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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!
Flora had charted them back to the Grounds after the desert festival for a supply run of some sort. While he doesn't mind doing chores with her, he left her to the shopping this time so he could set about to seeing more of the city. It seemed like they might be visiting here more often than not, given her friendships here, so it seemed like a wise choice to get the lay of the land and the feel of the people a bit better.
That's when the cry for help rises up as he idly wanders through the town. Dressed for comfort more than work with boots, joggers, and a plain hoodie, grateful the sky is merely cloudy instead of rainy, he nonetheless perks up. Quickening his pace, the massive Tumsea plush barely contained in the zipper folds of his backpack flops around behind him, its head and more than half of its body spilling out.
The roads in this particular section of town are still boasting an excess of mud, the slope of the ground causing the rainwater to collect and puddle here, the issue repeating with every time the sky opens up and the general lack of sunshine to help it out naturally. "Hey!" Kaisel calls out to them, which is a family who's wagon train has gotten entrenched in the mud. "Ah shit, you guys are really stuck, huh?" Which is apparent by the mud-drenched legs of them all as they heave and ho and try to dig the wheels out. "I know someone who might be able to help," he offers, willing to jump in and help them, but wondering if he could really provide the tipping point they need another way. "Hey Mr. Flood Sir, think you can wash their wagons out of the muck?" he says as he reaches out to channel Sunjata, figuring water when put to good use could be helpful at least to the wagon, if not the road.
There's darkness in the distance I'm beggin' for forgiveness But I know I might resist it
Wearing a watery blue, faded and stretched-out sparkling hair tie on his left wrist
so, collect your scars and wear 'em well your blood's as good an ink as any
Unfortunately for Kaisel, the Flood has been in the middle of some digging – not literally, but on a search around to try and spot clues that might pinpoint where exactly his fiancée has gone. Before he has a chance to find much of anything, it’s clear he’s been busy following dead end after dead end.
He feels the pull and the request just as he’s putting the map away, the man arriving in a pop of appearance – having a few seconds to appraise the situation. “I can give it a shot.” He says to Kaisel, offering a decisive nod, conjuring some of his magic to create a decent spread of water and blasts it at the wagon trapped in the mud. Hopefully it’ll loosen it up and wash it away, but Sunjata wouldn’t know whether it worked or not, because right after he sends it out, he’s gone again just like that.
Sunjata tries to wash away some of the mud with a blast of his water magic before he poofs away!
Magic: Making Waves | Can create and control water (a full swimming pool amount). Must be within a 60ft radius.
Type: Light | Rank: Mastered | Cost: Action
go scratch your name into the clouds and pull them all... d o w n
No permission needed for power play!
Feel free to use magic/force on Sunjata, without killing him <3
Sunjata speaks with an Australian accent and has a passive magic that makes him produce a subtle scent that matches exactly to whatever those around him most desire him to smell like.
It's a bad time to have been approaching the wagon train from the opposite direction, but let it never be said that Ronin Taliesin doesn't have a sense of humour. Whether Sunjata spots him getting taken out at the knees by a flood of water before he blips back out to King's End is something only his fellow demigod will be able to say, but Ronin is nevertheless laughing as he goes down, splashing into the sudden rush of muddy water.
"You got a twofer on demigods today," he calls out to the family, just about able to spot Kaisel as well now as the water recedes. "I feel like that might have been something to do with you, Kai," he adds, grinning and starting to get himself back on his feet. The bulk of the mud has been washed away at least, but where the wheels are stuck fast, it'll take a bit more digging and drying out to get things moving.
Even expecting it, the sudden pop! of a demigod is always mildly alarming, like the final release of a champagne cork, and sometimes just as prone to throwing strays to those who are nearby. Which so happens to be Ronin today.
”THAN—!” Kaisel calls out, as if volume alone might be all that’s necessary for the words to follow Sunjata back into the ether. Before he can finish though, he catches sight of Ronin’s watery take down, looking for all the world like a baby at their first waterpark. Kaisel cringes with the full scale of emotions in a Disney channel original show, even smacking a palm to his forehead as he calls out, ”you good???”
Fortunately, Ronin rises without anything other than a muddy fashion statement, which is all the rage this season anyway, and Kaisel’s laughter breaks out with his grin. ”Yeah, my bad, guess I shoulda yelled out for a flood watch or something.” Which is probably already what Sunjata has to do any time he enters the chat, if the swooning family members (lads and ladies alike) are anything to judge.
