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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!
12-17-2025, 01:00 PM (This post was last modified: 12-17-2025, 01:01 PM by Honey.)
Neron
PREMISE:
- Sunjata runs the local small town bar that's fallen on hard times
- Neron is running for mayor and trying to climb his way up the ladder. They both are dating sisters, but don't know it until they arrive for a multi-day family holiday in a ski lodge. Neron is hoping to win over the wealthy family, but Sunjata seems to be the one effortlessly charming them, so they might be able to strike a deal for success, or find maybe they're with the wrong partners all along.
PART 1: MEET-CUTE
The heavy doors to the ski lodge close like a sigh behind him as he steps out into the crisp night air, fairy lights twinkling though the glass and framing the cozily decorated reception area within. Having excused himself from the welcome festivities - rounds of spiked hot cocoa and marshmallows, niceties that sound vacuous with each repetition, smiles that start to hurt the cheeks with insincerity - to use the restroom, instead Neron takes himself around to the side of the lodge porch, reaching into his dark coat for the pack of cigarettes he'd promised his girlfriend he'd quit two weeks ago.
He'd not expected it to be this difficult, honestly. Politics is a role he'd been born to play, and that extends to most social areas, but no more so than when he's putting on his best performance to woo the upper crust before election day. They don't appear all too interested in him, though. No, they're more invested in the poor barfly (bartender? bar owner? he doesn't know, he wasn't listening) and his stories, and gods if Neron hasn't had enough.
There will be more days to come, he knows, but for now he just needs a little something to take the edge off. His gloves and a breathmint after will cover the evidence of the bad habit, he hopes, and it's to the distant sound of sleigh bells from a group walking by and the faint tune of baby it's cold outside that he sparks his cigarette and draws deeply on it.
i can still see your face looking back through the flames and i search it, was it worth it?
He can’t help he’s able to easily charm his girlfriend’s family. He’s been a bartender long enough to be able to ride that empathy alongside humor that really helps when it comes to approval. It isn’t politics, not quite the same that Neron has arrived and seemed to boast about – the man’s ego was honestly something else. He’d tried to be nice and extend the olive branch, but after the third time of it going absolutely nowhere, Sunjata’s almost taken it like a personal challenge.
His girlfriend’s told him to drop it, but the bar owner wasn’t exactly that kind of guy. And lately, it’s proven to be a decent distraction from the fact his bar was going under – something he’d kept a good and quiet secret. Perhaps, though, he can cater to Neron’s ego and get a bit of help in the process.
Neron slips away, though Sunjata tracks him in the process, seeing as he doesn’t go toward the hallway where the bathrooms reside. He waits a few moments before excusing himself to get a drink – figuring it was obvious if the family he’s trying to charm thinks of it as a bad habit. It was his job, after all. He gets a holiday old fashioned, one with a touch of a peppermint liqueur to make it just a little bit more spicy than the alcohol was. And with that in hand, he spots Neron with a cigarette he’d heard the other man tell his girlfriend he’d been clean for two weeks.
“Keeping secrets, huh?” Sunjata asks, shooting the other man a bright grin that seems to also convey his secret’s safe with him. “I can relate. My cologne’s particularly good at hiding it, if you need a spritz before we go back.” He offers, leaning against a snow dusted rail with his drink in hand, fishing in his pocket for his own pack but coming up empty aside from the zippo with engraved sides, vintage looking – like a hand me down that’s been in his family for years.
no i don't mind the smoke, but your tears make me choke are you okay? should i go away?
No permission needed for power play!
Feel free to use magic/force on Sunjata, without killing him <3
Sunjata speaks with an Australian accent and has a passive magic that makes him produce a subtle scent that matches exactly to whatever those around him most desire him to smell like.
"Fuck--" Neron can't help but jump at the sudden voice near his shoulder, thinking himself caught in the act. He's already halfway to trying to put out the cigarette and come up with a suitable excuse when he realises who it is. And he'd still consider himself caught nicotine-handed were it not for Tall, Dark and Holiday-Old-Fashioned's comment, instead scoffing under his breath and slowly letting himself relax again. "She'd lose her mind if she found out," he mutters - she being Harriett, his girlfriend, "so I appreciate the discretion."
Stepping up beside him properly against the snowy railing, he gazes out at the muted slopes and the world set softly aglow by snowdrifts. "Not sure that's the sort of rumour I would want to encourage, though. You know, walking back in smelling like your cologne." Smirking and raising his eyebrows across at the other man, he's just in time to notice him come up short on his own pack of smokes.
It's an almost automatic thing for Neron to offer one out to him - Black Devil brand, all dark paper and smoky vanilla scents, begging for a kiss from the vintage zippo in Sunjata's hands. "Better not stay out for long," he warns, tone drier than kindling. "You'll be ever so missed by the family. They'll send out a search party for you and everything, I bet."
i can still see your face looking back through the flames and i search it, was it worth it?
The quirk of his lips only deepens a touch when Neron jumps to hear his arrival. But as he promises to keep the mayor-to-be’s secret, Sunjata sips from his wintry holiday old fashioned, nodding silently as if to say your secret’s safe with me, because it was.
But as Neron steps up beside him, Sunjata stays just as close – the alcohol letting him leak some heat, huffing a quiet laugh at the comment as he rolls his eyes. “C’mon, I’m sure you can come up with a good excuse. You’re a good politician aren’t you?” It’s a touch muffled as he searches his pockets for the cigarettes he’d somehow lost.
Spotting the dark paper of the cigarette with the hint of vanilla from the wrapper, Sunjata takes it with a nod of thanks, popping it between his lips and lighting it with the old family heirloom of a zippo, taking a deep drag from it in quiet relief even if Neron’s words are aimed to barb. Smirking behind the plume of smoke that escapes him, he tilts his head toward Neron. “You’re not jealous are you, Mr. Launceleyn, sir?” He asks, putting on his playful pleading tone. “You want some advice? Be a little less… structured.” He isn’t sure how to explain it, but he drags from the cigarette again and gestures to him with the hand holding the old fashioned. “You get looked at harder than I do ‘cause they expect you to say all the shit they wanna hear. Be more real. More you. I’m sure you’ve got something in you that can manage that.” He winks with a surprisingly bright grey gaze.
no i don't mind the smoke, but your tears make me choke are you okay? should i go away?
No permission needed for power play!
Feel free to use magic/force on Sunjata, without killing him <3
Sunjata speaks with an Australian accent and has a passive magic that makes him produce a subtle scent that matches exactly to whatever those around him most desire him to smell like.
