the darkest nights

[birthrightblack]

Winsol has always been Jaenelle's favorite time of year and while she does not always spend as much time in the hotel as some, she usually tries to get back in time to celebrate part of the holiday with those she's come to be friends with here. It's a strange little place, a go-between not unlike Ebon Askavi or other places in her own world but strangely, none of her friends from home have ever been able to come through.

She guesses this is one of those things that are hers and hers alone. It wouldn't be the first and Jaenelle would be shocked if it were the last. To be what she is means to be singular and alone for the entirety of her life, for the good of others instead of herself. None of that mattered during Winsol, though, and Jaenelle intends to enjoy it.

Another holiday coincides with it here in the hotel, something called Christmas, and it seems to be a younger and tamer festival than she's used to. Still, some of the trappings are the same and unlike last year, Jaenelle has gotten a handle on the delicate touch needed to make the fairy lights twinkle and the boughs appear to drop snow of their own accord.

She's currently bewitching mistletoe to hop from door to door simply because it amuses her to see people try and avoid it but she can't quite get the spell right. It isn't exploding, which is progress, but it's hardly doing what she wants it to.

"Come on," she cajoles. "Please work?"

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[apetrocchi]

Angelica laughed and nodded, having some experience with time differences as well, then stopped abruptly, startled when she worked it out. "You mean time passes faster here for you?" she asked. "It's always seemed to me that this hotel was much slower than anywhere else."

[birthrightblack]

"Faster here, slower at home," Jaenelle confirms. "I always find that I haven't missed much time at all whenever I return to Ebon Askavi. It's...comforting. I would hate to know that my friends needed me and I wasn't there to aid them."

[apetrocchi]

"But--" Angelica said. "Isn't it confusing? When I've been away, I want people to know I've been away. I want them to miss me, like I miss them..." For the first time, Angelica considered that this might be a selfish way of looking at things. The way Jaenelle said it, it was almost like being both places. And yet...

"I wouldn't want to suddenly show up at home years later -- years older -- and no one recognizes me!" she exclaimed.