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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!
karma's a relaxing thought, aren't you envious that for you it's not?
Glancing over her shoulder at Koa's arrival, Flora felt something in her chest flutter girlishly at the same time as steel seemed to slip up the length of her spine. Not that she'd been scared before, but certainly the dragoon's presence smoothed down any anxiety she might have been feeling over Vox's arrival.
"Just so long as you don't harm anyone on my beach, okay?" She warns just as soon as Vox stops stuttering her words back to her.
Clearing her throat, Flora fits herself at Koa's side as he begins to peruse the wares, and while the queen might also have selected the bottle for precisely the same reasons the dragoon did, she opted for the ice cube after a moment's consideration if only because hopefully it would melt away in a few more minutes.
"Pssst." Flora whispered, widening her eyes at Koa before looking pointedly at Everest and then back again.
"If I could fly I would never come back", you said
Ugh, why was she doing this to herself?
Croaking miserably at the other crow when it settled not quite next to her, Maea followed the goings on below. As usual whenever something strange took place in Caido, there was a crowd forming and familiar faces mingled with strangers to the point where she gave up trying to draw on anyone's attention. As a matter of fact, she would have been perfectly content to remain where she was, had the other bird not swooped down to snatch a trinket from the stand.
Suspicious, but undeniably curious too, the white crow followed in the other bird's wake, and snatched up what remained on the table. It was a mouse trap, already done with its purpose, and perhaps that was why she even bothered with picking it up at all. If after a thorough examination she came to the conclusion that this wasn't anything weird or dangerous - anything other than the mouse trap it seemed to be - then at the very least she would come away with a snack.
That was the least this Vox fellow could give, after all the distress they had caused her up until now.
Maea picks the mousetrap (with a free snack)
07-13-2024, 01:08 PM (This post was last modified: 07-13-2024, 01:09 PM by Ellyra.)
Ellyra
I must become a lion hearted girl Ready for a fight
Curiosity drew her in but Ellyra was still hesitant and still afraid. Others made their way down the beach towards the Family’s mouth piece and Ellyra drew her lion-shifted self as close as she though safe (which was still behind most folks).
It spoke — Vox — and she shuddered. Her ears twitched on her head like satellites, trying to catch the sounds but feeling uneasy as this same voice had been in her head too many times.
With a feline gasp (merely a dropping of her jaw) she watched as the others took. She was too slow, too hesitant. Everything was quickly accounted for, which left the lioness with shifting eyes between the sands and Vox. Then she acted, quickly, and ripped at the table cloth with her jaws.
07-13-2024, 06:00 PM (This post was last modified: 07-13-2024, 06:00 PM by Isar.)
ISAR
Arm yourself
Watching with some amusement as greed overcame caution, Isar was in no hurry to pick any of the strange items on display. He had no use for trinkets or bottles, nor did he care for other people's discarded body parts. Perhaps he might have taken interest in the little mouse in its trap, but before he could make up his mind, a bright-feathered raven made off with it. Then, once there was nothing else upon the stand, a lioness pushed her way past to steal away with the tablecloth.
"My, you're in quite the demand," he drawled. "Guess I'll put dibs on the table then." Because why not? Who said one had to start building a house with the four walls and a roof? Here he had a perfectly suitable shelter when it rained, and a bed if flipped upside down. If that wasn't versatile, he didn't know furniture.
"And what would you want in return?" Because this was a bazaar, yes? Not a giveaway. And no one had said anything about these items being free.
"Nothing!" Vox declares, looking at Isar before turning to Kaiden. With a perfectly balanced smile he tossed/hurled/dictated what looked like a chewed up piece of gum towards the fish mer. "Just swallow that and you'll be goooooooooooooood to goooooooooooo!" He said, enunciating each o carefully.
Now, I'm sure you're all dying to know more about your prizes, right?
Charlie has received the coveted bowl of eyelashes What's better, is that they're your eyelashes! From the future!!
Maea has received a mousetrap that's guaranteed to attract mice to it, even if it's in a place where mice shouldn't be, you can bet they'll come running!
Koa's jar holds the breath of a dying family member. Spoooooky.
Kaiden 's dropped holds the tear of the last person to have cried about something really stupid (bonus: it's someone on this beach!) He's also received a blob of old gum, which, if swallowed will turn his digestive tract into pure acid with self replicating teeth!
Everest has received six leaves! Go on, count 'em! They're all there!
Flora has received a timely art installation about the perils of a rapidly warming planet.
Ellyra has received a tablecloth! All items placed under the tablecloth will remain out of sight until the cloth is lifted!
Isar has received a table and the life lesson that friendship is always the true treasure.
You have 24 hours to...uhm...well, you have 24 hrs.
Huh. Isar really wasn't used to receiving things without a catch. Looking down at the table - his table - he still couldn't shake the feeling that there was some kind of catch to this. Some as of yet unexplained clause, fine print that would turn these strange but innocuous gifts into the very thing that trapped him in some bargain.
Shaking off the unease of being subjected to the gaze of that being, this Vox, he eventually shrugged and picked up the table, only to set it down again a bit more outside of the crowd. Then, because it was his table and he could do exactly what he wanted with it, he seated himself on top of it, looking as smugly pleased with himself as a dog with a bone. Maybe this Family wasn't all that bad. Granted, it was a bit inconvenient that half the food couldn't be eaten these days, but such was life. Compared to his former life... there was still abundance to be found.
