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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!
snow glistens on the ledge, whiskey on the bed shake it out and light a cigarette
It’s a multitude of ingredients required for the pancakes and he helps where he can to set them down for the necromancer. He’s happy to hear the humor return, though, less mortifying for the other man than it had been with his quip earlier which is certainly something Sunjata has not forgotten. “Well, I do know how to rescue an eggshell out of the mix if it did happen.” He muses, as htough that was answer enough that he didn’t need to be supervised cracking an egg.
He leans his hip against the counter while Niki starts to measure out the ingredients, and only once he has the correct amount of eggs and the bowl and whisk in hand does Sunjata start to crack them carefully. “Can I ask you something?” He asks, not hesitating too long to hear what he assumes to be the accented you just did that Niki would reply back with. “Do jokes about sex make you uncomfortable?” It’s bold – perhaps the boldest Sunjata’s been, but he can’t help but to ask given the last few interactions they had to try and want to know why Niki reacts the way he does. “I don’t want to make you feel like that if it does, is all.” He keeps his gaze on the bowl, cracking the next egg carefully to give Niki a little privacy in how he’ll respond.
miss me when you, you wish you weren't right shake me all out if i'm wrong, for you, for you
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.
"I do not think that is entirely the same as knowing how to successfully crack an egg," Niki ventures, raising his eyebrows as Sunjata collects said eggs as if wondering how crunchy these pancakes are at risk of becoming. "But very well. I leave them in your questionably capable hands." Smiling to himself, he returns to his measuring of the other ingredients, which is of course when Sunjata asks to asks a question.
And the response is locked and loaded on his tongue as the Heartless knew it might be, to the point where Niki might have been impressed at his quick follow-up were it not for the content of the question. Feeling the bag of flour suddenly slip from his fingers, it lands with a soft thump on the counter - nothing spills, but a cloud of white whuffs into the air and dusts them both in a soft coating of the stuff.
"Er," Niki begins awkwardly, staring at the bag like it might have some idea how to navigate an answer. In some respects, though, bluntness forces him to consider the response, and when the necromancer does speak, it's flustered but it's honest.
"Talking about sex in general makes me uncomfortable," he says quietly, brushing the flour from his hands and his sweater, his cheeks pink and his gaze on the counter. "I have never... well. I am only experienced enough to have realised what does not work for me." TLDR; he has disappointed a young woman or two in the Greatwood with his lack of enthusiasm south of the waistband.
"I also have other considerations that many people do not have to think about," he adds, gesturing to his cane and to himself in general.
stay your pretty eyes on course keep the memories of who i was before
snow glistens on the ledge, whiskey on the bed shake it out and light a cigarette
It certainly is a questionable choice to leave it in his hands, and for the most part he’s relatively competent in this regard as he cracks the eggs and ever so casually drops the bomb between them. The bag of flour is dropped a short distance, but enough to send a small nuclear blast up and around them – pale white dusting coating his arms and half of his face, squinting against the cloud as he freezes in the egg breaking so he doesn’t actually get shells into the mixture.
He puffs out a little breath which only sends a little more flour into the air as he glances over at Niki and relaxes a fraction with the real answer he gets. It’s only in time to hear a bit of history, to see the glint of pink rise on snow reflected skin, and enough to glance over at the cane and the necromancer in question as he formulates how to respond. He doesn’t brush away the flour yet, though, letting it settle on his arm and face as he sets the shells down to snag the next egg, carefully clinking it against the side of the bowl. “That’s fair.” He murmurs softly, kind of at a loss of what to say immediately lest he scare Niki off as he had that one day he’d gone a little too far. But the thought does linger in his head over all the ways people in similar positions have found ways to get off. Unless, of course, they're not interested in the act at all - which somehow Sunjata doesn't get from Niki's answer.
“Do I make you uncomfortable?” He asks, deciding to get that question out of the way. After all, he was the demigod of the sex god. If anyone would it’s him and he supposes he’d rather know now than later if he was pushing Niki’s boundaries simply by existing too close – even if everything screams at him that he doesn’t.
Because if he had, the necromancer certainly wouldn’t have chosen to live in his region.
miss me when you, you wish you weren't right shake me all out if i'm wrong, for you, for you
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.
