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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!
07-08-2024, 11:32 AM (This post was last modified: 07-10-2024, 07:12 AM by Koa.)
Koa
Another year, another LongNight to clean up after.
So far Koa's been home for a few days and nobody has descended to yeet him into the sea, which he's decided to call a win. Enough a win that he feels emboldened, like maybe he can go about his normal duties without having to fear for retribution from above. Dahlia may be a nightmare Queen sequestered in her tower, but even she can't get mad about some good community service.
Right?
He's invited some friends he trusts to help - and one he isn't sure about, though Koa can't say if he'd rather his suspicions refuted or confirmed. Everest is different than last Koa saw him, in a way that the Dragoon would fully support, were it not a change that potentially came at the cost of his free will.
These are his thoughts as his small group gathered, buffered by a handful of helpful Dragoons. "Thanks for getting up early to help!" He's got his best Cheerful Commander energy equipped, hoping it'll cover his jittery nerves. "So, as you can see, the Plaza's a mess. I figured we'd start there - some of us can pick up trash, the others can get to work on the fountain." Because, as is somehow tradition, the poor old fountain was filled over LongNight, not with water but sweet, sticky mead. It's fun for a few days, and the sun rises, and the fountain is left sticky and stinking until someone comes along to clean it up.
Round 1! Let's clean up the Plaza. We need 2 people to pick up garbage, and 2 to get to work cleaning the fountain.
1. Koa
2. Everest
3. Zavien
4. Lena
Always happy to help especially when it was a friend who needed it, Everest had gotten up early in order to head down to the local bakery before going to the Plaza. With a tray of coffee and tea as well as some assorted pastries, the aviator made his way over to the assembled group with a cheerful smile.
"Hey Koa, long time no see." Offering him a drink before smiling and murmuring a good morning to Lena, Ever glances politely at @Zavien—assuming he was a dragoon like Koa—before offering each their selection of beverages and snacks. Ever was content to take whatever was left over.
"I can do trash." He offers, and, unless anyone wanted to fight him for the privilege, he'd grab a large trashbag and spiked stick and start to get to work.
Ever brings coffee/tea/snacks and goes on trash duty!
You will never do anything in this world without courage.
Koa hadn't been joking about the mess. There was trash everywhere and he could smell the sickly-sweet mead polluting the fountain water without having to put his nose to it. They had a lot of work to do, but Zavien downed a cup of the offered coffee to start the activities off right.
Walking towards the unfamiliar man, Zavien grabbed his own trash bag to begin the cleanup. "Hey! You must be Everest! Thanks for bringing the coffee!" He offered a wave of greeting, a bright smile lighting his face. "I'm Zavien, the newest member of the Dragoons." It still felt weird to say that, but he puffed his chest in pride at the title. His next milestone would be earning his own dragon. He tried not to fidget in excited anticipation.
"Let's get this place looking clean again!" Moving slightly ahead of Everest, he began vigorously grabbing discarded wrappers and bottles that littered the Plaza. He was determined to get the square looking spotless once more. During his actions, his hand drifted to the ring on his finger and he contemplated the plan as he gathered the trash. Glancing behind at the man, Zavien jumped at the opportunity. Standing to move to another section, the star-studded blue ring slipped from his finger, clinging loudly on the cobblestone street. He pretended not to notice and walked to pick up a particularly large set of damp trousers that made him wrinkle his nose, trying not to breath.
Lena had no qualms with aiming to restore Stormbreak, whether it be through subversive means or more overt manners, like today. She came accompanied with her bright, cheery, sunny grin and Mittens, who scowled at no one in particular. Welcomes were shared, pleasantries contained, and then her gaze went to the aforementioned Plaza itself – which certainly had seen some things during LongNight.
But opportunities were available too, and she couldn’t help but watch as Zavien approached Everest. Only for a second or more, before adjusting her gaze back upon the fountain. “Oh dear,” she murmured, shaking her head, and then advancing upon the sticky and smelling vessel. Mittens screeched in rampant disapproval. “Looks like we’ll have to drain it first.” Then they’d have to scrub and refill; depending on how awful it still was.
"I know, we gotta catch up after this!" The smile he gives to Ever is only the faintest bit strained, Koa legitimately grateful for the coffee and using that gratitude to mask his nerves. Everest doesn't look infected - though admittedly, Koa has no idea how 'infected' is meant to look. He's pictured veins of sickly purple crisscrossing Ever's temples. A violet glow in those analytical eyes. Tentacles, even (which can't be ruled out, given they're all bundled against the chill of early Spring).
But Everest looks like... well, like Everest. Perhaps with a couple inches of reduction in the stick up his ass.
Shaking off the uncertainty, he's happy to let Zavien step in on the clean-up-slash-make-Ever-hold-a-shiny duty. Instead he trudges after Lena and Mittens, grimacing at the mess. "Damn kids," he says, though not as harshly as might be expected. He'd been a kid not so long ago, after all, and though as a Dragoon he'll never admit it, has maybe even had a hand in the annual prank.
