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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!
"Don't care about that either," Jack mumbles into her mouth, of the blanket nearby and the thermoses of coffee waiting for them. Even that forty feet is too far for him to take his hands off her, and since he feels no immediate upset from the ice he presses her against, the captain sticks to his current decision.
Able to tug down her leggings and underwear enough to make this work, Flora will feel the hard, hot press of him against her as he adjusts them just so, Jack pausing if for no reason than to replace the billowing white that streams from her lips with his own mouth. "You've got me," he hisses, nipping at her lower lip and grasping at her hips.
And I want you, he might have added, but at that moment his hips thrust forward, his cock throbbing hard as he fills her, moaning into her mouth. It's like an itch he can't quite scratch, and gods even if the time of day and the temperature are going to work against him, he finds it hard to care right now.
it's not your fault that you're always wrong the weak ones are there to justify the strong
your touch brought forth an incandescent glow, tarnished but so grand
You've got me.
The words fill her nearly as much as Jack does, and while the response from her body to the thrust of his hips is a shock of scarlet that knocks the air from her lungs, the echo of his voice has her thoughts drowning in shades of burnt gold. Moaning something that might have tried to be his name, Flora tries to grasp at the collar of his jacket with two of her fingers. Finding the inability to tangle her fingers against any part of him maddening, for the moment the need to be warm wins out, though the tremble in her fingers suggests it won't stay that way for long.
Wanting to feel more of him, Flora foolishly tried to lift one of her legs and tangle it around the captain's waist before being immediately reminded that they hadn't bothered to fully remove their clothes. Moaning her frustrating against his mother, the queen's thoughts grow frenzied for a moment as a brief internal war waged between making things better, and not parting from him for an instant.
"Gods," she huffs, the word accompanied by a puff of white. "Turn me around, I need more of you than this."
Flora barely needs to speak the words - the scarlet and gold flush of her frustration and her arousal already has the captain stepping back a fraction, just enough that she can turn around without putting any important parts of either of them at risk from the cold for too long. Tugging off his gloves with his teeth and stuffing them into one of his coat pockets, though they no longer have the cocoon of the blankets to rely upon for warmth, the new positioning will hopefully make up for it.
Grasping her hips and thrusting himself inside her a second time, Jack moans praises and curses against the side of her neck with each buck of his hips, unwilling to waste a fraction of time doing anything other than enjoying her. There are times for drawn out foreplay, for teasing and touching and play, but out here on the Tundra? It's just fucking, and they both happen to be very fucking good at it.
it's not your fault that you're always wrong the weak ones are there to justify the strong
your touch brought forth an incandescent glow, tarnished but so grand
Having dropped all but a single blanket to press against the wall of ice, as the bite of the chill tries to sink its teeth into the bare flesh of her hips and ass, Flora finds something utterly gratifying in the moment of cold that passes over her before Jack is back against her. Before Jack is back inside of her.
Moaning exultations and praises, the queen's shoulders round forward for a moment as a fresh rush of fire roars through her and she's helpless to do much more than try not to burn up in it. In those few seconds, her posture is that of someone who doesn't actually know how to be fucked from behind, but as instinct takes over and her mind somewhat clears, her back arches and her thighs tense, giving Jack something to properly fuck up against.
It was just fucking, and gods Flora loved Jack for it. Loved that he wanted her enough to fuck her in the middle of an iced-over bay, loved that it would be quick, and hard, and oh so satisfying.
Tilting her head back ever so slightly, the queen tangles her fingers into Jack's hair, pulling his ear toward her lips. "Fuck me like you mean it," she taunts, before releasing him and letting her hand slide down between her legs.
Huffing a somewhat surprised laugh to feel Flora's fingers tangle in his hair and her demand spill from her lips, one of Jack's hands tightens around her hips, the other sneaking up her side towards her shoulders. "Anythin' for you, love," he whispers back, the sound of his voice rough and breathless and wicked, before he's pushing her down to properly fuck her against her ice, driving his cock deeply into her with every snap of his hips.
"Fuck, Flora," he groans, tugging her back to meet him with each thrust, and already it's too much, she's too much, and the pleasure that whispers up the base of his spine threatens to strangle him at any moment. "Cum for me," he tells her, wanting to hear his name wrapped around her lips and ringing across the bay, wanting everyone still tucked up on The Ark to be startled awake by it.
it's not your fault that you're always wrong the weak ones are there to justify the strong
your touch brought forth an incandescent glow, tarnished but so grand
Gods but he was pushing all of her buttons, and had she the ability to do so, she might have made some joke about sending him on scavenger hunts every morning if this was going to be the result. Alas, Flora's lips were twisted into a silent cry that felt fixed in place by pleasure rather than the cold, and despite the way her vocal cords produced a wide range of sounds, none of them came close to approximating words much less snarky remarks of approval.