Already mumbling an apology into the silence - both for the flour and for his response, potentially - Niki grabs for a tea towel and wipes off his face, offering it quietly out to Sunjata so he doesn't have to suffer looking like half a ghost while they stand together at the counter. He almost flinches at the other man's next question, though, blinking at him, startled. "No," he replies almost immediately, quietly clearing his throat as if to persuade himself to phrase it more eloquently than that.
"No, of course you do not," he says softly. "You make me flustered, but that is not the same as being uncomfortable. I enjoy your company." Otherwise he'd not have agreed to let him into his house - wasted - in the dead of night, or offered him coffee and breakfast in the morning. "I hope I have not come across that way. If I have, I apologise."
stay your pretty eyes on course keep the memories of who i was before
snow glistens on the ledge, whiskey on the bed shake it out and light a cigarette
The towel handed over to him has the Heartless taking it once he’d finished cracking the current egg, lifting it to swipe at his arm and raises it to his face, wiping away the dusting of flour on his face that’s gotten stuck in his stubble. To hear the startled no immediately after the question leaves his lips has his shoulders relaxing, setting the towel down between them even if he still has a streak of flour on his cheek he doesn’t know is there, listening as Niki continues and not interrupting him.
“No, you haven’t.” He answers almost as quickly as Niki had offered the startled denial. “I can come off a little strong sometimes.” He admits of himself, shrugging a tattooed shoulder before he glances over at Niki and flashes him an easy smile, flour smudged and all. “But.. You mentioned that you’ve only experienced enough to know what doesn’t work for you. Is it something you’re interested in at all or have ideas as to what does work for you?” He pauses, almost as if he’s remembering himself. “I don’t mean to pry, I’m just.. I dunno, trying to figure you out I think.” The smile still tugs at his face in quiet amusement and slight embarrassment for himself.
But in the time he’s known Niki, he’s realized that it’s better to be blunt and to the point if he wants to learn something from him as opposed to making jokes and shutting Niki down that way. At least he’s managed to get an answer going this route. So, while he listens for Niki to either answer or tell him to fuck off, he snags the next egg to crack into the bowl and picks up the whisk to stir them all together to break them up.
miss me when you, you wish you weren't right shake me all out if i'm wrong, for you, for you
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.
Niki's eyes are drawn to the lingering streak of flour on Sunjata's cheek automatically, and he has to stop from reaching out for the towel to swipe it away. Instead, he returns to his measuring as if keeping his hands busy will stop his tongue from tying itself in knots. "That is no bad thing," he mutters, of the other man's coming on too strong. After all, if he'd been at all like Niki, they might never have gotten through a single conversation without parting ways politely forever.
The flush is back on his cheeks as he sets out the flour and milk for Sunjata to mix in with the eggs when he's ready, the necromancer grabbing for the sugar to ensure he doesn't have to talk directly at the Heartless when he speaks. "Of course it is something I am interested in," he mutters. "I just... my upbringing and the life I led in the Greatwood have not been conducive to those sorts of opportunities. I am also not what most people might expect when looking for a partner. I do not just mean..." He gestures with his cane - that's something he's lived with for long enough to understand better than anyone looking to do any sort of horizontal acrobatics with him.
"I..." Niki sighs, almost rolling his eyes at himself. "I am... not ashamed, exactly. But I am aware of the state of my body and how it falls short of conventional attractiveness. I have scars, like you, but I do not find them so easy to show."
stay your pretty eyes on course keep the memories of who i was before
snow glistens on the ledge, whiskey on the bed shake it out and light a cigarette
Despite Niki saying he doesn’t think it’s a bad thing, Sunjata realizes it’s one of those kinds of tightropes that could be good for some and not so good for others. He’s seen both sides of it, bolder and braver when he was younger, though he supposes that’s what aging will do. It keeps you doing the comfortable thing, the easy means of knowing what to expect so you weren’t surprised when things happened one way or another rather than finding the surprise of the unknown enticing and exciting.
