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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!
Jack - and that's Jack the massive cunt, the shithead, the asshole, the one you don't want to make fussy - for those of you paying attention, has been quietly minding his business (and everyone else's, of course, but that's standard) behind the bar while Kaisel once more does a stellar job at digging his own grave. Turns out they aren't playing tractors or dinosaurs tonight; it's two truths and a lie, and the young dragoon has managed to tie himself up in knots all on his own.
Just some food for thought there for you.
Words intended to soothe and placate grow sharp and barbed in Calypso's mind, and if Jack can feel it then he knows Vesper can as well, and that's before the small window in the boy's magic opens to let him take a peek at the coiled violence inside. Inhaling a slow breath and letting it out, he finishes his drink and sets it down, then produces a bottle of crisp white wine that visibly chills in his hands as he sets it down. "Serve yourselves while this sorts itself out," he advises Theea and Colt, before finally stepping out from behind the bar like the slow swell of the rising tide.
He doesn't approach Kaisel or Calypso. He breezes right past them, in fact, towards the door of the Hanged Man, though he's slow enough that they might be able to hear the words murmured half under his breath: "Was it keepin' a promise when you slept with her too?"
Jack hadn't known about it before, but thanks to Kai's chatty little brain, he sure as fuck knows about it now, and between all the meetings and run-ins he and Flora seem to have, he'll tell any number of lies to make it seem as if she'd let him in on that not-secret.
"I ain't gonna make you leave," he says, voice carrying more now as he opens the door for the dragoon to make his exit. "But if you don't, her brother might. An' then her sister's prob'ly gonna make your life hell for ruinin' the decorations."
romancing yourself is possible, narcissistic and recommended
This is their birthday party, and Nova's pretty sure she put in giant pink glitter letters: NO PARTY POOPERS ALLOWED. And based on the subtle pain in her sister's eyes, Kaisel has just dumped a nasty, heaping load right on her pretty golden head.
Calypso deserves better than a pile of shit on her birthday, and when things start to heat up, Nova is jumping to her feet along with Vesper and Jack. It's hard to lunge at him with the two men blocking the way - and she'd really like to not have to clean up blood later - so she settles for stalking behind, a huff of annoyance heavy on her lips. They also seem to have it in hand, making it very clear that he's no longer welcome at this party, a few shimmering threats that calm her desire to shred him where he stands. Maybe she'll let them handle it so she doesn't ruin her dress.
When she peeks out from behind Vespy, there's a deceptively bubbly smile on her face - if the bubbles were made of acid and shards of glass. Tilting her head so that her birthday hat glitters in the lighting, Nova gives Kaisel a wink. "What if you promise to leave then keep that?" Her tone is light and teasing at the 'innocent suggestion,' but if he cares to look closely at her smile, he might notice that the teeth are looking a little more like fangs the longer he lingers.
- Life is a party, and I’m the piñata - - break me open, and all the fun spills out -
She can see it in his gaze, in his stance, the way he wants to so desperately make it right. But the flame has sparked beneath her skin and there’s very little he could do right this second that might let her cool off. So when he advances, Caly steps back again, just in time to hear her brother’s cold voice at her back, ever the protective blade of her own claws didn’t strike out enough. And Vesper’s close in his wording to the things she wants to say.
Ah, but it isn’t quite what she’s getting at, either, even with her thoughts spiraling from the vibrant gilded light that had been into the pale white of the heart of a fire, its edges dripping in orange, gold, and red when Jack slips by. She hears it, because of course she does, and it has her spine straightening out immediately.
Everything else feels numb and deaf, even the smile on her face feels pasted on and glued, because she hadn’t known that either. It’s on the heels of Nova’s call and the cool brief breeze that fills in the Hanged Man when Jack opens the door that Caly hopes her voice doesn’t shake as much as it feels like it should be. “Promise me we’ll talk later if y’leave right now. Otherwise, I’d reckon there won’t be much left of ya t’talk to, I’d bet.” It’s a threat that feels so brittle on her tongue when it should feel like all the parts that made her. Her shadow clad brother, her shithead, don’t make fussy father, her sister with all the rainbow glitter in the world to make a crime scene beautiful, and her mother likely watching from her silver lined queendom in the clouds.
She feels small. Like her words are just a repetition of Jack’s own but in a prettier font, only instead of lingering, the young attuned twists on her heels and it’s the quiet clicking sound of them as she turns away from Kaisel, not even sticking around him to listen for the promise to fall from his lips as she sinks behind her bar to snag one of the better items they keep hidden.
