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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!
// a beast in the business of selling forgiveness //
Warmth spreads, blossoming through his bones and scars. But rather than the siren song of relief, its sharp burning pain, and to be honest? The butcher continues to be stubborn because he thinks it will help, and even as Danta continues and adjusts to try and scout the butcher’s face, Asta has promptly buried it beneath dark hair and the blankets of the bed.
“I am fine. Keep going.” Mumbled into the blankets, there’s equal amount tension beneath the Maverick’s fingers as there is hardened scar tissue. And while most of the feeling is deadened (a feather light touch wouldn’t register), the force of Danta’s massages and the residual pain of nerve endings attempting to regenerate, it’s like liquid fire has been spread across the panes of his back.
Of course, the blonde won’t be able to see his face but he will be able to see the white knuckle grip Asta has managed to tangle into the sheets, the tip of his tail still lashing.
"...Right." Danta's smile is small and disbelieving; that's the thing about getting to know someone, Asta. You can tell when they're fine compared to when they're Fine ™. Still, the butcher has spoken and has asked him to continue, and so the Maverick shifts enough to get better situated astride him, his hands weaving points of fire and pain against old scar tissue. The aim isn't to hurt, he might have said if he thought Asta were up to conversation, but to heal, however bumpy the road might be.
Continuing his ministrations across the top of both shoulders and towards the back of Asta's neck, only once he's satisfied with his work does Danta let his hands grow warm and gentle and reverent. "A break, I think," he announces, letting his fingers rest, red hot and unmoving, against the abused flesh, allowing the heat to soak in deep. "How are you holding up?"
Dantalion
// and the darkness will never understand it //
Horns: Diamond - they look very similar to #2 in this image.
// a beast in the business of selling forgiveness //
He ignores it, the tone of Danta’s voice. Though in fairness, it’s hard to hear over the thunder of his pulse as he tries to alleviate his breathing while Danta’s deep massage continues. And he’s silent and willing for each moment that passes, until he can feel the Maverick’s hands soften and grow more reverent.
He finally loosens a breath, chest heaving slightly as he works to catch his breath. The announcement of a break has the tension loosening from where it had knit between his shoulder blades, smoothing out beneath Danta’s still hands. “Well enough.” He admits, hands unclenching from the sheets as his tail finally stops its lashing, pressing the flat side against Danta’s leg.
“It is sensitive today.” It’s a breathless acknowledgement, head shifting to glance back up at the blonde with dark eyes.
"I think it's probably sensitive most days," Danta says gently, leaning in to kiss Asta's temple as he finally turns his head to look up at him. "And I'm being rougher with you than I ever was in Torchline. Apparently this is good for scar tissue, though I don't think whoever did the research took the person underneath into account." Still, for as hellish as it had been, Danta thinks the butcher will certainly feel more limber in the coming hours.
He's well beyond hurting him for the sake of fun, though, the fire flaring beneath his palms more active than his fingers, and when he does smooth his hands down Asta's back, it's with a soft and careful touch. "Have you had enough?" he asks, earnest rather than darkly playful. Danta will sit here for hours and gently fuss over the other man if that's what he wants, never considering a second of it to be a waste of time.
Dantalion
// and the darkness will never understand it //
Horns: Diamond - they look very similar to #2 in this image.
// a beast in the business of selling forgiveness //
“I do not tend to notice it most days.” Asta admits, adjusting ever so slightly and enough to be able to press into the kiss at his temple. As for the deep, tough massage being good for scar tissue? Asta also has the same question — and with the answer that the Maverick is thinking along the same lines, he snorts a soft huff of a laugh at that.
It fades as he nestles in and regains his breathing, soaking up the warmth in lieu of sharp pain. Usually, he would stick it out and be stubborn over it, but gods help him if he doesn’t want to just curl up into Danta’s warm embrace, to be held after enduring such surprising pain. Don’t worry, it surprises him just as much as it likely would surprise the other Ancient.
He shifts enough to try to twist beneath Danta, and with his help his goal would be to have the blonde straddle him properly, allowing his dark gaze to fully take in the sharp panes of the Maverick’s face in the low light of their den. “For now, yes.” He answers to Danta’s earnest question, finding no playfulness within his face.