”Sure am glad to see you though, you think you can dig out one side and we focus on the other?” Which is to say, yeah, one Ronin equates to a family and a Kaisel. He takes up one of the shovels the family’s been using, giving the smaller kid a bit of a break while he leans into the mud with effort. The problem zone is clearer thanks to Sunjata’s wash, but the wheels are thoroughly bogged down, and the mud just seems to fall into itself after every shovelful Kaisel flings away to the side.
There's darkness in the distance I'm beggin' for forgiveness But I know I might resist it
Wearing a watery blue, faded and stretched-out sparkling hair tie on his left wrist
"I think so!" Ronin calls back to Kai as he hears the boy's voice ring out towards him, the Knight on his feet properly again in no time at all, if not thoroughly soaked and muddy for his trouble. (Which isn't all that different to the state of the family, honestly, so at least he's in good company). "If it makes you feel any better, if Sunjata spotted what happened before he left, you probably made his day with it."
Grinning now as he approaches the wagon, and nodding agreeably at the division of work - because what's the point of all that strength if you don't use it to help out - he approaches the other side to inspect the wheels. They're similarly bogged down, Ronin wrinkling his nose and accepting a shovel from one of the other family members who probably doesn't want to work any more, which is also fair.
"I can try to dry it out a bit if you want?" he suggests as he tries to dig one of the wheels free. "I've got a phoenix shift. It's big but fiery, and everything else is so damp I doubt it'll catch."
Oh, it made his day too, and he's absolutely going to tell Flora about it the moment he sees her. Guess what!? Ronin ate shit, and there wasn't even stairs this time! Or some variant of that, definitely leading into the much less exciting explanation of how Ronin then became a huge help for their endeavors and managed to shrug off mud and water with all the ease of a toad and none of the theft of one.
He tilts his head through the wheels of the wagon to glanc over at Ronin between the spokes, panting over some of the efforts of the shoveling that thus far feel a touch pointless. Maybe it's helping, but it's so damn hard to see, and it feels like all the clarity that Sunjata delivered has already become, you guessed it, muddy again. "If you think we should risk it," Kaisel says with a clear hesitation. "Maaaaybe you phoenix the ground ahead of the wagon, and we shove this forward onto dry enough patch and we'll finally have it freed? Just need something a little solid to put under the wheels for traction..."
Which, as it turns out, one of the family members spies his giant Tumsea plush on his back and seizes that with all the ownership of someone's trapped frustration and fear. Teddy the Tumsea is yoinked with only the whisper of fabric across the back of his head and the sharp cry of a zipper. Kaisel's gaze shifts just in time to see the valiant efforts of his well-won prize laid out beneath the front wheel. "TEDDY!" Kaisel cries out with all the drama of watching a friend sacrifice himself (voluntold, in this case), mouth agape as the man repeatedly stuffs the head down in the ground, each shove causing the embroidered eyes to fold into its head further, mud clinging to the edges. Too late now, the muck already earned, Kaisel bows his head in defeat and rises up with all the grave solemnity of someone set to carry on the mission because of the losses.
Tossing the shovel to the side, Kaisel prepares at the back of the wagon along with the family to shove on Ronin's mark.
There's darkness in the distance I'm beggin' for forgiveness But I know I might resist it
Wearing a watery blue, faded and stretched-out sparkling hair tie on his left wrist
Grimacing the equivalent of I'm running out of ideas back at Kaisel, short of physically lifting the wagon with his own two hands (which, entirely possible, but let's leave that as a last resort), it's phoenix fire or mud shovelling. It's a good thing, then that the soldier comes through with a compromise, and Ronin nods agreeably and stands his shovel up in a mud pile to straighten up.
"Good idea," he says. "Alright, I'll clear the path ahead and dry it out, make sure the wagon doesn't--" get stuck again is what he intends to say, but he's interrupted by Kai's sudden and dramatic wail, and for a second he honestly thinks that one of the family's kids (named teddy) has gotten spontaneously caught under one of the wheels.
But no, it's not a child - it's a tumsea. (Not just a tumsea, based on Kai's reaction, but nevertheless nothing breathing).
Opting, perhaps wisely, not to get involved in whatever strange new politics have unfolded between the soldier and the family they're helping, Ronin clears his throat and plods through the mud to the area in front of the wagon. He shifts with flame and feather already alight, the large firebird sweeping its wings across the muck to draw out the moisture and send fingers of warmth creeping into the air.
