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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!
Sometimes it was the small tasks in life that gave it meaning. Sometimes, a few extra hands could make all the difference in making a good idea become reality. In the grand scheme of things, moving out from the inn where she had been staying for the past few seasons seemed a very small thing, yet for Seren it felt momentous.
With a mixture of bashful excitement she dragged the boys along to the abandoned storefront. It looked to have been neglected for some time, and though she had asked everyone she could think of for any trace of the owner, they had all shrugged and sighed and told her that no, the owner died in the Starfall disaster. No family, no next of kin - and so it was a simple matter of settling an agreement with the neighbors. And it was hers. Her very own space, to do with exactly as she pleased. The door creaked as she twisted the key and pushed it open, revealing a vast open space overflowing with light from the large window. Dust and some debris littered alongside the walls, and paint was flaking off the wall - but on the whole, the building was sound.
"What do you think?" she asked with bated breath, wide eyed as she looked from one to the other. "It should fit wonderfully as a studio, don't you think? It just needs a good cleaning, and some paint..." And maybe they ought to fix that door, too, before stocking up with materials she could use. Canvas, paint, easels and brushes -
Ah, but first things first. Reaching into her pocket space, Seren spared her friends a cheeky smile each as she handed them brooms and buckets and whatever else they might need in order to help her get started.
Sah followed Seren happily, unable to keep the soft smile off of his face at her clear excitement. It was nice to see that she was still as interested in the arts as he remembered. In the face of tremulous times, it was a relief to be able to step back and help a friend with something mundane but still dear to them. Hadama was also a welcome addition and Sah found himself relaxing in the comforting presence of people he trusted.
Seren opened the door, and the Wild Thunder scanned the space, taking in the lighting and openness. After a beat, he grinned, "It looks wonderful. I can see why you chose it." He might not know much about art, but he knew enough to understand that location and environment mattered. The place needed work, but it had undeniable potential.
Retrieving a bucket and broom with a snort, Sah set to work cleaning the future studio.
Hadama had hardly needed dragging to accompany the young woman who was, in many ways, now a spiritual relation of his. The King had followed in the wake of the younger pair, savoring a day spent in pursuing a future that had nothing to do with resistance or survival, but simply living life and moving forward in the assumption that there would be a future.
It was a breath of fresh water across his now-proverbial gills, and Hadama surveyed the shop with quiet approval for the bones of the place. Old and shabby it might have been, but it was also sound from what he could see, and he nodded along in silent agreement with the excited list of tasks that Seren came up with.
And then the brooms came out.
He blinked and looked over to Sah with a steely brow raised above emerald eyes that twinkled with amusement. "I think it will be perfect," he agreed, accepting his charge with solemn courtesy. "When we are done." His useful Mer magics were no longer his to command - not, at least, in his current shape - and so he focused on what he could do: mopping the floors when Sah had finished with the sweeping.
Hadama starts mopping out the dust and debris!
Beaming at their approval, it was with a light heart that Seren went to work alongside her friends. Making herself so weightless that a jump had her drifting along the ceiling, she used the vantage point to dust off the ceiling, and to scrape down the worst of the peeling paint from the walls. A storm of dust was kicked up for their trouble, and at some point Seren paused to hand out kerchiefs to cover mouth and nose with.
With the debris carried outside to burn later, the floors and walls swept and wiped down, the room looked much better.
"You are really good at this!" Seren chirped, handing out snacks from her endlessly deep pockets while they paused to catch their breaths. "Next, if someone could look at the door to make it stop creaking, that would be wonderful. And the other can help me paint the walls, maybe? Who wants to do what?"
Round 2
Pick one;
1. Repair the squeaky door
2. Help Seren paint the walls white
bones, bones, bones, bones, bones, bones, bones, bones, bones, bones, bones, bones, bones, bones.
You've encountered the OG random event! This allows you to skip one levelling requirement with the character in this thread. (Unfortunately does not count for characters over level 10, how sad.)
