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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!
07-13-2024, 03:52 AM (This post was last modified: 07-15-2024, 10:59 AM by Odd.)
flora
Flora probably should have taken some time to cool off after her meeting with Dahlia and then with Jack, but having no motivation to go drown her sorrows in the sea or at the bottom of a bottle, instead, she kept the closed sign on the Hanged Man's door and stomped her way towards the clinic.
Having been thinking about what she wanted to say to Isla on the way over, Flora didn't notice the way the Clinic's front doors and windows were open until she was nearly on its front step. "Uhh..." Inside she could vaguely hear someone calling out directions, followed by the scramble of limbs and the unhappy squawking of birds.
What the.. "..Isla?" Flora called cautiously as she poked her head inside of the clinic.
to share the space with simple living things, infinitely suffering
"Listen," Isla is calling to both patients and nurses, "listen, alright. Just stand back and cover your ears." Whether or not Flora decides to take the same advice that the Remedy has just given, the sudden roar from within the clinic is unmistakeable and audible even with one's hearing protected. As a result, the flock of hels that someone had been feeding on the windowsill to tempt them inside promptly flees outward again.
For a moment the clinic looks more like a henhouse than anything, and the exodus of the birds is followed by the soft and padding paw-steps of a molten tiger. Snorting and bristling her whiskers in the doorway, Isla ensures that the waiting area is, in fact, empty, before she shakes herself off and shifts back into a rather unassuming blonde.
"Oh - hello, Flora," she says, still a touch exasperated as she straightens up. "Sorry about that. What can I do for you?"
fighting off like all creation, the absence of itself
Cover her ea—The warning comes a little too late for Flora's mind to fully grasp what's being asked of her, and though she immediately presses her palms against her ears they're going to ring for a good few seconds after all has gone quiet. "Fuck—" Pressing herself flat against the doorway to allow for the sudden migration of hels out of the clinic, the Doubletake grimaces nervously before peering inside again only to see a tiger stalking directly towards her.
Exhaling shakily once it turns out the tiger is just Isla, Flora pushes her hair back from her forehead and laughs shakily. "Hey." Stepping inside and tugging the door shut behind her, the queen nibbled at the inside of her lip as she turned back to face the Remedy.
"Uhh, is this a good time? I mean, clearly not the best time, but..." Oh fuck it, Flora had already had a day. "I just found out something about Everest and I think you should know.' She whispers.
to share the space with simple living things, infinitely suffering
Brushing any downy feathers from her skirts and scowling momentarily at a flap of wings out the window - a window someone promptly shuts for good, thank you very much - Isla is already reaching for a broom to start to sweep up after their helish (heh) interruption when Flora explains the reason for her visit. Immediately, the Remedy's brow softens with concern, and she nods and hands off the broom to a waiting receptionist. "Yes, of course," she says, beckoning for the other woman to follow her.
Past the reception and the consultation room, Isla leads them directly to her office, welcoming Flora inside and clicking it shut. "Sorry," she says with a small smile, "this is about as close to privacy as we'll get without you booking an appointment to see me in a medical sense." Moving to lean against her desk, of couse the questions are immediately on the tip of her tongue. "What did you find out? Is Ever alright?"
fighting off like all creation, the absence of itself
Following Isla and knowing she probably ought to be handling this with a good deal more tact than she presently was, Flora could only hope that the urgency she thought she owed her friend would compensate for any potential rudeness.
"No, no it's fine." The queen says, smiling appreciatively. It wasn't her boyfriend who was infected with the void, after all. "I mean...no? I don't think so." Swallowing, Flora gives her head a small shake. "He's infected. Like capital I infected." Assuming the Remedy's next question would be how do you know, Flora felt her shoulders sagging as she softly sighed. "I met with Dahlia to discuss...y'know." The state of their regions, if Torchline was in their crosshairs, what kind of food the Reaper liked.
to share the space with simple living things, infinitely suffering
Luckily for Flora, she and the Remedy have known each other for a fairly long while now, and it is rare to see her so flustered or keen to discuss something so quickly. And so Isla gives her all the attention she deserves - not that she will enjoy what she has to say, as becomes evident all tooo soon. "He's what?" Blue eyes widen and she straightens up from the desk, and if this were a word with cellphones, Isla would already have Ever on speed-dial to talk to him.
It's true that Flora is able to head off the majority of her questions at the pass, and though the Remedy is a good deal paler than before, she's ever been calm in a crisis, and gives her a gentle nod. "Fuck." Listen, she's allowed to not be eloquent right now. "I... are you alright, after meeting with her? And do you know what this means, or... or how long he's been infected like this?" Recently, surely. Right?
Right?
fighting off like all creation, the absence of itself
"Yeah..." Biting at the inside of her cheek, Flora drops her eyes somewhat as if to allow Isla a moment of privacy in which to feel her feelings about the news she'd just received.
