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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!
08-01-2024, 05:45 PM (This post was last modified: 08-01-2024, 05:46 PM by Koa.)
Koa
You keep telling me to live right
The last person who asked me to date them disappeared and never came back. It sucks the air from him in a tight exhale, his copper eyes widening, brows flying high. "Well, fuck." What else is he supposed to say to such a revelation? That's rough, buddy? Their loss, my gain?
Sure their corpse isn't buried somewherekn your Dads' old backyard?
No wonder Flora's so convinced he's always about to run away. "That's... really fucking awful." His arms tighten around her as she says it, unspoken reassurance that he isn't going to do the same. Except, well, he kind of has: perhaps not so wontonly egregious, but the wound of his actions is clearly still there.
He flinches at the unspoken accusation, misinterpreting her withdrawal as disappointment with him, rather than a mark against herself. Sorry, we can't all be mind readers. "It's okay," Koa murmurs, mustering a smile despite the crease between his brows. "You have every right to be mad at me." Even if part of him feels like he'll be apologizing for the rest of his life, and even then he isn't sure it'll ever be enough.
Sighing out the spike of frustration, he reaches up to brush the hair out of her face. "I know I'm not perfect, or even close. I'm not a demigod, or a King, or some dashing pirate captain." The boy laughs self-depricatingly, blissfully unaware of the truth that he has scratched. "I'm not gonna promise I won't fuck up again, or accidentally hurt you, because I know how much of an idiot I can be." Though the fear of Ronin is a great motivator to give more than his best.
Trailing his hand to the curve of her cheekbone, he gives a smile and a shrug. "But I think we deserve a chance to get it right, before we decide we've gotten it wrong."
Flora shrugs at his concern though she melts appreciatively against the arms that tighten around her. "It..." She'd been young as had Paige, but the queen would never forget the way her friend's eyes had been firebright when she'd said I want you to be my girl. She'd also kissed Mateo that night which only added insult to injury in the long run. "..yeah."
Flora's thighs tighten around the dragoon as she lifts herself up, pressing a kiss against the twin lines which have appeared like a column between his eyebrows. "I'm not mad," She repeats softly, settling back down into his lap and using her fingertips to smooth out the remaining lines on his face.
The mention of Jack, or presumably of Jack, has Flora flinching. She hadn't expected to have that conversation today, and while most of Torchline had likely seen the queen and captain chumming around, Flora wouldn't have guessed Koa had been in her region long enough to have picked up on that particular grapevine of gossip. "I don't want you to be anyone but you." She hums, tilting her head in order to press a kiss against his wrist as he moves her hair. "Though it'll be over if you become a demigod." She laughs even if there is a grain (or heap) of truth in it.
"A chance, then." Leaning her cheek against his fingers, Flora bites at the inside of her cheek to contain her smile before thinking better of it and letting it bloom across her lips.
My house of stone, your ivy grows
And now I'm covered in you
Don't worry, Flora: Koa lacks the situational awareness to have actually identified the minefield of drama he's accidentally brushed against. He just figures, y'know, if he was a gorgeous queen of Torchline, being swept away by a roguish pirate captain might be a fantasy he'd entertain.
Briefly reassured by the hummed declaration, the Dragoon's frown begins to soften - only to take on a puzzled tilt at the laughing remark that follows. "Isn't, like, your whole family demigods?" Koa asks bemusedly, raising an eyebrow and attempting to gauge how serious this stipulation is. Before he might have laughed it off, pointing out his utter lack of potential to gain such a high honor. But he'd be lying if after his last encounter with Safrin the idea hadn't begun to percolate within his mind, even with all the warnings he's been given against going down that exact path.
It isn't worth dwelling on too hard right now, of course. Right now is for butterflies in their stomachs and the sun kissing their skin, for the way her smile breaks like a wave, drowning him in its radiant glow. It's for the way he's pulling her toward him, claiming yet another sweet, slow kiss.
Leaning his forehead against Flora's, the Dragoon gives a sigh. "You're my sunflower, Flora," he hums, smiling as their noses touch. "I couldn't turn away from you, even if if I tried."
Which would make him the sunflower in this metaphor, yes, but our boy isn't known for being great at botany. Or words.
"Yeah," Flora replies with a bright laugh, her eyes half-rolling before seeming to sparkle with amusement. "Literally all of them. That's why I'd never want that for you." A life of being a hero? Of being at everyone's beck and call? Of having to throw yourself into danger for a bunch of ungrateful nobodies who'd just as soon criticize you behind your back than lend a hand? The queen sighs, and luckily for them both just as Koa was ignorant of the truth behind his comment about pirates, Flora was likewise as in the dark about his potential to become a demigod.
More than happy to leave that and any other conversation for another time, Flora melts softly against Koa's lips as her fingers glide into his hair once again. Though the heat that had rapidly kindled in her belly as he'd tossed them both into the waves was now a mild simmer, still it kept her warm enough that the splash of salt water against her shoulders was refreshing instead of cold. "If I close my eyes...it just feels like it's us out here." She hums, and, doing just that, Flora imagines that they're somewhere far out to sea—on a life raft perhaps, or on one of the floating islands. Just the two of them, somewhere where the complexities of their past choices didn't matter, and the only thing that could ever come between them was the spray of the ocean.