"Mm, I suppose it just fades into the background of everything else," Danta reasons, his voice soft as he lifts his hands to examine the flushed skin beneath them, letting the fire die at last just as Asta starts to shift to roll over. "That's entirely fair," he says with a nod, waiting until the other man is comfortable beneath him once again before leaning in to taste his lips in a kiss as gentle as it is apologetic. "I bet you wish you'd accepted that foot rub now," he jokes, the words mumbled into his mouth.
Drawing back just enough to scatter further kisses against his jawline and cheeks, the Maverick eventually slumps down to blanket Asta with his body, tail sweeping contently across the sheets around them. "Okay," he admits, his smile hidden in the crook of the butcher's neck, "you've sold me on dens, I think. This is much better than how we had things before."
Dantalion
// and the darkness will never understand it //
Horns: Diamond - they look very similar to #2 in this image.
// a beast in the business of selling forgiveness //
It does fade into the background of everything else, not that Asta would otherwise admit it. But he manages to twist beneath the Maverick to keep him precisely where he is, blinking up at him contently as he grows more comfortable and the soft sheets and mattress beneath them dip enough to alleviate any pinpointed sharp pain to leave behind nothing but warmth and a dull line of typical pain, superheated by the fire soaked into against his scarred spine.
Tilting up slightly into the kiss, the butcher’s laugh is soft as it brushes against Danta’s lips when they part, his hands smoothing along the blonde’s shoulders and arms. “Likely would have been less painful.” He laments, returning to his dramatics as he starts to feel better.
His head tilts a touch more as the path is paved by warm, perfect lips and his arms sweep around Danta’s middle to keep him close as he drapes, his own tail coiling around the Maverick’s leg to keep them intertwined. “Isn’t it?” He purrs in delight, arms squeezing Danta’s middle before he nuzzles his cheek against the other Ancient’s head. “It is far superior and far more intimate.” He pauses for a moment, as if the pain and thoughtfulness of Danta have gotten to him, and as he remains pressed in he hums a soft addition. “Thank you, darling. For everything you have done for me.”
"For you - probably not for me. I bet you kick like a mule," Danta says, grinning against Asta's throat before the other man is clutching him closer, the Maverick melting into the affection as if he hasn't expected it, however commonplace it might have become between them as of late. I'm not going anywhere he might have said as he feels the butcher's tail coil around him, but if that's the case it really doesn't matter how they get comfortable, he realises.
"Once upon a time the idea of anything being intimate would've sent me running for the hills." He smirks. And look at them now, the Maverick sighing deeply and glancing up only as Asta speaks once again. "Mm, my pleasure," he purrs to him. "And I mean that. I'd sit with you all night if it made you feel better." Whatever it entailed.
Dantalion
// and the darkness will never understand it //
Horns: Diamond - they look very similar to #2 in this image.
// a beast in the business of selling forgiveness //
“I most certainly do.” He announces with a small smirk, amusement flickering momentarily before it shifts into sentimentality. Affection is surprisingly easy for the butcher to offer, these days, and possessive as he is Danta could say he wasn’t going anywhere and yet the butcher’s arms would still be just as tight, his tail would still be grounding him.
He nods slightly, enough that he can remain just as pressed into him. At least until he feels the Maverick shift enough to glance up at him. The honesty sparks a yawning pit of content within him, something he still doesn’t know how to place. It feels strange, it feels like for everything Danta has to offer him, he’s earned none of it.
But he swallows his insecurities down to drag a warm hand up his spine to caress the nape of his neck. “Once upon a time I would have bit anyone who dared to touch me.” Danta would remember the snapping of his teeth at the blonde’s fingers that day at the Spire. He would remember all the times before that, too.
His insecurities only stay bitten down for so long, though, as he takes a soft and deep inhale, trying to push it down again that he finds he can only block it out by nosing his way in to steal another kiss — too slow and too tender and too gentle.
10-18-2024, 02:52 PM (This post was last modified: 10-18-2024, 03:03 PM by Dantalion.)
// light shines in the darkness //
Without an Attuned bond or any other magical means of understanding the other man, Danta can only act with what's right in front of him. Luckily for them both - and he'll treat it as a middle finger to anyone who gets to cheat by simply knowing the feelings of those they love - he's gotten pretty good at reading Asta's tells.
Arching readily into the warm hand that strokes the length of his back, the Maverick smiles, and those same fingers the butcher would have once bitten off reach up to caress his cheek. "I remember. You kept yourself locked up tight like a safe." Untouchable, mercurial, dangerous.