He takes the milk as it’s set aside so he can pour it into the eggs and start to mix it, trying to keep the wet ingredients together before he’ll add the dry ones as he listens. There’s a small part of relief that blooms in him to hear that he is interested in it, not that there’s anything wrong with those that don’t, but it makes it a smidge easier for him to know how he should react. “I get that.” Sunjata murmurs, keeping his attention on the batter rather than Niki because it’s easier for the both of them – and Sunjata’s never been one to have hard conversations while making eye contact. He’s much more prone to wishing he could vanish into a speck of dust and float on the wind away.
“There’s nothing wrong with not being conventionally attractive, though. There are people that like that. I like that.” He admits, moving on before Niki can start to grow awkward with that understanding. “But I also know it’s easy to say as someone that’s conventionally attractive.” He was Frey’s demigod, after all. He had to be at least someone conventionally attractive, as far as he was concerned.
He takes a deep breath as he starts to pour the flour in and finds a lopsided smile on his face in spite of himself. “I’m a body to be used, I think. Not that I mind, obviously. But I think where you think you have a disadvantage physically, I think my disadvantage is mental. I tend to wear out my welcome.” It doesn't drift into a sad, brooding kind of conversation like it had when he'd helped Niki to his room at Flora's party. It's actually perhaps the most level headed, unbiased comment he's ever made about himself, coming out easily with abject but positive awareness.
miss me when you, you wish you weren't right shake me all out if i'm wrong, for you, for you
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.
"Of course there is nothing wrong with it," Niki almost drawls, the sharp undertone in his voice born from self-deprecation and defensiveness, and he glances apologetically across at Sunjata before trying again. "...Just because there is nothing wrong with it does not mean it is what most people expect when they are taking off their partner's clothes." And the idea of that, whether it's disgust, surprise, or worst of all pity, is something Niki finds very difficult to abide.
Carefully measuring out the sugar and sliding it across to the Heartless, he's moving onto melting the butter when Sunjata speaks again, his brows immediately flinching into a scowl as he looks up. "I do not want to use anybody, least of all you," he says quietly, points of colour still high in his cheeks. "And I am unsure how you could wear out your welcome. You have been nothing but warm and kind with me since the moment we met."
stay your pretty eyes on course keep the memories of who i was before
snow glistens on the ledge, whiskey on the bed shake it out and light a cigarette
The sharp undertone has him imagining for a few moments that the conversation will end there, that he’s overstayed this part of the conversation. But as Niki tries again, it’s easier, more level headed, and perhaps the easiest way he finds to talk to Niki over awkward conversations. But it also helps because he’s fairly certain he’s learning a few things about him. That in the crevices of that handsomely dark mind and sharp, witty, dry humor that there’s a want to explore that side. “Maybe, but that’s on them isn’t it? It’s how you are. If they’re put off, they didn’t deserve to get that far, don’t you think?” He asks and maybe it was more of a rhetorical question because the more he thinks about it, the more he realizes how much of a interest killer it would be if it was all you experienced.
And that’s sad in its own right, even as he keeps those thoughts expertly masked as he focuses on mixing the batter and adding ingredient after ingredient. He does glance over when he feels Niki’s bright blue gaze on him, a twitch of a smile on his face. “I didn’t say you would.” He points out, still stirring the pancake batter. “You haven’t gotten in my head yet.” He bounces his brows playfully. “But I meant more like.. work or expectation, I guess? When it’s mostly just been a coping mechanism for me.” Maybe that’s the first statement that will help Niki understand – that for him, sex was nearly always a way to forget about things for a little while.
miss me when you, you wish you weren't right shake me all out if i'm wrong, for you, for you
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.
"Clearly no, I do not think that," Niki murmurs, wiping at a bit of flour still sprinkled across the counter and rubbing it between his fingers. The necromancer might be dry as kindling and sharp as a whipcrack when it comes to his general demeanour and confidence, but evidently there's more than one chink in that armour where he can be wounded, where insecurity and inexperience have knotted together to create a monster better avoided than vanquished in his mind.
Rolling his shoulders as if that might help to loosen the tension suddenly locked in them, Niki finds himself with little left to measure, and so instead fusses about to grab a pan to make only the gods know what at this point. He hasn't much been paying attention beyond cursory measurements of ingredients.
