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Character of the Season
Frail in body but dangerously quick of mind, Nikandr is the sort of character who proves that curiosity can be just as perilous as any weapon. A necromancer, inventor, and problem-solver with more ambition than self-preservation, Niki approaches the world like a puzzle box begging to be opened, even when what’s inside has teeth. Blunt, dry-witted, fiercely independent, and carrying a history best left partially buried, he has a knack for making even failure feel fascinating. Whether he’s raising the dead, moving across Caido to King's End, or experiencing a hangover for the first time, Nikandr brings a wonderfully strange spark to Caido, and we can’t wait to see what trouble his brilliant mind wanders into next.
Congratulations, Niki!
Credits
Court of the Fallen was created in October of 2018 by Odd, Honey, and Crooked.
OG Skinning provided by Kaons, with functionality and many custom plugins made by Neowulf!
The day dawned bright and warm upon the Sidhe Village. A thrill of excitement was in the air, for despite the darkness looming over many a mind, today there would be some fun to be had.
Slowly at first, one by one or in pairs, fae and visitors alike gathered in the central square. Tents and market stalls had bloomed in clusters and rows, music filled the air as instruments were tuned by the simple stage, and a gentle Flowerbirth breeze made wimples and bunting ripple in the wind. With the rising aroma of cooked food and the laughter of children as the first artist entered the stage, it was official; Fiat Lux had returned to the Greatwood, and the day promised to be a good one.
Tell the tales of the trail of dead Lovers learned from slower hands
Liam was always up early, and today was no exception. He rose with the sun, but rather than partaking in his usual morning workout routine, he dressed casually and made his way to the village square. Fae and visitors alike trickled in alongside him, mingling among the vendor tents and musicians. He paused for a moment, out of the way, to take in the simple stage, the bunting, and even the lanterns that dotted the square, for use when the sun went down. Pride filled him, and he went in search of the one person he was most looking forward to seeing.
Maea, unfortunately, was elusive this morning, and though Liam searched for any flash of the pale Ancient, he came up empty time and again. Deciding that he'd find her eventually, he elected to purchase a pastry and a cup of coffee from one of the stalls, find an empty bench, and take a seat to enjoy the party.
The first troubadour bowed off the stage to a scattered applause. The act that followed was a juggler, who got children and parents alike to laughing with his quick wit and silvery tongue. His was a short performance, and in the pause that followed a few people left, others arrived to find a seat, keeping an eye on the stage to see who would show up next.
They almost missed the slender, youthful looking girl. One moment the stage was empty. The next she stood at the center of it, hands tightly laced behind her back as sunlight set the pale locks of hair cascading past her shoulder to blazing.
"I recall a time while the moon did glow,
once on a midnight dreaming,
how flowers fair in the vale did grow;
now like a dream it seems me.
When the air was sweet and your eyes still keen,
Once on a midnight dreaming,
Before the years passed by and dulled their sheen;
now like a dream they seem me..."
Shyly at first, then with growing confidence as she lost herself in the melody, she sang a tune common among the fae, of a pair of old lovers thinking back upon their youth. It spoke of green and growing things, of the freshness of youth and how in their love they would always have the memories of those bright days. A simple tune, Maea had picked up on it by chance; it had been a spur of the moment idea, this siinging - a challenge, a change, a chance to break free from the negative spiral she so easily trapped herself in.
The time flew by. Before she knew it, the song had ended, and as her voice died away she blinked at the crowd, red-faced and abashed in the wake of the applause. Stumbling off the stage to make room for the next person, she searched the sea of faces for someone she knew - for the familiar mop of golden hair belonging to a former dragoon - and began making her way towards Liam, a small, sheepishly happy little smile playing on her lips.
"Hey. Are you having a good time?"
I see a new horizon, holding on to hope Say goodbye to all my pain when it's time for me to go
Tell the tales of the trail of dead Lovers learned from slower hands
Liam sat on the bench, listening to the various acts that took the stage and snacking on the pastry he'd purchased. He wasn't watching the stage closely enough to notice when Maea appeared on it, but when she began to sing, his head snapped around because he knew that voice, and he'd never heard it in quite that way before. He listened, entranced, hazel eyes trained on pale Ancient, and when she finished, he joined in the applause wholeheartedly.
And if his heart did a little half-beat when she stepped off the stage and made her way towards him, well, that was just something he couldn't explain.
He smiled softly at her as she joined him. "I am," he said. He gestured towards the stage. "I didn't realize you could sing. I think yours was the best performance of the day." The act to follow was fine, but in Liam's eyes, nothing would top Maea's performance. He looked around at the festival. "I think we did well. What about you?"
Pushing up from the ground before you is a blood-red rose.
You’ve encountered one of Vi’s Roses.. 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. You can post a link to this thread in the character updates thread if you pick the rose, to have it added to your inventory.
Vi's Roses (rare): A beautiful crimson flower with thorns of deep gold, it is rumoured that these roses are coloured with Vi's lifeblood. When planted, they have the ability to cleanse the area around them.
Blushing a pretty scarlet at the compliments, Maea tried and failed not to squirm like an abashed school girl. "I used to, when I was younger... never in front of an audience though. That.. was the first time." Which either meant that she was a genius or that the competition wasn't much to speak of. It didn't matter either way, of course, not when Liam was saying such nice things about her already.