Sah returned Hadama's look with a shrug and a grin before he got to work. The man's amusement was clear though he wasn't certain just what part of his sentence caused it. The curiosity left his mind as he got to work. When they regrouped afterward and Seren offered a snack, Sah accepted his with a nod. "Thank you." he finished it as she gave out the next directions.
"I can help paint." Apart from replacing the door, the Wild Thunder knew nothing about carpentry repairs. He grabbed a paint bucket, tray, and roller and set to work. White was certainly nice for brightening up the place, and he exacted that it'd take a few layers to stick. His telekinesis would come in handy for the parts where it was hard to reach, even with a ladder.
He accepted the handkerchief with solemn gravity and a nod of thanks. It helped to keep the worst of the dust out, and the building certainly looked a great deal better when the dirt was out of it! It might have still looked a little shabby, but at least it was a clean kind of shabby and Hadama surveyed the room with satisfaction.
"Thank you," he murmured, accepting a snack with a flicker of a smile in his eyes. He nibbled it appreciatively, emerald eyes considering the walls and the door with careful measure of his skills and where they would be best applied. He started to take a step towards the paint--
But Sah had already moved to claim it, swifter in his decisions than the Tidebreaker. Inclining his head in acceptance of his loss, he turned instead to the door.
Hmm. Creaking doors were not generally a problem underwater. But Hadama knelt beside the portal, testing its range of motion until he had identified where the squeak was coming from. A little more observation identified the cause of it, and the King borrowed a screwdriver to tighten a pair of screws on the hinge and loosen a third so that the door would swing withing the metal binding.
Hadama attempts to repair the door!
Hadama's methodical troubleshooting led him onto the right path almost right away. While he wrestled with aged wood and rusty hinges, Seren and Sah ran into a problem only once the first layer of paint was on the walls. The humidity of the season trapped so much moisture in the room that it took far longer than expected for the paint to dry. After debating several ways to solve this, Seren darted outside and came back with a rusty old brazier borrowed from a neighbor. Though it raised the temperature in the room to near stifling degrees, with some fanning and once the door was properly in place at least it was getting dryer in the large room.
"We might have to go over it again later," Seren admitted, wiping beads of perspiration from her brow, "but at least it's better than before. Uh, could you help me assemble some shelves, too? They're in the storeroom at the back already. That should be the last thing before I can start to move in the supplies." Checking up on her friends, she supplied them with more treats - not because she thought that they needed any bribing, but it felt nice being able to reward their perseverance in the here and now.
For his first effort at landbound home repair, Hadama considered the job a success. He methodically tightened or loosened the screws in the remaining hinges once he had worked out the ideal point of tension and to ensure the creaking would not start up again anytime soon. Only once he had finished to his satisfaction did he return the screwdriver to its box and accept Seren's snack as a well-earned reward.
The brief rest gave him a chance to see how the painting was going, and he was curious about the application of liquid to the walls. Especially when it seemed to be staying wet. Seren soon revealed her fix for what was a problem rather than a feature, though Hadama moved to surreptitiously stand by the breeze from the door while they planned their next project.
Construction was also not in his wheelhouse of experience, but he gamely joined the others amidst the boards and nails. He cast about for a hammer but could not find one, so he settled for using his large hands to hold two boards at a time in place for someone else. "I did not know you were an artist," he said as he helped to hold the shelving boards steady while he left the problem of the missing tools to someone else.
Hadama steadies the boards for someone else to hammer - if they can find one!
Sah eyed the wet paint with a furrowed brow, "I think you're right. I have a feeling that if I tried to dry it with my magic, it'd end up setting in a weird shape." Although a textured wall would be interesting, it likely wasn't what Seren was going for. It seemed more like she was aiming for a blank canvas to paint on and within.
Seren grabbed a brazier and, much to the Wild Thunder's delight, offered more snacks. She outlined the next task, and he was thankful that it was something that he was a little more familiar with. He'd built benches and shelves a few times before, but her was undoubtedly still a beginner at the craft.