He also has a history of helping to clean it, of course. Even when he was significantly younger, Anju and his mother would never let him skimp on post-LongNight cleanup.
"Guess it's scoopin' time." Koa grimaces, eyeing the sticky not-water with open disgust. There's plenty of buckets available for manual draining, which is what Koa sets about. Small buckets are used to scoop, the water deposited into larger barrels, later to be delivered Gods-know-where. Even Pipsqueak lends a claw, flying buckets of water back and forth.
Meanwhile the garbage boys get collecting, with Zavien laying down his trap. Which seems like a great plan- that is, until a cloud wyrm appears from out of nowhere, squirming out from a nest of trash to snatch up the dropped ring!
Fountain crew - get to bucketing out that 'water'. It's sticky and gross. Ew.
Garbage Bois - a mischevious cloud wyrm has run off with Safrin's ring! Oh no!
She smiled at Koa’s grimace, understanding the notions but not begrudging children their semblance of fun and enjoyment. Sometimes it was difficult to find amusements in these passing days.
“I think as kids we forget about the consequences,” she shrugged instead, snagging at a bucket and beginning to scoop out the murky, brown, and sticky water. It held a particular odor that she couldn’t quite describe as anything other than disgusting, but she did well not to wrinkle her nose, still appearing regal, noble, and dignified, despite their current situation. Back and forth she tred from the fountain to the barrel, emptying out and starting again.
Mittens remained as cheerleader – though its eyes caught the cloud wyrm’s antics – relaying it through to Lena’s mind. She had to clench down on her jaw to stop from gasping.
You will never do anything in this world without courage.
Apparently, the ring dropping had been the wrong idea. As he lifted the trousers, a flicker of white scales shout out from beneath it, straight towards the ring. Zavien didn't have to disguise the pure panic in his eyes as the reptile snagged the piece of jewelry. He turned quickly to attempt a grabbing motion, but missed the agile creature, watching in horror as it flew into the air.
Not sure what to do, he reached out a hand, "Help! My ring!" His voice carried over the disastrous square in obvious distress. It wasn't the best plan. Maybe Everest would be willing to help using his Attuned abilities. If not, Zavien felt like he might as well be bathing in the fountain, because this was a sticky mess of a situation.
Zavien misses the could wyrm and calls for Everest's help!
"Good to meet you.' Everest returned, his smile bright as he returned the other man's wave. "Ah, well, glad it's no longer me!" The least conventional of all the dragoons, Everest was basically one just in name only. Really, he just did their accounting and scheduling and occasionally (often) tidied up the HQ.
With as large as the plaza was, Everest didn't hear the ring drop, though Zavien 's cry of alarm was more than enough to grab the aviator's attention. With a piece of trash on the end of his stick, Ever glanced over one shoulder and, eyeing the cloud wyrm and then the soldier, pieced things together well enough.
"I've got it!" Setting down his back and stick, Ever took a running jump before leaping into the air. Shifting in mid-air Animorph style, Ever sprouted golden wings that carried him swiftly aloft as he gave chase to the small reptile.
Ever shifts into a golden eagle to try and chase the cloud wyrm!
If I told you that you'd do nothing with it I'd still be that cigarette that you couldn't finish
"There ought to be a mandatory draft into post-LongNight cleanup." Not that it had quelled his mischief, being made to face the consequences come the light of day. "I don't remember it smelling so bad, when I was a kid," he bemoans, nose wrinkling as he carries a bucket of sloshing refuse, his arms outstretched to keep the contents as far from his body as he possibly can.
Koa and Lena are both diligent workers, a quality which benefits them greatly here. Together they nearly empty the fountain, leaving only a shallow rivulet of sludge slorping through its base. But the job is far from being over and now comes the worst part. Equipped with rubber gloves and boar-bristle brushes, the pair must now scrub the sticky remnants. Try not to vomit from the smell.
Meanwhile, in Ringworld, our poor cloud wyrm has quickly realized it's in over its head. Initially believing itself to have gotten away scott free, the little creature finds it has another thing coming. Because hot on its tail is a great golden eagle, and while the cloud wyrm might be a thief and a rascal, its momma ain't raised no fool. Shrieking its alarm, the beastie drops its treasure, little legs flailing as it skitters through the sky in an attempt to vanish into cloud.
And the ring begins to fall back toward the plaza, glittering gaily in the morning light.
Right.
Above.
The barrel of slorp.
Fountain friends, you got it drained! Time to scrub!
Garbage bois, the cloud wyrm has dropped the ring and it's plummeting right toward the open barrel of fountain slorp! Gross!
-- Each of you, please roll a d2 before writing up your post.
On a 1, Ever will catch the ring in time; on a 2, he will not.
On a 1, Zavien will be able to cover the barrel in time; on a 2, it stays open.
Oops, only the thing is, Everest isn't diving after the ring.