Following his gaze, she nodded slowly in agreement. Just then, something red just beneath her field of vision registered, causing her to look down. And there, sprouting from the seam between two pavement stones, was a single, crimson, gold-thorned...
Sucking in a gasp, Maea fumbled for Liam's arm, grasping his sleeve to simultaneously tug and pat at him for immediate attention as much as to prevent him from taking a step forward. "Liam – !" Suddenly she was grinning, giggling unabashedly like she hadn't in years. "Yeah. I'd say we've done miraculously!"
Crouching down to cup the flower between her palms, pale skirts pooled around her like a snowdrift gone astray into spring. There was a reverence in the gesture, and something painfully desperate in the faint tremor of those pale fingers. "You should take it," she murmured, hastily tucking the hands away beneath her arms. "I'm having all kinds of greedy and selfish thoughts right now." Bribery and bargaining chips and what a rose might do to buy her second chances flashed through her mind, seductive and very difficult to resist.
I see a new horizon, holding on to hope Say goodbye to all my pain when it's time for me to go
Tell the tales of the trail of dead Lovers learned from slower hands
Suddenly, Maea gasped, and Liam was immediately on high alert even as she fumbled for his arm. His gaze swept the festival before landing on the Ancient, who was suddenly giggling and crouching - and he looked down, wonder taking over as he saw the touch of red and gold, the unmistakeable appearance of Vi's Rose.
Liam crouched beside Maea, his heart in his throat. "Gods," he breathed. "I... can't believe we found one here." Here, now, today. It was indeed miraculous, and Liam didn't know what to make of that.
Then Maea was telling him to take it, and his gaze snapped up to meet hers. "I couldn't -" he started, but then he paused. She'd found her rose; maybe this one was meant to be his. Or at least shared between them. Hesitantly, he reached out to brush a finger against the petals. "What... should we do with it?" he asked her dumbly. This was too much, too big, too important, and he found himself frozen in the face of what to do next.
It was physically painful to resist doing what Liam did and reach for the rose. Clutching the sleeves of her dress with tiny fists to restrain herself, Maea's answering smile at the soldier was almost serene. "Of course you can," she told him, in a tone like they were discussing what color of shirt he could pull off, or something equally trivial. She would even go so far as to suggest it had grown for him, not her, and she'd found one already, and...
He said 'we' again. A concept that was like kryptonite on her stubbornness, that saw resistance melting away like it had never existed. Not her, not he, but what should they do with this unexpected blessing.
"Well..." Might as well say it like it was, right? "If it were up to me, I would... send a letter to Halo. And offer it to the Warden. I owe him and his family much for a mistake I made, and this... even if I didn't care about the Tundra being overrun, I'd hope a token like this might be a start towards making amends." Which was a lot more selfish than she liked to admit, and exactly why Liam should take the flower instead. He wouldn't use it as a bribe to buy back some goodwill.
I see a new horizon, holding on to hope Say goodbye to all my pain when it's time for me to go
Tell the tales of the trail of dead Lovers learned from slower hands
Liam looked from the rose to Maea and back again, clearly torn by indecision. It felt wrong, somehow, to pick something so beautiful, so sacred - and yet it could help so many people. The petals were soft beneath his touch, and he withdrew his hand before he could hurt it.
Maea spoke of selfishness, but when she explained what she would do with the rose, that wasn't at all what he heard. Sure, her reasoning might not be entirely altruistic, but she wanted to mend fences - and that was a good enough motive for him. Still, perhaps she'd be happier if it came from him. "Deimos is a good man," he said of Halo's Warden. "I could take it to him. He could make use of it, I bet. More than I could, anyway." He glanced up at Maea. "And then you won't have to go to the tundra." Where it was cold, and she was likely to freeze.
Lifting her gaze to meet Liam's, she fought with conflicting tendencies within herself even as he offered to do just what she had suggested. Or mostly as she had said. Sans the letter, the begging, the selfish twist that ruined every bit of meaning behind what it actually meant to turn a thing like Vi's Rose over into Deimos' hands.
Ultimately, her shoulders came back down again in a soft sigh. "Mmh... Yeah, okay. That sounds good to me. You should do that. Could you... send my regards to Deimos and his family, when you see him? I just hope that Evie is well, and safe. And their son, too."
That would be enough, she decided. Leaning back ever so slightly, she relinquished any claim on the rose into Liam's trustworthy hands, with an encouraging smile for him to go ahead and pluck it.
I see a new horizon, holding on to hope Say goodbye to all my pain when it's time for me to go
Tell the tales of the trail of dead Lovers learned from slower hands
Liam might have offered to take whatever message, letter or otherwise, that Maea wished to send, but her soft sigh gave him pause. She seemed torn, and he wasn't going to push her one way or another - particularly when his advice might end up making things worse for her in the end. If he convinced her to take the rose, to use it as a show of good faith for Halo, and it went south? He'd never forgive himself. So when she asked simply that he deliver her regards, Liam nodded. "Of course," he said.
And then he reached out to pluck the rose.
In truth, he was expecting something to happen. Lights to shine, or some other nonsense to indicate just how special the flower was. But he simply reached out and carefully pulled it from the ground, and looked up at Maea with awe, and that was that. He was now the bearer of one Vi's Rose - at least for now.