As Sah got to work he noticed Hadama pause in his peripheral vision. Glancing over, he quickly caught onto the issue. Walking over, the Abandoned activated his creation magic, "I got it." Creating a hammer in his hand, Sah got into position and began to nail the boards where the Demi-god needed him to do so.
~
Sah uses his creation magic to make a hammer and helps Hadama.
"Thank you, that is very sweet of you both!"
Helping out as best as she was able, between Hadama's holding, Sah's hammering and her ability to lighten the load, all it took to assemble the shelves was patience and some well applied logic. Once that was done she showed where she wanted them, though accepted to have them remain away from the walls for a while longer, until the paint had time to dry and be reapplied.
Gazing about the room with a feeling that something was missing, Seren counted off the tasks on her fingers. "Sweep and clear out the junk, paint, fix the door, shelves... No, I really think that's all. The last thing would be to carry in supplies from the neighbors shed. Then we're done!"
Excited about the prospect of being able to start painting in her own studio, she skipped ahead out of the shop and off around to the back, to show the boys what she had acquired. For a practicing artist it really wasn't a lot. Some canvassed frames, an assortment of paints and brushes, a turning wheel for pottery and some clay, along with an assortment of tools to sculpt with.
"I spent a whole day moving these in here, and kept wondering why I did not clean the store first," she laughed ruefully. "At least this will be the final move."
Last round! Help Seren carry the art supplies into the studio and stock the shelves.
"Thank you," Hadama murmured quietly to Sah as the Abandoned solved the tool issue with an ease that the Tidebreaker watched with curiosity. It was not a type of magic that he had seen before, though he had heard it was possible. "Mmh. Convenient."
The shelves came together quickly after that and Hadama stood to brush the sawdust off his hands as they surveyed the burgeoning studio. With the clutter removed it looked both larger and brighter, and the shelves gave a pleasing point of order to draw the eye for now. Once more of Seren's art was on the walls that would undoubtedly change, but the beginning was already an auspicious one.
He followed their guide to the shed and after a moment to consider the options moved to lift the potter's wheel. "Do you take requests?" he asked his fellow demigod with a twinkle in his eyes as he placed the wheel in a corner of the new shop before going back for the rest of the sculpting supplies. "I would like to commission a painting for the Court of Stars when you are open for business."
Hadama moves the potter's wheel and sculpting materials!
"You're welcome. It's very convenient," Sah agreed with a chuckle. They managed to get the shelves squared away with relative ease and were down to their final task. The vague image of potential he'd seen when they'd first stepped through the door was already taking shape.
Seren happily skipped away, and Sah couldn't help the way that his eyes softened. He followed her out to help grab supplies, nodding along as the conversation continued. A painting of the Court of the Stars would be stunning and a perfect addition to the decor.
As Hadama gathered the pottery materials, the Wild Thunder turned toward the painting supplies. The frames weren't heavy, but they were certainly bulky. He began to bring them inside in small groups, taking care not to bump them on the walls or shelves.
Little by little the storage room was emptied and the shelves filled out. With a light in her eyes, Seren pointed out where she wanted the supplies - heavy stuff at the bottom, canvass and paint where they would be easy to reach, brushes over there - and once there was nothing more to carry, she stood back by the door and just gazed at the room. Already it smelled like a studio should, of paint and clay and treated fabric, contrasted against the flowery herby scent of the floor cleaner.
"It is perfect," she sighed, happy enough that her eyes watered. "Thank you so much!" Giving Hadama and Sah a swift, fierce hug each, she grinned at the king and his generous offer. "Come by later, and I will show you what I make," she suggested. "I do not know if anything will be good enough to display, though I will let you decide."
Leaving the brazier to dry the paint, eventually Seren extracted herself from admiring their accomplishment, and invited the boys for dinner. It was the least she could do to repay their kindness - and both were promised a commission each, free of charge, whenever they wished.