Meaning to catch the cloud wyrm in his talons, as it shrieks and flails, the eagle isn't immediately aware that the ring has actually been dropped based on his line of focus and angle of attack. As it tries to disappear into the cover of the clouds, Everest calls down as loudly, if such a thing was even possible through the attuned bond, to Lena. Should I keep following it...?
Not wanting to fly too much higher just in case it put him out of the range through which he could hear Lena's reply, Everest kept his eyes focused on the cloud wyrm even as it tried to obscure itself in a field of clouds.
Ever keeps following the cloud wyrm and calls down to Lena!
If I told you that you'd do nothing with it I'd still be that cigarette that you couldn't finish
“Maybe you put different things in,” she hummed in response to Koa, shaking her head and taking the gloves, and bristled brush, to begin scrubbing the resin.
Half-tempted to see if she could find something for the stench emanating from the fountain, she was temporarily distracted by the other actions. Eagles chasing cloud wyrms, a question in her mind, and she jerked her head upwards to see the repercussions of everything. I think it dropped the ring, she uttered to Everest, eyes squinting and narrowing, hoping to catch sight of everything. I don’t see where it went though.. which worried her immensely, but she kept those notions under wraps. Perhaps Zavien would be quick enough to decipher where the glint of gold had gone…
--
Lena scrubs and tries to relay information to Everest!
You will never do anything in this world without courage.
Everything seemed to happen in slow motion. Everest took off, the cloud wyrm screeching and flitting about, and the ring falling - falling - falling. Zavien's mouth came open in a silent cry of desperation as it tumbled towards the smelling excrement of the fountain.
Not spotting anything to cover the barrel of slorp, Zavien used the only thing he could think of. Himself. He dove with no amount of visible or perceived grace, over the barrel, covering the opening with his stomach and jostling the contents enough to soak his shirt. As the liquid seeped into the cloth, Zavien closed his eyes in resignation. The sensation was enough to distract him from the 'donk' of the ring against his back as it bounced away.
Whole lotta oh fucks happening here, eh gang? Maybe we should have tried a good ol' "Hey Ever will you hold this?" - but then, where's the fun in that?
Like everyone else, Koa is now approaching a state of panic over the multiple mishaps occurring re: ring-gate. Warned by Pip's screech and Zavien's running, the young man has spun around in time to see the cloud wyrm unleash its prize. His brown eyes widening into saucers, he watches, helpless, as the jewelry descends through the air. Falling... falling...
And at the last minute not landing in the barrel of sludge.
Because Zavien's there, and while he's now covered in refuse, at least he's not going to have to swim in it. The ring bounces harmlessly from his back, landing on the ground with a cheerful plink! Unperturbed, the bauble begins to roll its way back into the Plaza and away from the agape conspirators. "Fuckfuckfuck!" Koa exclaims, scrambling to get out of the fountain and chase the sacred thing.
But it's Pipsqueak who swoops in, her svelte body swimming through the air in pursuit of the errant shiny thing. She snatches it up with a crow of success, chortling at her own brilliance where the humans have failed. It's all Koa can do to keep from slamming his head onto the edge of the fountain as relief and hysteria flood through his brain.
Glancing at Lena and Zavien, the Dragoon sucks in a breath. "Holy shit. Right. Okay. Um, Zavien, how about you take the barrel to waste disposal and like... find a new shirt? And, um, Ever?" Koa calls to the eagle, still trying to salvage this. "Can you hold onto that ring for Zav? I'd let Pip keep it, but she's a worse hoarder than any wyrm." Indeed, Everest will be hard pressed to convince Pipsqueak to part with her new treasure, even with her companion's mental pleading. His arms flail a little as he turns back to Lena, heart still thundering in his chest. "I guess, uh, let's finish scrubbing? And pray that nothing else goes wrong?"
Our comedy of errors continues!
- Zavien: go dispose of the slorp and get yourself cleaned up
- Everest: retrieve the ring from Pipsqueak. You may want to try a bribe.
- Lena and Koa: finish cleaning the fountain. This round will finish it off.
Oh, alright. Lena's voice sounded strained and faint, an indication that they were coming to the limits of the attuned bond, but the aviator was able to hear her enough to alter his angle and fly back toward the group.
Shifting just a few feet above the ground so that his feet hit just as the last few feathers were disappearing from his hair, the aviator brushed phantom feathers off of his sweater before glancing towards Koa. "I can definitely try!" Patting his pockets and looking around to see what he might be able to offer the little dragon, Everest decided to go to one of the nearby vendors in the hopes of buying a small scrap of meat. Whether or not Pip would be inclined to trade for a left over bit of breakfast sausage was yet to be seen.
"Hey, Pip. Remember me?" The aviator asked as he knelt down and looked at the bit of meat in his palm. Dividing it into smaller sections, he popped a bit into his mouth and ahhhhh'd theatrically. "You want to try some?" Offering a portion out to the dragon, Ever's hope was that once she tried it, she'd be more inclined to want to trade for more of it.