"Yet?" He scoffs gently at that. "Alas, that is not one of the magics I have learned. And I suppose I understand - it must be difficult that way, being a demigod of Frey. People must expect things from you whether or not you feel like obliging."
stay your pretty eyes on course keep the memories of who i was before
snow glistens on the ledge, whiskey on the bed shake it out and light a cigarette
He’s testy as he answers the initial question, and for that the Heartless steps off the ledge he’s considering throwing himself over if only so Niki would maybe change his mind about it. But, it isn’t his battle to fight, he supposes. And he could say whatever he wanted, that didn’t mean that the necromancer would listen. And would he blame him? When he’d seen him as a mess far more times than he’d seen him happy?
He mixes in the rest of the ingredients and stirs them until the batter is still slightly lumpy and not completely smooth – something he’d learned helped make the pancakes fluffier than they did if it was completely smoothed and overworked.
The yet? has his gaze flicking over at the necromancer as he stills with whisking the batter, retreating only to snag the cup of coffee so he has something else to do with his hands and focus on. “Oh so you’re not a mind reader? Good to know.” He teases, hoping it lightens the air a little bit from the seriousness of the conversation. “It can be. I still use it as a coping mechanism sometimes, but the other things I used to do don’t work anymore. Drinking, mostly.” He hums, pausing to take a sip of the coffee before he continues. “Turns out when you become a strong enough demigod, nothing touches you anymore. But Frey’s helping me get a magic that’ll let me and others feel it without the raging after effects.” And that answer has him relaxing a touch, shoulders loosening any tension that’s snuck in since they started down this rabbit hole of Niki’s preferences.
miss me when you, you wish you weren't right shake me all out if i'm wrong, for you, for you
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.
"I am not sure I would enjoy myself very much if I were," Niki says, scoffing under his breath and heading to the stove so he can set the pan atop it and turn it on to heat it up. "And you could have fooled me. You seemed very chipper yesterday when you arrived on my doorstep." There is a touch of a smile on his lips now at the memory, and by chipper clearly he actually means wasted. "That is kind of Frey, though. Do you think it will help?"
He can't see many, if any of the other gods or heralds indulging such a whim for a demigod. (Not unless being drunk and allowing others to get the same way furthered their celestial cause, or something). "What do you need to do in order to receive such a lofty skill?" he wonders, then glances to the bowl of batter and nods towards it. "Do you think it is ready?"
stay your pretty eyes on course keep the memories of who i was before
snow glistens on the ledge, whiskey on the bed shake it out and light a cigarette
“Yeah probably not.” Sunjata agrees with a wrinkle of his nose as he thinks about it. It was probably horrible to be a mind reader. And as he thinks more about it he realizes that it absolutely is a hell of a different kind, if everything he knows about Jack is to be believed. But he shifts gears to latch onto the chipper comment, snorting in response as he cradles the cup of coffee between his hands. “They gave me a couple vials of something to see what it was like. So I took one yesterday.” He explains, before he nods a little eagerly. “I think it did help then and definitely will in the future.” Because at least there’s another way to escape when everything feels a little too heavy.
As for what he needs to do in order to get the ability to do it, followed by the question of the bowl of batter. “It’s ready, yeah.” As far as he can tell, but he’s still no cook. “I have to witness people handle it with different tolerances and see people or myself have a good experience and bad experience while inebriated.” He offers out, twisting so he can focus on Niki again, resting his hip on the counter while he still cradles the coffee mug.
miss me when you, you wish you weren't right shake me all out if i'm wrong, for you, for you
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.
"Ah, yes. I do remember you slurring about something like that," Niki says, mild teasing threading back into his voice as he smirks over his shoulder at Sunjata. "It certainly seemed to help you, though only you can say what it was you were trying to cope with at the time." You know, given his earlier remarks about drinking and sex as coping mechanisms.
Reaching for the bowl as Sunjata confirms that it's ready, Niki gets a ladle and waits patiently for the pan to come up to temperature. "Ah, well. That seems simple enough. Do you think yesterday counts as a good experience?" Laughing quietly, he gives it another few moments before braving the first pancake of the bunch, letting it softly hiss against the heat as he ladles it in.
"And if you are in need of someone who cannot tolerate alcohol at all, look no further. Though I do not consent to being carried to my bedroom a second time," he says, raising his eyebrows expectantly at the other man.
stay your pretty eyes on course keep the memories of who i was before
