Click here for a list of weather descriptions, seasonal festivals, and a real time:site time conversion.
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!
In retrospect, it's much easier for Flora to compass into the Grounds, collect her little seed ghost thing, and compass out again than it is for Danta to risk it dying in transit. Having established as much in their letters (or so we'll say for the purposes of the thread) and having promised that a certain gangly Ancient will be nowhere to be found for their meeting, the Maverick has chosen an airy little cocktail bar to wait for her arrival.
It's warm down in The Last Whisper given the turn of the season, and though it doesn't bother Danta at all, the doors and windows of the little bar have been thrown open and there's a water mage at work somewhere ensuring that there's plenty of ice on hand. For the Maverick's part, he waits with some gaudy drink with a sugar rim that he's wiped away on a napkin, and a jar containing Flora's seed ghost.
It's faring pretty well, he thinks, given that he hasn't killed it just yet, and it's got a new apple to munch on and hollow out in the meantime. Once Flora has it, at least it won't be his responsibility any more.
if we're in love or if we're in pain?
Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!
Horns: Diamond - they look very similar to #2 in this image.
Whatever Danta had promised, she'd never not seen Asta lurking by the Maverick (except when they'd been on their DaTeS), so hopefully she'd be forgiven for looking over her shoulder as she strolled through the Last Whisper, appraising each and every dark alleyway with a scowl. Having many outfits made for hot weather, Flora had donned a sage green romper with gold accents, oversized sunglasses, and ballet flats. Having used her compass to get to the Grounds, there was still sand on the bottom of her shoes and the lingering smell of the ocean clinging to her golden skin.
Immensely thankful that Danta couldn't read her thoughts, as Flora stepped into the little bar she greeted the ancient with a bright smile before slipping an arm around his waist in order to press a kiss against his cheek. "Hey you." She hums, her affection mostly genuine. It was difficult for someone like Flora to properly sort through her emotions at the best of times, least of all in a messy situation like the one which had pulled she, Danta, and Asta apart, but for the most part she knew that Danta wasn't at fault.
Having been expecting anything from a kiss to a slap from the Doubletake upon her arrival, Danta nonetheless rises to his feet to collect his greeting and/or punishment with an easy smile. As it happens it's only the former, and though his shirt mostly conceals whatever marks are present from his latest dalliance with the butcher, it doesn't entirely hide the marks on his neck. But hey, he owns a brothel, it could be from anyone, right?
(Yeah, right.)
"Just looking at you makes me miss Torchline at Longheat," he laments with a deep sigh, sinking back into his seat and gesturing for Flora to pull up a stool as well. "I'll have to head out there to enjoy it, I think. How are you doing? Ah - and before I forget--" He gently pushes the jar towards her, gesturing at it with a dip of his head. "One seed ghost. I fell out of a tree to get it for you, so consider it... lucky, or something."
if we're in love or if we're in pain?
Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!
Horns: Diamond - they look very similar to #2 in this image.
"Come and visit anytime." Flora purrs as she lifts her sunglasses from her face and rests them on top of her head. She might have said only you, though but thought better of it. Despite the way her stomach still clenched at the thought of Asta's hands and mouth on her body and the way he'd made her feel so wanted—so seen—she had to constantly remind herself that for as big as her emotions made it seem, it wasn't actually that serious. So, reaching for a stool before waggling her fingers at one of the servers, Flora sinks down at the Maverick's side with a sigh.
Raising her brows, she lowers her head slightly to get a better look inside the little jar. She can't see much thanks to the fresh apple that Danta had placed inside, though she assumes that what she needs is in fact in there somewhere. "Oh did you now?" Glancing up, she tilts her head somewhat skeptically as her grin grows crooked. "Why do I get the feeling that you falling out of a tree has more to do with you than with this?" Tapping her finger on the lid of the jar for emphasis has the insect inside buzzing noisily for a few seconds
With the Hollowed Grounds’ alterations in landscape, some of the animals have grown a bit wilder. A bit bolder.
So while it may surprise some, and others not at all, a crow swoops down, snatching at clothing and bags with sharp, irritating, and annoying talons. Maybe you just lost a piece of bread, or a valuable keepsake!