Using her free hand to press against the ice in a rhythm directly opposite to Jack's, every time their hips met Flora felt something inside of her weakening, splintering. Between her legs her fingers worked to widen those gaps, pulling and tearing them apart for the captain to break through to the surge of pleasure just on the other side. "Gods, fuck me Jack." He was, and given the pace he'd set there likely wasn't much more he could do, but the words felt good on her lips and even better in her own ears.
"Jack—" Heat roared up from her core, dusting her chest and cheeks a dark pink, and sending flames through the ever-widening gaps in her resolve. "—gods, make me cum," pleading now, Flora sips in a hasty last breath as she feels the world beneath her feet begin to shift and sway. "—jack—" The edges of her vision turn red, and then gold, and then white as the world around her blurs away with the ballooning pressure of her orgasm.
"—ja—"
His name echoes across the bay, ricocheting off the ice before being swallowed by the freezing waters.
His name has never sounded more sweet than it does echoing across the barren ice and black sands of the bay, and though the captain stands no chance of holding himself back once Flora's orgasm seizes her, his hips roll against hers enough to carry her across that threshold into boundless ecstasy. He follows mere seconds afterwards, his hand slipping from her shoulders to brace against the ice as well as if it's the only thing able to keep him standing, pleasure carving itself through his veins in rivulets that fill with the rosy gold shimmer of Flora's emotions.
Feeling as though the earth might carve itself open beneath his feet at any moment, it takes Jack a long few seconds to become aware of anything other than the thunder of their heartbeats or the sharp feel of cold air filling his lungs. Hissing a curse under his breath, the captain slowly straightens up, drawing Flora with him and back against his chest.
Not wanting to ruin the moment with words, Jack merely winds his arms around her, head tilting to rest against her shoulder in the crook of her neck.
it's not your fault that you're always wrong the weak ones are there to justify the strong
your touch brought forth an incandescent glow, tarnished but so grand
That portions of her hips and arms have gone numb because of the cold doesn't even register to Flora, not with the latent ripples of pleasure still burning so brightly inside her body and mind. Rather than standing on a shoreline of black and white, instead she and Jack are somewhere far, far away. In the tropical waters of the Arclight, perhaps, where there's nothing but water and the press of each other for miles and miles around.
That that isn't their reality has Flora groaning as Jack straightens, and as unwilling as the Doubletake is to move much at all, she does toss the blanket up and over Jack's shoulders, using it to bind him against her as much as help to keep him warm.
Almost always happy to ruin a moment with words, the queen nevertheless stays silent for a little while longer, her head tilted against Jack's. "Still grumpy I made you come out here?" Flora whispers menacingly, twisting her neck as far as possible if only to brush the cold tip of her nose against one of Jack's cheeks.
"Enough," Jack grumbles, though if ever a complaint sounded affectionate, this is it. Glad of the warm blanket that drapes across his shoulders, he waits until the heat of the afterglow fades to something more befitting of the actual temperature before moving so much as a fraction more, and even then it's only enough so they can both pull up their pants. "I'll always be grumpy if you make me come out to some frozen beach before the sun is halfway up," he adds for good measure, the words all but mumbled against Flora's cheek before he's stepping back to button his coat.
"But on this occasion, it was very much worth it." Tugging her back against him once his gloves are back on and the chill has been staved off, Jack's expression turns quiet and thoughtful. "Thank you," he says, before his emotional walls slam down and he thinks better of it. "You didn't have to do this for me. No one's ever done anythin' like it."
it's not your fault that you're always wrong the weak ones are there to justify the strong
10-19-2024, 05:11 PM (This post was last modified: 10-19-2024, 05:34 PM by Flora.)
your touch brought forth an incandescent glow, tarnished but so grand
Not unlike the way sailors undoubtedly could pick out different sorts of seas where land-folk might just see blue waves, Flora was coming to learn all the various ways that the captain could complain about something; this time, for instance, had her grinning from ear to ear as she caught the sly affection in it. Reaching down to tug up her leggings, the queen chuckles under her breath. "The sun is up." She mutters, squinting up at the nothing-coloured sky. "And if you check the note again, I never said when you had to come outside." Not that Flora wouldn't have been furious with him if Jack had decided to while away the morning on the Ark instead of coming to meet her, but even so.
Snorting, Flora's eye-roll is every bit as affectionate as Jack's enough had been, and though he'd not be able to see it, no doubt it was already filling her mind, and thus, his. Twisting in his arms in order to face him, the queen's shit-eating grin fades by degrees, but only in size. Her mind remains a warm and sunny place despite the overcast and frosty world around them, and as Jack speaks, there's only quiet joy in her mind, tempered by a sadness she ultimately can't help.
"You're welcome." Standing on her toes, Flora presses a too-soft kiss against Jack's lips, one meant not to inspire passion or arousal, but merely some stand-in for the hug she can't properly give him owing to the layers between them. "I don't want to be without you." She adds, her smile growing bashfully lopsided as her eyes drop to his collar. Choosing not to point out that being given immortality by Safrin, was absolutely somethin' like it, Flora instead tries to meet the captain's gaze. "And..if you use that one, I'll find you another....and another if need be. Keep you actually immortal." She chuckles before her expression grows soft and small. "While I'm around, at least."