Whatever else Danta might have to say is silenced by a kiss that feels no less passionate for its tenderness, stealing his breath and every thought in his head for a maddening few seconds. "You can still feel free to bite anyone else, mind," he purrs as they part, bouncing his eyebrows playfully. "And me, of course. But only if you plan on putting your money where your mouth is."
Dantalion
// and the darkness will never understand it //
Horns: Diamond - they look very similar to #2 in this image.
// a beast in the business of selling forgiveness //
Self preservation in the form of not allowing anyone to get close, because it was so much easier that way. Until Danta. Until his merciless ways of teasing and taunting had him putting money where his mouth was. Until he couldn’t continue to be wound up any longer and found himself fully giving in.
A surprise for the butcher, because never once would he have imagined it would be possible.
And yet, here Danta was. Doing the impossible. Ruling without Morax’s input, living his best life. A life that Astaroth is so fortunate and eternally grateful to be a part of.
“Have I ever proven otherwise?” He asks, breathlessly as they part, fingertips toying with the roots of the Maverick’s hair at the nape of his neck. “The only other people that I have allowed, aside from you, is Charlie and Flora.” Everyone else (aside from the drunkards of the Dusklight who don’t know better or don’t deserve to be ripped to shreds over it) was faced with the threatening aura of the butcher.
And if part of him enjoys and craves the jealousy of watcher’s eyes when Danta gets away with everything they can’t? It’s a perk of the job.
"You certainly have not," Danta purrs, his head tipping forward a fraction to enjoy the soft brush of fingers through his hair and against the back of his neck. "And Isla," he reminds him. "I was going to say that it was fair game because she's basically your doctor at this point, but I saw you two dancing at the Midwinter Ball, all cozy like." Grinning - shit like that doesn't cause jealousy in the Maverick, strangely enough, but that's probably because he can't ballroom dance for shit - he glances back up to brush his nose against Asta's.
"Well, thank you for granting me the privilege of being able to touch you," he says with a smile crooked enough to show the very tip of one fang. "It's one I abuse at every opportunity, it's true, but then that's your fault for being who you are." Can Danta really be faulted for wanting to have his hands on Asta all day everyday? He thinks not.
Dantalion
// and the darkness will never understand it //
Horns: Diamond - they look very similar to #2 in this image.
// a beast in the business of selling forgiveness //
“Isla is a given.” And if he thinks about it, it’s likely because she’s had her hands on as much of him as Danta has, nearly as many times. But when the Maverick mentions the Midwinter Ball, his insecurities start to bury themselves again as the smile stretches back into place and he sighs wistfully. “Gods,” It isn’t an attempt to make Danta jealous, of course, but it’s the butcher’s blunt honesty that has the compliment dripping from his lips. “She makes such a lovely dance partner.” He hums as Danta’s nose brushes against his own and he steals the chance to press a chaste kiss as the smirk blooms against the Maverick’s lips.
It isn’t like he dislikes how Danta dances, because he does, it’s just different.
“You’re quite welcome, darling. And I would not worry — Your touch is the only one I crave.” And because the sweet poetics of his tone is already on display, he can’t stop now. “I am positive that I actually endure withdrawals if you are not around.” Here, his own smirk flashes across his face, multiple sharp teeth on display even if his fang is markedly longer than the others.
What a better time to be dramatic than with the one man who would understand it better than everyone else?
"I know - I was watching," Danta reminds the other man with a wicked flash of teeth, though he can only agree with Asta on that point. He hasn't had the pleasure of speaking much with Torchline's resident medic unless its barking at her to save Asta from bleeding out as a result of his own stupidity, but he has the impression that she is lovely in most things. She's smokin' hot too, so that also helps.
Smiling against Asta's lips and shifting enough to lay on his side if only so he can loosely wind his arms around the butcher's neck as well as drape himself up against his body, he matches the butcher's sharp grin with one of his own. "That would track," he agrees, the mirth in his tone at least a little self-deprecating. "I'm guilty of it as well. Remember before we were together like this, when we tried to sleep in separate rooms in the Outer Islands?"
You know, Asta, that time Danta had crept out of his room in the middle of the night to find you because he couldn't sleep?
The drama.
Dantalion
// and the darkness will never understand it //
Horns: Diamond - they look very similar to #2 in this image.
