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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!
"That was my thinking. Granted, it's the first time I've been to any sort of shrine since..." He gestures vaguely to himself, from his graduation from Supernova to White Knight, "so I'll be the first to admit I'm a bit nervous. Once I've spoken to him, though, we should be able to meet." Whether or not it will be enough? Only time and the God of Life will tell.
Glancing to his husband as he wakes up, Ronin offers him as warm a smile as any, because he's absolutely still enamoured with the Bastion even if he has doodles all over his face. "What she said," he confirms of Melita, reaching out to snag a couple of pretzels for himself. "I was keeping her company while you were playing at being sleeping beauty."
What good are hands if there's nothing that they hold
Accepting the bag without thought, Remi has one pretzel halfway towards his mouth before he'd even realized what his hands were doing. "Playing?" Scoffing at his husband, the Bastion does his best to properly sit up, though given the sway of the hammock he found it nearly impossible and was forced to lean back again.
Feeling a touch like he was being examined, Remi raised an eyebrow before clearing his throat. "Uhh, well. Once upon a time it lured me into a magical forest, tried to drown me using the illusion of my mother, and cursed me. Then it took some of my memories after losing its mask. Then, after promising dare carta bianca to it so that it would bring Isla back from the dead, it returned her as my companion." Gods, there was probably more to their early relationship, but with all the gaps in his memory, Remi couldn't rightly say.
Rubbing his fingertips over his eyes, the Bastion shrugged. "Later, I had to kill Isla in order to fulfill my earlier promise and that's all before I became its demigod."
And what good are hearts if you bury them all alone?
Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
Ronin’s mention of apprehension had the Honeybee’s brows furrowing, granting serious contemplation to a ridiculous question forming over her teeth. Parsing through another pretzel, then opting to go for something sweeter nearby, her head tilted, eyes back on the White Knight so she didn’t laugh at Remi’s current spectacle (she was quite proud of her work). “Is Vi very…scary?” Or was it that he didn’t know what to expect after everything?
She hadn’t expected the sudden rattling of experiences and observations from Remi, but it had been what she asked - so her eyes widened as the tale continued. She’d known some aspects because of being around during certain events – but not about the lures, the lost memories, the illusions, the curses…she bit her lip thereafter. “Sorry.” She hadn’t encountered any of the same notions, save for the stolen bits of recollections (and she wouldn’t be able to remember those anyway). “Did…did you enjoy being its demigod?” Had he even been given a choice?
"I don't know. I believe he can be," Ronin says of Vi honestly, barking out a laugh and shrugging his shoulders. "I think I'm just expecting the worst based on how my last few meetings with Safrin went, before everything happened."
Rubbing at the back of his head, he's more than happy to sit back and let Remi talk, until the nature of the conversation tumbles out. Automatically, Ronin reaches out to grasp his husband's hand and give it a gentle squeeze.
"Let's hope that Mel is treated with a little less of that," he says, as if to remind Remi that for better or for worse, the Honeybee stands in his old boots and everything Ludo wants to tip into them.
What good are hands if there's nothing that they hold
"Vi is...not unkind, but quite stern. He did help save our marriage once." Remi interjects with a small shrug. "He did throw me off of a cloud soon after, but his advice was good." Whatever that said about the God of Life he'd leave it to Melita to judge.
"No need." Giving his head a small shake, he might have continued on but for the hand suddenly squeezing his own. Clearing his throat and giving Ronin a small smile, he glanced back towards Melita with a far more cheerful expression. "It...taught me a lot." No, he hadn't actually enjoyed it looking back, but perhaps the Honeybee didn't actually need to know that. "It made me strong at a time when I needed it. Gave me immortality, let me walk in dreams..." Smiling, he shrugged.
"Besides, when it traded me to Mort it said it had grown bored of me. I think it was as done with the path we were on together as I was."
And what good are hearts if you bury them all alone?
Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
Considering what she knew about Safrin, the Honeybee wrinkled her nose at Ronin’s response, and then her eyes widened at Remi’s inclusion of another time and tale. “Pushed you off a cloud…,” and then her brows furrowed, trying to coordinate the notions of advice with a near-death experience. Swallowing down something else she wanted to say, but thought better of, she nodded towards the White Knight. “Well, I hope it goes decently for you.”
She could hear Ronin’s warning though, in a way, and her eyes peeled down, fingers clutching onto a small lemon drop before plopping it into her mouth to stop another semblance of dread from searing. Because these duties weren’t the same – she didn’t walk down the parallels of death, steering and guiding lost souls – instead, she was chosen to provide and preside in bedlam, in tricks, in trades, in places where the solemn platitudes could break apart. Looking back at the Bastion, with his dick-markered face, she had to wonder just how he’d managed to endure all of these things, time and time again.
Maybe she’d be tossed aside eventually too.
She tried to match the man’s cheerful expression with a faint smile, but the light was gone. “Any…advice? It only told me I was to be like…chaos. That everyone and everything were too serious,” and she fumbled around with her hands, as if they were expanding upon a small explosion.
"You are hardly filling me with optimism," Ronin drawls, smirking down at the sand and stroking a thumb across his husband's knuckles. Being thrown off a cloud is still probably better than a number of things that have happened to him at Safrin's hands, it's true, but he still doesn't particularly want it for his first official meeting with Vi.
Trying to force those thoughts away so that Remi and Melita can speak properly, Ronin gives the Bastion's fingers another squeeze before letting him go and rolling to his feet, dusting the sand off his clothes. "I mean, that sounds like Ludo," he admits - unserious and tricksy, even at its worst, it could be buoyant in that way. "Don't piss it off?" he hazards - that seems like good advice when dealing with any deity, to be fair.
What good are hands if there's nothing that they hold
"Yeah, he was...done with our conversation, I suppose you could say." The Bastion chuckles as he squeezes Ronin's hand. "I doubt your charm will get you as far with Vi as it did with Safrin, but...lucky for you that you have so many other redeeming qualities, mmm?"
Watching Melita's expression sour somewhat, and not entirely because of the candy he'd watched her pop into her mouth, Remi tried once more to sit up (failing, again). "I think you'll do just fine. Ludo...has not always had an easy time of things, especially in life. It has its duties to Mort, yes, but I think it needs an outlet for its mischief just the same as anyone else." If Melita was able to keep it amused she'd probably be given free rein to do as she liked.
And what good are hearts if you bury them all alone?
Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
She listened, head lowered a little, wishing maybe she’d heard this before or something. Perhaps she’d ignored signs because it was one of those never happened to me quandaries; another’s suffering at a herald didn’t touch her because she bobbed about like a seed upon the sea. Don’t piss it off, and an outlet for mischief was probably the best she could snag from the conversation, and she nodded, already cheerier when she brought her head back up.
“Well, I will certainly try all of that.” And she supposed she’d receive some kind of warning if she couldn’t live up to the expectations – which seemed odd, because she’d never really had any settled on her shoulders before. Survival had been it, when she’d lost everything else.
Granting them both another grin, and one more look at Remi’s face, she rose from her sandy seat near the hammock. “I’ll leave you both be. Thank you for all the insights and information.” Wholly appreciated, as it gave her something else to think about in the interim. “Enjoy your snacks!” From there, she saluted them both, snagged her bag, and began to saunter from whence she’d came, suddenly far more on her mind than before.