"Mmhm," Jack says, the word loaded with the dozen objections he leaves locked behind his lips for now, though his amusement is written plain on his face. Oh, he knows that if he'd chosen to wait until early afternoon to show up at the bay, leaving Flora's thermoses of coffee to go cold even within their insulated containers, there would have been hell to pay. These days it always seems to be a choice between deciding whether her fury outweighs his entertainment.
Those thoughts still in Jack's mind soon enough, though, replaced by the warmth of Flora's mind like Torchline on a Longheat afternoon, his arm slipping around her (blankets and all) as she leans up for her kiss - one he gives willingly, to the surprise of them both. "I asked for that from Safrin," he objects softly, raising his eyebrows. "And fetched and killed and worked for it, and she gave me what I'd earned." That's the difference right there. "You just gave this to me, no strings attached."
Well, some strings, but if all Flora asks is not to be without him, that's a price Jack is finding easier and easier to pay. Kissing her again before nodding towards the blanket she'd spread out on the sand, he gestures for her to lead the way. "Since you went to all the effort."
it's not your fault that you're always wrong the weak ones are there to justify the strong
your touch brought forth an incandescent glow, tarnished but so grand
Moaning softly against Jack's kiss, not with the same passion as when his hands had been clutching her hips but instead softly and a touch musically, the Doubletake concedes the point with a small shrug. "Well...you can think of it as me being selfish then, if it's easier." She suggests, knowing just how deeply rooted Jack's skepticism was when it came to genuine acts of affection. And, it was selfish, when you really thought about it. Flora didn't want whatever strength it would take to move on if Jack died; didn't want to have to imagine a world without him in it.
Glancing toward the shoreline, the queen huffs out a laugh before kneeling down to collect the blankets she'd discarded. Offering Jack one, Flora wrapped the others around her shoulders once more before leading the captain toward the towel she'd been sitting on and the basket. Tucking her blankets beneath her as she sat down in order to compensate for the hard-packed sand, the queen unscrewed one of the thermos lids before adding a healthy pour of whiskey and giving it a swirl. Taking a sip before hissing in a breath—clearly it was still hot—she handed it to Jack. "So? You think you'd ever want to sail through that?" Nodding toward the sea ahead of them where large icebergs lazily floated by and the water looked impossibly still and cold, Flora raises a brow.
"Selfish?" Jack echoes, and the smile that plays across his lips is a little easier to consider it that way. "It is easier, but I'll still remember it." And if the last nice thing Flora had done for him resulted in her presence tattooed permanently onto his skin, who knows what he might do with this one? Something for her to consider inthe coming days and weeks, perhaps.
Accepting the blanket in lieu of her warmth pressed against him, the captain follows her over to the towel sit down beside her, the blankets gathered around them and a chill wind howling across the shore to tousle his dark hair. "This is pretty miserable compared to Torchline's shores," he tells her, in case she hasn't noticed, though he accepts the spiked coffee readily enough and takes a cautious sip.
As for sailing through these waters? Jack lets out a low whistle. "Yes an' no," he says. "These places are treacherous to any ship. Never know what's lurkin' under the water, what might wreck your hull or tip you or beach you. That bein' said, there's a point of pride to say you've got the skill to even try." And as they both know, Jack is nothing if not a prideful creature.
it's not your fault that you're always wrong the weak ones are there to justify the strong
your touch brought forth an incandescent glow, tarnished but so grand
To that, Flora can only shrug. Whatever she'd done to warrant the spray of flowers on Jack's arm, she hadn't connected the dots, nor did she have any sort of expectation now about how he might repay her act of affection. Aside from, you know, using the feather if ever needed.
"Shore is." Flora says dryly before immediately pressing her lips together to stifle the bray of laughter that she barely keeps caged behind her teeth. Of course her mind will shine with the awfulness of the pun even so, and the way her eyes sparkle as she glances over her shoulder at Jack very much suggests she isn't at all sorry.
Reaching to take the coffee back from him, this time Flora blows across the top of it before taking a sip. "I suppose with the way the Ark's built now, if any of those things happened you could just raise her into the air before you were beached or pulled under." The queen says, though there's a healthy amount of intentional consideration coating the words giving how new she was to sailing compared to the man at her side. "I don't mean this to sound as cliche as it probably will, but have you ever wondered if there's more out there?" Not mOrE AdVenTurE, not some metaphor for finding purpose in life, but literally more. Having seen the maps of Caido, there was just one chunk of land (well, mostly just one, post-war, anyway), but what if? What if there was more that no one had discovered yet?
Beyond how cliche it was to ask, it was likely just as naive, but Flora had a hunch that if there were other lands to find, the man currently at her side was more than capable of doing it if the right price was ever offered.