"Wh—me? Yeah of course. It was fine." Remarkably fine, actually, things with Jack not withstanding. Rubbing at her temple before smoothing her fingers through her hair, Flora wraps her arms around herself and shrugs lightly. "No, just that...I mean Dahlia said being a Friend of the Family, I guess that's how they refer to people who are infected, gives you certain benefits. Like having all the weird flora and fauna just be nice to you and stuff." The Doubletake explains as best she could. No doubt had she pressed the Reaper for more information Dahlia would simply have invited the queen to find out for herself.
"I mean...looking back he's been weird for a while. Basically since Dahlia took over Stormbreak..."
to share the space with simple living things, infinitely suffering
"Good," Isla says softly - at least Flora has come out of this alright, even if things with Everest are a great deal more purple than they had been a few minutes ago. (Much longer than that, in fact, Isla is already telling herself). With a whispered curse under her breath, the Remedy sinks into her desk chair and gestures for Flora to seat herself as well if she wishes. "It explains... a lot," she admits. His adornment at the Midwinter Ball, their conversations about the void flora and fauna, all of it.
"You're not wrong there, either," she agrees, though weird is subjective. Everest has been more outgoing, confident and at ease since Dahlia had taken over Stormbreak, which... gods, if that's what being a Friend of the Family entails, then who are they to tell him he should change? "I don't suppose we know if there are any adverse effects to it? Whether he's a ticking timebomb or something...?"
fighting off like all creation, the absence of itself
"Like his purple penis?" The queen jokes, before immediately covering her mouth. Her aqua eyes widen with apology and amusement both as she grimaces against her palms. "Fuck, sorry." It was no laughing matter, obviously, but having been carrying around so much tension since Jack stormed out of the Tavern, Flora's mouth had taken the opportunity to release a little of it quite without her permission.
Not quite sure how to bring up Jack's advice without outing the captain's abilities or intentionally misleading the Remedy, Flora bites at the inside of her cheek and shakes her head. "I mean, Vox wouldn't keep telling people to do it if there wasn't something in it for them." She murmurs softly.
"But hey, I mean, Rae can totally heal him." She offers, and though it would take quite a few of Accepted together to try and call down the God, both Koa and Mateo were good enough friends to the aviator to combine their channelling abilities with hers.
to share the space with simple living things, infinitely suffering
Isla's flat look ought to be enough to tell Flora what she thinks about the off-colour (heh, purple?) joke she's made, the Remedy not dignifying it with a response and running both hands back through her hair. A scream or a laugh feels caged at the back of her throat, because of course Everest Hart is in love with her and capital I infected by creatures who want to take over Caido. Why not? Just add him as #4 on her list of failed relationships.
"You're assuming that Vox and the Family have everyone's best interests in mind, and aren't just saying and doing whatever it takes to get people on side and out of their way," she mutters, letting out a long, shivering sigh and sitting back in her seat. "And unfortunately I don't have Rae's contact details in my back pocket." She doesn't know the ins and outs of Channelling, after all, never having been in a position to use it even when she was an Accepted 10000 years ago.
"Thanks for letting me know, Flora."
fighting off like all creation, the absence of itself
"No, I mean.. Quickly giving her head a shake, the clarification Flora intended to make suddenly didn't seem necessary. It all amounted to the same thing in the end.
"I mean, I do. And if we get enough Accepted together, the chances of them answering go way up." She'd never been successful yet, but 15% wasn't terrible odds. Not with Ever's life (probably) at stake.
If only they'd known about what Halo was up to.
"I'm really sorry, Isla." The words felt utterly vacuous, but gods, what else was there to say? "I didn't mean to just blurt it all out either, but...I didn't want to waste time thinking of the right way to tell you." Hopefully the Remedy could understand that. "What are you gonna do?"
to share the space with simple living things, infinitely suffering
"I appreciate that you'd do that for him," Isla says with a gentle smile, nodding to her friend and forcing herself to start to look at things logically; she can feel sorry for herself up in her apartment later on. "And it's alright, really. I'd rather know right away than later when the explanation has been prettied up."
It's honestly something she should have been suspicious about far before now, but the Remedy's happiness has been a delicate thing for years, and selfishly she's overlooked things that would have had alarm bells ringing had it been anyone else. "I'm going to have to talk to him, first of all. Maybe he knows he's infected... or maybe he doesn't. Either way, I'd want to know, if it were me."
Forcing out a long, slow sigh and inhaling a fresh breath on the heels of it, she nods to the Doubletake. "Let me know if you find out anything else? About Ever, or anyone."
fighting off like all creation, the absence of itself
"Okay." Exhaling, Flora glances towards Isla's door. With her lower lip between her teeth the Doubletake considers for a moment. She was so used to being around Jack were her thoughts didn't always need to be said, that it occurred to her only belatedly the things she might have left out. "I'm sure it'll be okay. I was infected before, remember? With that thing on my arm? And...I don't remember it making me feel any different." The emotions she'd felt during those weeks had all been her own.
"I will." Offering a small smile that she was sure would do nothing for the Remedy's spirits, Flora made her way toward the door, pausing only briefly before she left. "Be safe, okay? Just in case he is...you know." What had Isla said? A ticking time bomb?
Tapping her fingers against the door frame but unable to think of a reason to linger, Flora exhaled softly before slipping out.
