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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!
Rolling her eyes playfully, this perhaps being where their age difference comes into play for the first time, Flora is still on a high from having successfully navigated this sort of high-stakes encounter, while Jack looks like he'd prefer to sleep for a week. "I might have too." The Doubletake says with a shrug. "If it's between a headache for you and keeping Torchline safe, I know what I'm picking." So saying, Flora picks up the bottle of rum and, after having refilled her own glass, adds a good bit more to Jack's.
Rising, the queen moves to stand behind his chair and at the same time she lets her fingertips glide over his temples (pushing his out of the way), she coats her thoughts with a honeyed gold coating of success. "Everyone wouldn't have to find out." Flora says softly as she presses the back of his head against her belly before continuing to massage away his headache. "But maybe she'll dump him before she gets pregnant with infected little Everest babies."
Speaking of...
"So...being a Friend of the Family, though. I mean...when I was infected before nothing...really happened. And maybe if I do it, I can get her to promise to leave Torchline alone?"
Hissing something under his breath that, ultimately, is a sort of agreement, Jack grunts his appreciation at the extra rum and takes a healthy sip of it before setting the glass back down. "Just don't get cocky if you do it again. Be just as careful next time as you were this time," he mutters, glancing briefly at her as she sidles up behind him, the captain reluctantly letting his hands drop as she invades his space.
"You reckon your friend the doctor, who's also problematically involved with your father, is gonna keep that information tucked away to herself?" He raises his eyebrows up at her, unwilling to admit that her touch feels good and equally unwilling to sit up and away from it.
As for being a Friend of the Family, Jack's blue eyes are suddenly ablaze as he reaches up to grab at Flora's wrist with one of his hands. "Don't," he tells her simply. "Or everythin' you've worked so hard for will suddenly belong to her. You won't even realise you've given it away."
"Me? Cocky?" Flora tuts under her breath to imply how ludicrous such a thing would be. However, given the fact that she's currently fussing over the captain instead of really taking his words to heart says as much about that as is likely needed.
"Problematically? Don't be dramatic. They're just...I mean, it was weird before, but it isn't now." And though Flora had likely never thought about it in Jack's presence before, her meddling in their relationship will be there for the viewing if he's so inclined. Adding pressure beneath his temples before letting her touch descend down the back of his jawline, Flora just shakes her head. "And so what if people find out. Dahlia didn't outright tell me, and she didn't take I had to keep anything she said a secret." Though this sounded reasonable in her mind, she glanced down at Jack with her eyebrow slightly raised.
"Wh—" Frowning, the captain having never grabbed her like that before, Flora straightens ever so slightly before returning his stare. "First of all, I'd be an idiot not to consider every option available to me." She points out stubbornly. "Second of all, ow." It didn't really hurt, but unless the promise of pleasure followed swiftly behind, Flora's tolerance for pain in every day settings was fairly low.
And see, the captain is usually all for cocky, when he hasn't just had to sit invisibly out in the backrooms and hope to the gods that Dahlia doesn't realise he's there, or what he can do, or what it might mean for her Family. Alas, his and Flora's worlds are colliding at the moment, and neither is on the same page. "Right, because Dahlia is definitely the sort of woman who'll give you a savin' grace because of semantics," Jack drawls, even as Flora's fingers drift down and behind his jaw.
"What was the point of havin' me back there if you ain't interested in anythin' I found out?" He scowls, sitting up and away from her - and yes, releasing her wrist from his grip - only to reach out and down the rest of his rum. "You're an idiot for thinkin' that's even an option in the first place." Shifting to rise abruptly to his feet, Jack is clearly done being caged inside the Hanged Man.
Scowling down at the captain, her surprise as evident in the o of her lips as in the rainy greys of her thoughts, Flora theatrically lifts her hands before letting them flop down at her sides. "I am interested." She huffs. "Just not in being treated like a fucking child." Which, lol. "I'm allowed to make up my own mind about things. Just because you've helped yourself to my thoughts doesn't mean you get to control them." Or at least, not so fucking obviously.
Swiping the rum off of the table in a petulant move to deny him anymore if he decided to storm out of the bar, Flora simply eyes him. Annoyed at the lack of praise for how well she'd done, at his judgement of her thought process, of having not fucking learned anything so far she couldn't have pieced together for herself, the queen grit her teeth together.
"Maybe instead of asking Safrin for a ship upgrade you should ask for something not to make you such a miserable cunt when your head hurts."
"I'll stop treatin' you like one when you stop fuckin' actin' like one," Jack fires back, raking his hair back from his face and stepping out from behind the table just as Flora swipes away the bottle, which fuck you, he'd supplied that in the first place.
"You don't praise mice for lettin' cats play with them just enough not to die. Why would I praise you for this?" She doesn't get it, and gods if he weren't fresh off the heels of rummaging around in a void princess's head, he might be in a better state of mind to explain it.
Oh, but Flora isn't done, and Jack's eyes darken considerably at the needling of her thoughts and words both. "Right, yeah. You're welcome, by the way," he growls, turning to stalk out of the bar.
"Oh, so you'd rather I took the fucking hero route? Just stood up and told her to fuck off and that we'd go down swinging?" Flora laughs, bitterly, the sound cold to her own ears. "I'd rather be a live mouse than a dead fucking.." What animal was more heroic than a mouse? Shit. Her mind was drawing an utter blank. "..y'know."
"Now who wants praise just for trying to stay alive—!" Flora snaps, her anger reaching a broil. For the next 30ft or so Jack would be treated to a mental lightning storm, that, while not likely to rival what Dahlia's mind had been like, would put on a grand show just the same. Her fury and indignation were raised to the sorts of heights that only youthful minds were capable of, her self-worth wholly inflated because she'd been the only one with the balls to talk to Dahlia and fuck you Jack, you old crotchety cunt.
"Asshole." The queen spat, before picking up the glass Jack had helped himself to and hurling it across the bar.