Isar moves his table a ways off and sits atop it, contemplating life.
"If I could fly I would never come back", you said
Retreating back to the top of the palm with her prize, Maea turned it gingerly over and over, using beak and claw to examine the mousetrap. It didn't feel immediately strange. No obvious void taint, no peculiarities in the material or with the mouse already caught in the trap. It was decidedly dead, she could smell the faint aroma of rot emanating from it, but as far as she could determine, it was just a plain field mouse.
Stranger by far was the bowl with the eyelash. And the chewed wad of gum, and that melting bowl of ice in Flora's hands. Confused by the lack of consequences, the white crow puffed up her feathers until she looked more like a bedraggled owl and kept watching the gathering below, just in case something else were to happen. She was tempted to throw the mouse trap away, honestly. But given that everything had worked out without a hitch so far, she did not want to be the one who turned this gathering into a war zone. Been there, done that - moving on to try different ways of thinking, right?
Maea examines the mousetrap, finding absolutely nothing wrong about it and sulks a bit about that.
Eyelashes huh? Well if they were already hers, Charlie supposed it made sense for her to have them, right? It would have been weird for someone else to get them. Quite what she was supposed to make of their ever-changing sizes she didn't entirely know, but maybe she could make a set of false lashes out of them? That could be fun.
"Eyes!" The tiny raven cawed in appreciation, fanning her dark wings and trying to at least make eye contact with Vox one time before fluttering away. It wasn't the easiest thing to endure, but it was the polite thing to do.
so hey, let's be friends I'm dying to see how this one ends
Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!
Hella golden retriever energy. Small unrefined horns made of ruby. Regular spade-shaped tail.
Loathe the way they light candles in Rome But love the sweet air of the votives
Flora's psst has Koa looking between Vox (or as much as he can look at Vox) and Ever, confusion knitting at his brows. And then realization widens his eyes, which settle on Flora with a small, sharp nod. Somehow she's managed to confirm a suspicion he hadn't quite managed to share before. It's... troubling, but maybe a little relieving. At least now they know infection doesn't make people foam at the mouth or become terribly violent.
It just... creates an odd amount of chill.
Anyway. A conversation for later, which Koa communicates by squeezing Flora's arm in a silent we need to talk. In the meantime there's this assortment of prizes... and the short straw Koa seems to have drawn. The dying breath of a family member?! "H... how?" He looks between Vox (again, as much as is possible) and the jar that he's holding at full extension from his body because someone took the fucking table, both unable to bring it closer to his body and unwilling to throw it away. "My family?"
Koa Carpenter
Hurt and grieve but don't suffer alone Engage with the pain as a motive
I must become a lion hearted girl Ready for a fight
The lioness looked around, table cloth in her teeth. So far, none of the wares that they had taken had caused any harm. Gently and slowly, Ellyra dropped her table cloth in the sand. She lowered her body to lay before it, eyes shifting between those gathered, the cloth, and the flickering monstrosity that called them all here.
She was still too full of apprehension to do much else but keep her eyes moving around. Her muscles tightened, ready to get her springing up and away. She didn't even attempt to reach out over the attuned bond (assuming immediately and without much more thought that the two flitting ravens were attuned). She could do little else but wait, hesitant, ready to run.
karma's a relaxing thought, aren't you envious that for you it's not?
Nodding as Koa 's fingers tightened around her arm, Flora sucked in a shivery breath as she eyed the aviator who seemed to be perfectly at home on the beach. On her beach. While infected.
Turning her attention to the rapidly melting ice cube she was holding between her fingers, she gave Vox a somewhat skeptical look before immediately pulling her gaze away. "Uhh. Right. Thanks for this." The queen murmured. Not really caring much about the watery art installation that was dripping down from her fingers onto the sand, so long as none of Vox's gifts suddenly sprouted teeth (or gods knew what else), she'd be thankful.
Lifting each leaf to his nose and giving a little sniff, they all smelled roughly the same to the aviator which made sense given their similar appearance. Perhaps they'd be good in tea? Certainly, Mateo would know; even if they were just regular leaves from a common plant the aviator thought it would be the sort of thing he'd quite like to speak with his friend about.
"Thanks Vox." Ever says politely, holding up his leaves and flashing the creature a warm smile. With a look toward both Flora and Koa, the aviator raised a hand. "It was really nice to see you both." The dragoon he'd seen recently, sure, but it was always nice to see old friends.
Kaiden held up their dropper to the light and watched the apparent tears swish around. "Wow. That dumbass really sobbed, didn't they?" The dropper was definitely filled to the brim. Someone had a bad day. Maybe they sneezed and dropped something into the water? That sounded like something a stupid landwalker would do.
The gum, however, was disgusting to look at, much less hold. But it was apparently very powerful. Kaiden wasn't sure if they actually wanted to eat it yet, if ever. But they appreciated having the option. Plus, they got two items, unlike everyone else. Clearly, they were superior.
The mer took both items and tucked them away into the bag on their waist before nodding in Vox's general direction, "Thanks." Kaiden made sure to put their new items in a separate container from Blue, not wanting to risk their most prized possession.
~
Kaiden accepts and keeps their dropper and gum (they don't eat it).
