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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!
Perhaps it was the cockiness of knowing that she could fix herself up again that brought on the self-destructive tendency. Maybe it had everything to do with the dark magic, and the fact that she was a creature of dark, and of chaos, and made to wreak havoc upon Caido's perfect balance. Maybe using this particular power only enhanced a twisted streak that had always lived inside her, brought it out to play for a moment until sanity returned to her.
Whatever the cause, it had her hissing as Hadama seized her around the wrist and hauled her off the ground, so suddenly that she lost grip on the chakram. The blade clattered to the ground, and for a moment she thrashed against his grip, wriggling like a kitten caught by the scruff of the neck and just as unable to make him budge.
When the mist rose, she fought against that too for an instant. But as the cool damp settled over her skin, the darkness slowly faded from her eyes, and the bruises snaking up her neck and along the veins around eyes and mouth faded. Blood ceased pouring from the deep gouges in her arm; scabs formed over jagged cuts, tender and oozing.
A shudder passed through Maea. For a moment she only felt numb, raw on the inside like she'd had too much to drink or cried for a very long time.
"'Dama..." she grated out, hoarse and with growing revulsion, "... you can put me down now."
She was starting to think that maybe this had not been a very good idea.
Perhaps she needed to practice more in working with the darkness and learning to harness it, instead of fighting something that was now so vital to her at every turn. But for today she had practiced enough. He watched, expressionless, as she hissed and struggled. Watched as the darkness faded beneath the onslaught of moonlight and the reason returned to her eyes. Watched the blood stop flowing quite so freely, though they both remained wounded. Injuries that he would heal once he recovered from the expenditure of Safrin's power.
"Mmh. Not yet."
Because he knew her. Knew how she would blame herself. Knew how the wounds of her body would be nothing compared to the wounds she would inflict on her spirit in the wake of their spar. He drew his arm - and the woman hanging from it - in and wrapped the other around her waist to support her as he released her wrist. His embrace was gentle as he held her against the soft feathers of his armor, though if she struggled anew to be released he would do so, ensuring she reached the ground safely. "What did you learn?"
Hadama: 659.5/740
The hug was... unexpected. Intimacy in general wasn't something Maea was accustomed to, and from Hadama she expected a certain distance, having come to think of them both as the private types, not so touchy-feely, if able to share a brief pat on the shoulder here and there.
This was different. Not only because her feet were dangling a good distance from the ground, but because Hadama had said no. It stunned her almost as much as being pressed to his chest, firmly supported by arms as unyielding as the tide. Maybe she ought to feel trapped, and there was no denying the bewildered tension in her petite body - confused, half panicked, altogether out of ideas on what to do next - but... she did not protest.
Her head gradually sank down to rest against Hadama's shoulder instead. Tentative, the easing of that frozen shock slow to wear off; at least he wouldn't see how red her face had gotten, because that would make everything even worse. A pale horn cupped the mer king's collarbones, surprisingly warm to the touch.
"That I... can control it," she murmured slowly, forcing her mind to focus on the question over the physical sensations of being held against another living being. "But not... perhaps.. for very long. The more I use that magic... Gods,, 'Dama, I'm so sorry..! I really did go crazy – "
A shuddering gasp tore through her, thick with emotion; it felt like she was drowning in the aftermath, now that all those dark impulses and tendencies had to be confronted in daylight.
They had once shared certain intimacies more often. The touch of a hand, the brief embrace of friendship carefully measured to not cross the lines that Hadama had set around a starlit heart. But Maea's disappearance had created a distance between them, one that the Tidebreaker had held to for his own sake and the hurt that she had caused him, the scars she had left, even as he had forgiven her for it.
He was not so cruel as to leave her to her own devices now, however. If it could shock her out of the spiral she was descending and offer a measure of comfort, he would hold her as long as she needed something solid to anchor herself to.
He felt some of the surprised tension fade within her muscles, and felt when she relaxed enough to rest her head on his chest. She spoke, answering his question at least briefly before the descent began again. "Yes," he agreed simply, cutting off her apology. There was no softening that blow, no sugar-coating the way she had lost control. The damage she had done to them both in the grip of her powerlust. "And I provoked you to it." For that, he did not apologize. But he did shift his grip, recognizing that it could not be comfortable to be held with her feet dangling in the air. He lifted her, turning his head deftly to avoid the scrape of her curved horns as he slid an arm beneath her knees before resettling her against his chest, held cradled now as the morning light poured warm and golden through the young leaves and birdsong returned to the area around them now that the fighting had ceased.
"You are afraid of its consequences. With good reason. But if you can control it for a short while now, you should be able to train to extend that time. To work within it." He gave a slight shake of his head, his chin brushing the top of her horn along its curved edge, harmless so long as he avoided the sharply pointed tip. "Killing yourself to only injure your enemy is a poor trade."
Hadama: 659.5/740
The way he cut her off silenced Maea, slamming the lid on any further verbal laments. Maybe it felt a bit too much like whining, after putting him through this ordeal. It didn't mean the wasn't squirming in self torment on the inside, but at least she kept it to herself. She would have been fine with dangling too. The ease with which Hadama shifted her around made her not only look like a doll but feel the part of one. She allowed it because it was him, and permitted herself to accept the support he offered while she struggled to come to terms with this awful power she had been bestowed. It helped that he was warm; made it less tempting to wriggle herself free in a fit of misguided pride.
"It would be easier to resist if the power didn't feel so... so good," she grumbled, pushing out the words like it was a poison needing to be expelled. Perhaps, by talking about her concerns they might shrink from the looming mountains they appeared in her mind. Maybe by normalizing the darkness this bloodbane called forth in her, it would seem more possible to overcome it. "I... can see why I need to train with it. But the idea of getting used to being like that... it's like agreeing to to start a habit of drugs. I'm afraid I won't want to snap out of it."
Like just now, when she'd been eager to self-destruct just to get another fix.
"Mmh. I cannot understand that part of it," he admitted. He was no Ancient and neither his Merfolk magic nor his demigod powers had ever affected him the way Maea's Bloodbane did. "Perhaps acclimating yourself to it will help to control it, instead?" Growing more used to how it affected her - and learning how to set her own limits on what she could and could not control. At the moment it sounded as though she feared its effects and so used it rarely, and mostly under stress. Not an ideal situation for learning how to take control of it, rather than being controlled by it. "But it will take time. And practice."
Feeling her relax, accepting help and no longer quite so focused on self-flagellation over her learning curve with her power, Hadama's expression eased as well, softening towards something that held a ghost of a smile. "I will help. Now we know where your current limit is, and we will know when to stop next time." And speaking of limits, he felt his own powers of healing rise within him once more. The moonlit mist rose a second time, a gentle warmth soaking into them both as the bloody wounds that lingered finally closed. Some bruises remained beneath the King's armor but he did not allow them to show as he gently set Maea on her feet once more and stepped back, granting her her space. "Now. Shall we look for Roses again today?"
Magic: Lunar Blessing | Can cause a burst of moonlight in a 30 ft radius that allows allies to roll with advantage for one round while damaging enemies. May be used 2 times per thread with a 2 post cooldown.
Type: Light | Rank: Mastered
