

"Siiiiiiiiiiiidon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's absolutely perfect," she said, sighing in warm, delighted contentment. "And oh my gosh, once the party is over might I swing by your room to see???????????????? That sounds wonderful!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Re: Mingle and hang

[in_sidon_we_trust]

"Oh, I think a visit would be quite splendid, Nina!" Sidon beamed. "It really is a sight to be seen, and it gets so quiet on the fourth floor, besides."

Because, like, maybe all of five people lived there.

"And," he added with a roguish grin, and a chuckle to match, "the egg nog is thankfully entirely cleared away!"

Re: Mingle and hang

[thishouseishaunted]

"Right?" Mae said. She looked around at the candles with a little smile. "I was a little worried there'd just be red and green crap or something tonight, but the candles are perfect for Longest Night."

Re: Mingle and hang

[bookbeltof_love]

Nina liked the red and green and the gold and the silver and all the sparkles that came with Christmas but this... this was also really lovely and, honestly, a lot more like how it went back home.

"It's like the island conspired and, like, for once did the right thing!!!!!!!!!!"

Re: Mingle and hang

[in_sidon_we_trust]

Since the recent trouble with Vah Ruta that had him taking that unexpected trip back home to Hyrule had throw a little bit of a wedge into his usual expected trip back home to Hyrule over the breaks, Sidon really didn't have much to do but enjoy his tank by candlelight, so of course he'd want to come up to the roof for the party that appeared to be happening up there!

Of course, he'd have to make sure he'd bundle up before heading out, but he had faith that, if anything, he could keep plenty warm from the incredible company of friends!

...all these candles would certainly help a bit, too!

Re: Mingle and hang

[thishouseishaunted]

"Sidon!" Mae greeted, flinging her arms in the air. "I haven't seen you in like forever! Happy Longest Night!"

Re: Mingle and hang

[in_sidon_we_trust]

"Mae!" And, since one good arm fling deserved another, Sidon greeted her in kind, beaming brightly as his own arms opened up easily, not even hindered by the bulk of his large pink coat and many, many, many scarves. "And the happiest of longest nights to you as well! How good it is to see you! I had to go home for a short while. Princely business, you see, and I've only just arrived back the other day, only to discover my tank filled with egg nog! Though I am happy to report the problem has since been rectified. And how have you been? Quite wonderful, I should hope?"

Re: Mingle and hang

[unusual_sith]

Lana came up to the roof, curious about it all, and waved at Mae. "Good evening."

Re: Mingle and hang

[thishouseishaunted]

"Hi! Happy Longest Night!" She looked at the food table. ". . . And now I'm kind of wishing I'd thought to make tacos."

Since they'd talked about tacos last time they hung out, and all.

Re: Mingle and hang

[unusual_sith]

"Couldn't we order some?" Lana asked. "My treat, for your present. At least 'Longest Night' makes more sense than Christmas."

Food and drink

[thishouseishaunted]

There's a battered old samovar full of hot chocolate (made primarily of leftover chocolate wreaths), and a few miscellaneous snacks that Mae was able to find in the pantries.

Look, it wasn't like she ever had any money, okay? She couldn't do an elaborate party spread like some people!

Re: Food and drink

[lilac_eyed_lieutenant]

To say that Tisarwat was disappointed to find hot chocolate in the samovar instead of tea was an understatement, but at least it hadn't been coffee!

And it was a good thing she was already in the habit of bringing her flask of tea with her to any of these sorts of get-togethers. She was a little skeptical about this one, judging by the invitation, but she'd always enjoy socializing, regardless of how casual or formal the event may be.

Re: Food and drink

[thishouseishaunted]

"Hi," Mae greeted as she grabbed herself some snacks. "Happy Longest Night!"

Re: Food and drink

[lilac_eyed_lieutenant]

"Happy Longest Night," Tisarwat recited back warmly, with a smile to match, and she nodded to Mae before lifting her cup (of tea, thank you) as if in greeting. Radchaai were constantly picking up and appropriating all sorts of traditions and festivals from the planets and people they invaded, so it felt very natural for her to say it back, even if she knew nothing about the holiday itself. And as far as holidays went, something celebrating what she assumed was the longest nighttime period due to a planet's particular axis and orbit was hardly as strange as, say, the annual genitalia festival she'd got to experience on Atheok when they'd landed there.

"Is that what all these candles are for?"

That seemed to make sense, too. If you were in for a long night, you'd better have plenty of light, right?

OOC

[thishouseishaunted]

I FINISHED MAKING ALL THE HATS! I managed to decide, like, three weeks ago that I was going to make wool hats for all my family for Christmas. Out of SOCK YARN. While also, you know, DOING REAL LIFE THING.

Anyway, I made SIX HATS and they are DONE so Mae is throwing a PARTY! Woo!