Brushing her nose sweetly against his, her fingers trickling down his neck and onto his shoulders, the queen sighs softly. Not bothering to correct his metaphor—you couldn't get away with being named Flora and having a botanist for a brother without learning a thing or two—because actually yeah, it was the thought that counted. "Okay." She whispers, her lips pressing the word against his own as if to seal it there.
Glancing over her shoulder, aqua eyes scanning the beach where Vox had set up his strange little gift exchange, the queen sighs. "We should probably go." She murmurs reluctantly, turning her head to face him with her lips set in a lopsided smile. "I'll have to tell Hadama that that just happened."
My house of stone, your ivy grows
And now I'm covered in you
"We're the only ones who matter," Koa agrees fervently, running the calloused pad of his thumb across the back of her neck. She's the only one who matters, right here and now, the only one he wants to be a hero for. The rest of the world could dissolve away, and Koa wouldn't care. He's never been one to do things by halves, and he's ready to be all-in on her.
But alas, the rest of the world persists. Flora's glorious blue eyes leave him for the shore, and Koa can feel press of reality threatening their bubble with its weight and span. A burst of defiance sparks within him; he doesn't want to let her go, can't bear the thought of facing another night spent on his own. "I'm sure he can wait until after lunch," the Dragoon suggests with a winsome grin, brushing another lock of damp hair out of the Doubletake's face. "Which, in turn, can wait until after a shower. Which could be taken communally. To save water and all that."
Snorting at that, Flora grins crookedly at the dragoon, tilting her head to fix him with an awestruck stare. "Koa Carpenter," the queen scolds breezily. "Did I hear you just invite yourself back to my house to shower and eat lunch?" Really, where else were they expected to shower, the beach? Where Flora wouldn't have her shampoo or conditioner? Tsk tsk. And it wasn't as though they could go for lunch before having showered; based on that logic since Koa didn't have clean clothes at her place (something they'd likely need to change, even if he could borrow some of Enzo's for the time being), they'd probably be dining in.
Tutting playfully under her breath, the queen pretends to take a few moments to hum and haw when in reality she was trying to think of the easiest way to get back to her house without the pair of them chaffing the hell out of their thighs and feet from walking home in wet clothes and shoes.
Rolling her eyes, her joy balled up on one side of her face such that her cheeks were lopsided with the force of her smile, Flora sighed dramatically as she melted bonelessly against the dragoon. "I like you." She laughs, brushing her nose against his before reluctantly loosening her thighs from around his waist.
My house of stone, your ivy grows
And now I'm covered in you
08-13-2024, 08:56 AM (This post was last modified: 08-13-2024, 12:34 PM by Koa.)
Koa
You keep telling me to live right
"I said nothing about your house," Koa counters, though the lilt of his voice and mischievous smile bely any attempt to play at innocence. "But since you've offered, that sounds perfect." He grins, eyebrows waggling impudently upon the handsome, sun-kissed face. The word 'incorrigible' has been used to describe our hero more than once, and he perfectly lives up to it now: unashamed or apologetic, a shit-eating grin of sheer delight cut into his jaw.
Flora leans in against his face, and he wonders if she can feel his heart flip-flop at the innocent-yet-weighty words. "I like you, too." It's almost whispered, reverent, his metal eyes gleaming as their noses touch, yearning to communicate the myriad of things he knows better than to outright say. Like-like, that boyish gaze declares. More than like. Maybe even--
Well. Let's not go there quite yet.
Drawing back before he drowns in aqua, Koa lets out a rolling laugh. "Alright, shall we?" Sliding out from between her legs, he extends a hand to the waterlogged queen. "Given this, ah, excursion has been partially my fault, may I offer my meager body as your chariot home, my Liege?"
"Oh my gods." Softly punching his shoulder, Flora tilts her head back and beams up into the sky as an ever-expanding cloud of joy pushes at the inside of her throat and cheeks. "You are such a shit." She exclaims loudly, wanting to throttle him for his playful insolence (using her thighs to do so, of course). Gods but he makes her laugh, and when he's near, he makes her happy. Happier than she thinks she's ever been before such that when their eyes meet as they dance oh so close to that universe where they foolishly whisper I love you, Flora doesn't shy away. At least not right away.
"Meagre, is it?" Raising an eyebrow, Flora lets her eyes fall from the hard line of Koa's jaw to his sculpted pecks, before nearly bouncing her gaze down his abs as if to prove a point. "But, as this excursion was entirely your fault, yes you may." Reaching for his hand and threading her fingers through his, Flora splashes her way out of the sea either tugging Koa along or being tugged long by him.
My house of stone, your ivy grows
And now I'm covered in you
"I know, I'm hideous," Koa says with a dramatic sigh and the tone of a young person who knows he's hot. Already he's pulling off his shirt, damp skin rising into gooseflesh as cotton peels away. His body gleams bronze in the sunlight, a testament to hours of physical training, each muscle devastatingly well defined as they press beneath his skin. Maye he's flexing more than he needs to, maybe there's some sucking in. As long as Flora enjoys the flaunting, who are we to complain?