"I absolutely will," Danta purrs to the Doubletake, offering a smile as well to the server as she swans over to take their order - because of course the Maverick takes it upon himself to get another cocktail to match the one he's still drinking. "How are things out there, anyway?" he asks, meaning Torchline, of course. "That big purple bitch of an island causing you any more problems?" He's heard, of course, about the region's efforts to protect against the void, but it hadn't stopped that big pile of not cool from slorping through the Oerwoud towards the islands.
Wrinkling his nose at the memory and everything that came along with it, Danta props an elbow on the table and smirks to hear the angry buzzing of the seed ghost inside the jar - at least it means the thing is still alive. "I have no idea why you'd say something like that. They like to burrow inside apples - where else was I going to find one if not up in an apple tree?" He shrugs.
if we're in love or if we're in pain?
Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!
Horns: Diamond - they look very similar to #2 in this image.
Ordering whatever signature cocktail the bar was known for, Flora traced a finger against the table feeling the telltale stickiness of wood that had been so saturated by spilled drinks that no amount of cleaning would ever fully remove it. "Nah, not really. We're almost done with our quest and then there'll be no void shit anywhere inside." Well, save for Everest anyway. "Which is a relief. I dunno about here, but on the beaches we have these weird void palm trees that walk around with roots that look like black snakes, and it's just.." Shivering with disgust, Flora pulls a face.
"Oh, only that I can think of plenty of people who have successfully picked apples without falling out of trees." Flora counters with a crooked grin. "I do appreciate it though. And hey, because it's for a quest for one of those stupid lilies, you can tell everyone Noah you helped save the world from the void. You didn't fall out of a tree, you risked your own safety to try and defend against the void."
"None at all?" Danta sounds impressed at that, and he doesn't try to hide it. "You certainly have been busy," he agrees. "We're protected from it in the Inner Quarter, but..." The Maverick shrugs his shoulders. "We've all got different priorities." Some people want to defend entirely against the void, others want a rage room and a portal to the Climb, okay? And perhaps if the Grounds had been as close to Starfall as Torchline is, he might have reconsidered.
"Ugh, no," he says with a shake of his head and a disgusted wrinkle of his nose. "No, we have weird spiders, though, and you already saw what it can do to tangleweed and wicker women." Which is more than enough void for anyone, if you ask him.
Casually waving Flora off - come, now, how many apple trees does Torchline have? - and turning to the waitress as she approaches, it's purely by chance that Danta catches sight of her stumbling as she reaches their table. Dart!ing out of his seat, the movement is minimal, but it's enough to steady the tray in her hands so it doesn't go spilling all over them.
"Saving the world from the void, saving a fellow leader from being covered in cocktails? All in a day's work." He winks. And them levelling reqs, ofc.
if we're in love or if we're in pain?
Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!
Horns: Diamond - they look very similar to #2 in this image.
"Yeah, this time around we had a bit of a headstart though." Flora says with a shrug. "That orb thing you attacked? We got to skip the whole collect all the voidy things from other regions bit of the quest which really sped things up." They still weren't done, but like, basically they were.
"Ewwwwuhh." For as tropical as Torchline was, aside from wine spiders the region was relatively free of them can't fuckin' imagine why. Glancing over her shoulder as if expecting to see a giant void tarantula scuttling across the floor, the queen shivered theatrically before turning back to Danta.
Who suddenly isn't there.
Turning on her stool in time to see him rather gallantly appear at their server's side, Flora applauds, grinning. "Well hot damn." Reaching to accept her drink which, thanks to Danta, she's able to sip at instead of wash out of her clothes, the queen smirks. "Maybe we should just send you to fight on Starfall instead."
"Oho? That's interesting. What was that, anyway? Something voidy, I assume, given that you're using it as part of your protect-the-beaches initiative." Grinning, Danta collects his own drink from the tray as well before sidling gracefully back into his seat at Flora's side. As for void tarantulas - or any other kind of void-touched arachnid - luckily they are currently within the Inner Quarter, so it should just be wine spiders to worry about.
"You think?" The Maverick barks out a laugh. "Defeating the Family, one foot of teleportation at a time." The stuff of legends - or at least a mildly funny story, given that he'll likely meet a tragic end within moments. "I'll stick to helping out bar staff, thanks. You might be better suited for it, though, given your ability to blow kisses at Safrin and have her visit and help out, right?"
if we're in love or if we're in pain?
Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!
Horns: Diamond - they look very similar to #2 in this image.