Only once he's satisfied with his work does he shift back, hurrying to the side of the now dry pathway to ensure he's not barrelled over by the wagon when (if) it moves. "Alright, go for it!" he calls, preparing to step in and push as well if needed.
With the bright flare of Ronin's phoenix breaking out ahead of them, blessed heat curling mud up into flaking ground once more, the plan begins to come together. The weary family watches with some measure of hope, coated in enough wet and cold mud to wring it out of their clothing should they choose, so the promise of something warm and dry is a sight to behold.
They join Kaisel in the trenches behind the wagon, every member lending shoulder or hand, a few at the playing horse at the yoke. "Alright, one, two, HEAVE!" Kaisel directs after glancing at each and confirming readiness with a nod or a thumbs up from the front. With a combined effort they all pull or push, as is fitting. For a moment, nothing appears to happen. Traction slips, their legs sliding in the mud, but the wheels eventually rotate by a fraction, and eventually the persistence and grit pays off into better momentum. Teddy's seams pop under the weight, his tumsea body folding beneath the rolling wheel, but he gives enough stability to keep the motion headed in the right direction. The front of the wagon breaks over Ronin's freshly baked ground with a sway of success as it shifts from mire to road.
The angle of the wagon now though, the back sunken into the muck, makes getting it all the way there more difficult than it seemed. Their strength is also waning, and the momentum suddenly halts and threatens to roll back for a moment. "Fuck, Ronin!" Kaisel calls out, arms shaking with the strain to hold the vehicle steady. "We're losing it!" He warns, feet sliding back, mud squelching in complaint as he struggles for purchase.
There's darkness in the distance I'm beggin' for forgiveness But I know I might resist it
Wearing a watery blue, faded and stretched-out sparkling hair tie on his left wrist
Having been watching to ensure the wheels do indeed bump over the (poor) tumsea and onto the expanse of solid ground he's created, Ronin is just ready to call out that they've been successful when Kai shouts for him, the strain in his voice evident. "I've got it!" he calls, and when he moves, one Ronin heads for the back of the wagon where the majority of the family are shoving forward, whilst a duplicate of the Knight goes to grab for the yoke.
"We're almost there, c'mon," he encourages, thinking nothing of plodding down into the shin-deep muck (their outfits are all beyond saving at this point, let's be real) and positioning himself next to Kai with a shoulder braced and ready to shove. His added strength is somewhat opposed by the way their feet continue to slip and slide, but with the duplicate already on the harder ground and pulling for all he's worth, with an almighty lurch, the wagon suddenly rumbles its way free.
Of course, that leaves the majority of them with nothing to brace against any longer, and Ronin isn't the only one who goes tumbling into the wet dirt. He's laughing, at least, grinning towards Kai as his duplicate steadies the wagon so it doesn't roll away on its own adventure. "I'd consider that a job well done, no?"
Strength does only go so far without proper traction, but thankfully between two Ronins, one of which is staying on firm ground, the final shove to free the wagon rolls ahead smoothly. So much so in fact, that all the struggle he’d primed for meets only the resistance of air, which as it turns out has all the backbone of a sea cucumber. Kaisel only has enough time to stagger once and flail a little before he crashes with the others into the bed of mud. It’s fine though, ingesting mud is supposed to make you stronger.
Peeling his face out of the earthen pudding, he can’t help the return laugh he offers back at Ronin, the sight of them ridiculous. ”Ayup,” he agrees, smearing the back of his hand across his face, which is about as effective as using an equally coated spatula to scrape the brownie mix from the bowl. Nothing will be entirely clean, but it moves the batter around enough. He flicks it with a grimace from his finger tips, rising back to his feet and rather uselessly trying to squeegee the dripping mud from his coated front.
”Alright, you guys can use the freed wagon to work on the others,” he glances back at the train, figuring they could rinse and repeat to a certain extent. ”We’ll keep smoothing out and drying the road,” Kaisel offers to the family as everyone untangles from the mire. With a plan of attack now, the road falls into something more manageable, and the wagons might be filthy, but they end up free and ready to roll.
”Guess I shoulda called Sunjata now, to clean us up,” Kaisel grins at Ronin when they’re finished. Luckily the town can provide what they need, though he’s half the mind to hunt down Flora and give her the biggest hug he can before washing off.
[FIN]
There's darkness in the distance I'm beggin' for forgiveness But I know I might resist it
Wearing a watery blue, faded and stretched-out sparkling hair tie on his left wrist