The splash out of the sea together, fingers intertwined. Stopping as the water reaches their ankles, Koa turns to Flora with a dashing grin. "How would you like to be carried, madame? Piggy back, bridal style, or like a conquest?"
"Well...." Having made no attempt at all to alter the way the water had basically fused her sundress against her curves, the queen lifts an eyebrow. "I suppose that all depends on how much of me you're happy to show off." Even bridal style was likely to have her ass partially visible, but it was probably the most modest out of the three.
"Unless you'd prefer me to be invisible, of course." She adds thoughtfully. "Save you the scandal of being seen with me." There's a joke about her being yet another young queen that Koa had been with, but it feels too soon, this particular moment too golden, to make it. Instead, Flora merely crinkles her nose playfully up at him as she tickles the fingers of the hand not interlaced through his, up his chest.
"If only one of us was an attuned, huh?" Koa could be a black stallion, and then all she'd have to do was slip onto his back and he could gallop her home. Or, perhaps Flora could be some sort of song bird perched on his shoulder, serenading him the whole way home.
My house of stone, your ivy grows
And now I'm covered in you
"You're the one slumming it with a lowly soldier," Koa's quick to retort, and maybe there's the faintest brittle edge there in his voice, but it's largely overshadowed by an easy laugh. And while an argument could be made that Koa is in truth an officer, guildmaster of the Dragoons and thus rather respectable in his own rights, that thought would lead him back to his concerns over Anju and the state of the organization and, well.
Let's not.
"I've thought about it, but who else could handle Pip, y'know?" Maybe if the little dragon wasn't in his life Koa would have sought out some magnificent, likely impractical shift, but that's not where the tides have turned. He lifts their tangled hands to his lips, pressing a smiling kiss on her fingers. "Not that I wouldn't enjoy having you ride me as a noble steed. But I think we'll make do."
Finally out of the ebbing waves, Koa kneels in the sand, offering Flora his back. "Up to you how public you want this," he grins up at her, copper eyes gleaming beneath thick lashes, "But personally I could never be anything but proud to be the man to carry you home."
"Yeah, but no one is going to tell the queen of Torchline what to do." Flora says with a laugh, her thoughts on far more frivolous things than the violet weight pressing down on Koa's shoulders. "Ahh, if only I'd come into your life before her." The queen hums, and though the remark is about Pip and her tone still adorably playful, something tenses in the corner of Flora's smile for just a fraction of an instant before it's hidden behind kissed knuckles and a smile that has her cheeks rounding with delight.
"Koa Carpenter." Flora scolds once more as if she hadn't set him up precisely for that sort of remark. Laughing, she moves to stand behind him, wrapping her arms around his neck and leaning against his back.
His words have her breath catching in her throat, and for the first time the words that stay lodged in the back of her throat feel almost painful as she swallows them down. It's too soon for love, too quick for the sorts of things she wants to say, but gods, how much longer could she reasonably be expected to keep such naive declarations to herself? "Take me home, Koa" She whispers, her chin over his shoulder and her lips edging towards his ear as her hands grasp at his wet t-shirt a touch desperately.
My house of stone, your ivy grows
And now I'm covered in you
Technically Flora had been first - the first in many, many ways. But dwelling on their disastrous past doesn't feel like the move, and Koa's only response to the comment is to tighten his grip on her hand. It's you now, he wants to say, but the words catch in his throat. Flora has made it perfectly clear that words are not enough, and Koa is a man of action.
Time to flex his strengths.
(It's muscles. He's flexing his muscles.)
She's light and comfortable on his back, even waterlogged as they both are. Maybe some of that comes from the buoyancy afforded by young spring love, the lightness afforded his every step by the simple truth that he's here with her. Flora's voice caresses his ear with the wild warmth of an ocean breeze; "As you wish," Wesley Koa rumbles in response, unable to suppress the shiver that runs down his spine. His arms wrap firmly beneath her knees, fingers finding purchase on the smooth skin that stretches over well-toned calves.
"Comfortable?" he asks as they take their first steps, bending down to press a kiss against the arm around his neck.
"Very." Flora purrs, her joy hiccuping in the back of her throat as her smile utterly runs away with her. It's the sort of moment that should have come with its own soundtrack and wind machine. The sort that should blur into a montage of sun-chapped lips, hastily open and then slammed doors, clothes torn off and hands clasping bright white sheets. It doesn't, though, and gods if the stroll back to her home feels painfully and unfairly long, especially when Flora has little else to do other than fixate on the muscle groups she can feel flexing both necessarily and needlessly beneath her.
Nuzzling her nose forward and pressing it in the soft cleft just below Koa's ear, Flora sighs dreamily as her fingers slide inconspicuously beneath the collar of his shirt. "Yeah, you definitely need a shower." She whispers in a heated voice as her fingertips come away sticky with salt and sand and sweat, her thighs tightening noticeably around him.
My house of stone, your ivy grows
And now I'm covered in you