Vesper's words are like stones chucked at his head, each one an attempt to draw his attention off Calypso, each one stinging a little bit more where they land. He's half the mind to take all this anxiety and turn it into something useful by rounding on Vesper. Doesn't even matter who's blood ends up spilling, as long as he's got a reason to burn through the energy. Except, those new, long shadows by his feet, and the way the scar between his shoulders always itches whenever he gets heated now, they all remind him that it won't stick to punches (again), and it might be more blood than he's banking on. Besides, he's positive Caly definitely won't listen if he pulls a stunt like that.
So he shoves it down instead. Steps on it and squishes it underneath everything else, and although it fights back like a suitcase after too much vacation shopping, he can zip it up just enough to keep it from popping back open.
She steps away from him again, and this time, he doesn't follow. He's utterly defeated now. He realizes he's trying to grasp firelight, but that's not something you can hold, especially when it burns as low and hot as she is. The one thing he is still holding is his stare on her, beseeching her to see that there's more here than what's just been carelessly laid out. Speaking of, fuckingJack's words slip into the newfound silence building up between them, as audible as the crack of ice on a frozen lake you know you shouldn't cross. It immediately flares hot and blinding through Kaisel, who does at last let go of her entirely to glare over his shoulder at the retreating figure of the shitstain. Although his first thought is, how the fuck does he know? That one doesn't linger, because Kaisel immediately blame Bassian. His main thought is, what the fuck? Because he'd really just heave more weight onto Caly's heart so carelessly? Here, now? Absolute piece of shit.
Kaisel's attention snaps back to Caly, an explanation loaded on his tongue, even as Nova lobs another rock at his face with her overly sweet suggestion. Caly's speaking now though, so Kaisel wisely shuts up and listens. "Alright," he says as she begins to turn, and his lingering gaze watches the determined way she departs, feeling like it might be the last time he sees her despite the fact he says, "I promise."
Sighing with an audible growl of frustration he stalks towards the door, head pitched low and away from Jack as he passes. He slips back into the familiar Torchline scenery and cuts back towards the Skyport, muttering every curse under his breath.
Kaisel out!
Kaisel
I'm just smiling down upon my enemies
Wearing a watery blue, faded and stretched-out sparkling hair tie on his left wrist
Colt had mostly meant to warn Theea that she might need to step the fuck out after all if the tension tipped over any time soon, but Theea seemed perfectly content to settle in and watch, potential bloodspray be damned. Well, so be it from Colt to tell someone what to do with their dry cleaning bills.
"Your first?" Colt repeats, because for someone that started slipping alcohol at a young age, the idea of waiting as long as Theea has sounds awful. Though, it does explain the sputtering earlier. What she says next earns some lifted 'brows, and Colt might have asked more about it if things weren't heating up.
Vesper's focus is sharp now on the pair, and while Theea can stand however close she wants, Colt has no intention of getting in the way. She slips out from his arm when she notices the corner of his shadows grow long, whatever steady beat her hand might have offered long since past. The fact even Jack is rounding out from behind the bar is another indicator, so Colt grabs her drink and nods at Theea. "I'm gonna sit over there." Theea can have the wine if she wants, Colt will skip that particular headache and make sure she's not in any line of fire when shit goes down.
She leans against the opposite wall of Calypso and Kaisel across the bar, lazily watching, though it seems all her precautions are for little reason as a few terse words and an open door later is all it takes for the firestarter to leave. Not quite the rowdy bar fight she anticipated, not that the soft sigh that slips free is any indication of disappointment.
Everything I hold dear resides in those eyes You got that power over me The only one I know, the only one on my mind
Received a Gilded Market wig from Remi that resembles her usual hair and is enchanted to stay on better than most wigs | has a reverse centaur tattoo on her left hand with the legs going down her pointer and middle fingers that looks like this.
He did not, in fact, receive his drink - something he was becoming somewhat resigned to at the Hanged Man since Flora had abdicated management - but given the familial drama underway he was not inclined to protest. The young Dragoon was making... choices, and Hadama watched impassively but without external judgment as the young man raised his voice loud enough for even those at the bar to hear what was going on.
It could have gone worse, in the end. The only blood spilled was not the kind that needed cleaning up with a mop and bucket, and therefore it was none of the King of Torchline's business. The 'vibe' of the party had, unfortunately, been rather thoroughly dampened and Hadama was not particularly well suited to raise it again.
He contemplated the empty space behind the bar and then the door, but it would not do to leave the birthday party so underattended. So he remained, offering the triplets what support his silent presence could bring until they were ready to close it down.
Or some new emergency required the Tidebreaker's presence elsewhere.