"A crystal from Starfall, I think?" Flora wrinkles her nose. "Seren gave it to me—she's my half-sister—and her mom is Safrin." The queen continues as if that connection alone explained where the orb had come from. "All the demigods and whatnot hit it with everything they had to see what worked and what didn't, and when I asked Seren if I could have it for Torchline, she just asked that I make sure that you all didn't have some secret strength against it." As Danta had seen for himself, sadly, they didn't.
Grinning at him, the queen nods. "Hey listen, maybe it'll keep them guessing long enough for you to do some real damage." Sort of like masters who played chess with idiots and weren't able to predict what they'd do next because not even they knew. Rolling her eyes at that, the queen helps herself to a sip of her cocktail—it's something made with black cherry and vodka, she thinks. "You'd think so, but way back when this all started, Safrin basically fell out of the sky and nearly drained my dad dry she was so sapped of strength." Blowing kisses at the sky to call down a goddess and heal someone was one thing, but if Safrin could have done anything more against the void, Flora reckoned she'd have done so by now simply out of spite.
"What do you make of all of it? Of Dahlia and Vox and this whole...slow take over, thing?"
"Fuck, if only," Danta says with a sigh and a roll of his eyes; he'd been thoroughly disappointed that just being an Ancient hadn't been enough to make the strange orb curl up and die. Alas - at least they'd been able to test their abilities on it, and now it's helping Torchline or some shit. "Does that mean there are more crystals out there on the island, then?" It stands to reason that there would be, though of course getting them would involve going there. Which, despite his apparent superpower (that superpower being idiocy) doesn't sound like a good time to the Maverick.
At hearing the news about Safrin, at least he can understand why Flora is also going to be staying the hell away from Bad Time Island, Danta grimacing and promptly taking a long drink of his cocktail to wash the expression away. "Alright, how about we stick to what we know and let the demigods deal with it?" he suggests.
Pushing away his empty glass and sliding the new cocktail in front of him to replace it, Danta's opinion on the whole Family situation is largely predictable. "Well, aside from popping up at that meeting last Deepfrost, have they really done anything to any of us?" he asks. "In a year, sure, this void shit has spread, but... we're hardly at war."
if we're in love or if we're in pain?
Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!
Horns: Diamond - they look very similar to #2 in this image.
"Pretty sure there are." Flora confirms with a nod. "I had this dream that a bunch of others did as well. It, like, let us see down into the island. Apparently, there are a bunch of caverns below the surface, and definitely lots more crystals." Also sleeping god-things, but that didn't seem like the sort of thing that needed to be mentioned over cocktails.
"Cheers to that." Lifting eyebrows and her glass, the queen gives her head a dismissive little shake. Despite who her family was—or perhaps because of it—Flora had utterly no desire at all to go play hero on Starfall, preferring to sweet talk and bribe her way into The Family's good books as a way of keeping her people safe. "No I know." Leaning forward and looking a touch relieved that someone else seemed to share the same opinion, Flora nods. "Like, yeah the weird creatures sort of suck and sure I had to fight off some shit that slorped up onto the beach, but...I mean, that happens anyway." Really was Dahlia even as bad as some of the tyrants of old, like Zariah?
"What do you make of the people who've gotten themselves infected?" She asks casually, poking her straw against one of the cherries at the bottom of her drink before popping it into her mouth.
"Well, here's to the demigods who definitely stand a better chance of going and getting those crystals than we do," Danta says with a grin, raising his own glass to clink it against Flora's and taking a healthy sip of his cocktail to cement that sentiment. To anyone looking in, it might seem as though the leaders of the Grounds and of Torchline are involved in some deep political alliance-making; it hasn't occurred to the Maverick, of course, but he'd not correct them if he did know.
Lowering his glass and turning a little more fully towards the Doubletake as he senses her agreement and relief, Danta scoffs and nods to her. "And it isn't as though those creatures can get anywhere important now that we've got those protections up, so it seems like we're both co-existing easy enough," he says with a roll of his shoulder. As for those who are infected, the Maverick is similarly ambivalent and unafraid to say as much.
"Honestly, I can't say I've met any of them, and if it were such a terrible thing, I'd expect them to be sprouting tentacles and making it really obvious," he admits. "Or at least complaining about it, you know? How do we know these people didn't ask to be infected?"
if we're in love or if we're in pain?
Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!
Horns: Diamond - they look very similar to #2 in this image.
