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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!
// I got this feeling, yeah, you know where I'm losing all control //
Sauntering into the Hanged Man, Vesper's eyes narrow for a moment as he takes in his surroundings; it's familiar to him for all the various memories he'd seen which had taken place here, the conversations he'd watched from the stars, the stolen moments he'd been witness to. Eventually, his gaze slips toward where Jack is sitting, and with a nod toward one of the waitresses indicating that yes, he would like something, he makes his way over.
Sliding into the chair opposite, Vesper leans comfortably back, stretching one of his long legs out beside the side before reaching for the little cup of toothpicks on the table and placing one in the corner of his mouth. While Safrin had been surprised to be called down by her son so quickly after having sent him out into the world, as he explained what he'd needed from her, the goddess had granted his request with nothing more than a knowing smile (read: odd paid 1500MP).
"Evenin'."
Vesper
//Go ahead and throw your stones, 'cause there's magic in my bones //
☆ has a pale star tattoo beneath his left eye, and freckle-sized constellations move across his skin
☽ hair changes from bleached blonde to brown
☆ telepathic: Sunlit Shadows | The user can read the surface thoughts and emotions of those within a 60ft radius. Control is excellent. Note: "Thoughts and emotions" include anything written in a character's narration in a post.
09-12-2024, 09:37 AM (This post was last modified: 09-12-2024, 09:38 AM by Jack.)
JACK
In retrospect, meeting at The Hanged Man probably wasn't the best idea given his recent dealings with its owner, aka the Doubletake, aka Queen of Torchline. It's a testament to Flora's success with the place that it had rolled from Jack's tongue before he could stop it, however, and given that he hasn't been close enough to her to realise what her 21-year-old mind has turned their previous meeting into... well, we'll see, won't we.
For now, at least, Jack - and the majority of his crew as well, in fairness - are taking up a lot of the establishment with their business, the captain sitting at his table with a foot propped on the edge of it and a glass of whiskey in his hands. This morning's meeting has proven without a doubt that he can't get a read on the snowy haired youth, and so instead Jack has his telepathic net spread wide towards the entrance of the bar, using other people to tell him when they see someone of Vesper's description.
And suddenly there he is, Jack making a point of finishing the conversation he's having (whispering, really, and it's to one of the waitresses), before he straightens back up to gaze across at him.
"Not gonna lie - I didn't actually expect to see you again," he says. Not true, but neither of them can tell that about each other, so... yeah.
// I got this feeling, yeah, you know where I'm losing all control //
It'll take Jack a moment to realize that the description that filters in through the eyes of others is Vesper; said youth now sporting dark hair that was currently tousled rather boyishly over his eyes.
"Yeah you did. Vesper says smoothly. As a whiskey is placed down before him, the smile he offers the waitress is warm and inviting, before sliding from his lips in an instant as he turns his attention to Jack. "You know who I am, and Torchline ain't that big." He points out, removing the toothpick from his mouth in order to sample the whiskey. It burns precisely as he'd known it would, but nothing could have prepared him for the actual heat of it.
If it hadn't been the fact that his mind wasn't open to Jack the way everyone else's was, then it'd be the starry assault Vesper had sent his way on the dock, and if that hadn't clued the captain in, no doubt the rough-sea blue of the demigod's eyes paired with a small star beneath his left one would round it out.
Sliding a hand into his pocket, Vesper removes a chunky silver ring with thick claws holding an unrefined shard of mageglass tightly against the band and holds it up against the light. "Sure is pretty."
Vesper
//Go ahead and throw your stones, 'cause there's magic in my bones //
☆ has a pale star tattoo beneath his left eye, and freckle-sized constellations move across his skin
☽ hair changes from bleached blonde to brown
☆ telepathic: Sunlit Shadows | The user can read the surface thoughts and emotions of those within a 60ft radius. Control is excellent. Note: "Thoughts and emotions" include anything written in a character's narration in a post.
That does take the good captain by surprise, and gods if he doesn't see it for the first time properly now that Vesper is wearing dark hair and staring back at him with his own fucking eyes, nothing at all is likely to clue him in. Jack's hand tightens a fraction on his glass, and he lifts his chin to stare at the youth. "You got a name?" he asks, since he can't find it out from his gods-damned thoughts.
He doesn't hide the smirk on his lips at his reaction to the whiskey - the physical one, since the mental one is well hidden, the captain taking a seasoned sip of his own. "Torchline's stuff can be pretty rough on the throat. The rum is better." Call it a couple of drinks in or the fact that he's relaxing after a long day - not to mention the buffer of all these other people - but Jack is apparently feeling much more conversational.
"Mm. More'n pretty in the right hands," he says of the ring Vesper produces, raising an eyebrow as if wondering if he's expected to ask nicely for it, or just wait until the boy is done playing around.
// I got this feeling, yeah, you know where I'm losing all control //
"Vesper." He replies, eyeing the captain thoughtfully for a moment through the dusk-dim lighting the Hanged Man was known for, before exhaling through his nose. "We all settled on the last name Marin. Means from the sea." Without coming right out and saying so or letting Jack into his mind, it was about as clear a way of saying we ain't here to be your kids as he could get.
"She brought me the cheap stuff, so I'm not surprised." Vesper mutters. Though he'd spent (literally) his entire life studying this place, he was new to all of them, and from the waitress's point of view, he'd sidled in and gone right to Jack. She had no idea why of course, but as he'd not yet ever tipped her, fucked her, or made her laugh, as far as she was concerned he was bottom-shelf until he proved otherwise.
"So I've heard." Sliding it across the table, Vesper taps his fingertips along its surface as he draws them back toward his whiskey. "To be clear, the girls ain't lookin' for you to play daddy for 'em." Reaching for his glass, he rolls it between his fingers. "But they do want to make their mark on Torchline, whatever that ends up bein', and we both know that you're the man to know in that regard."
Vesper
//Go ahead and throw your stones, 'cause there's magic in my bones //
☆ has a pale star tattoo beneath his left eye, and freckle-sized constellations move across his skin
☽ hair changes from bleached blonde to brown
☆ telepathic: Sunlit Shadows | The user can read the surface thoughts and emotions of those within a 60ft radius. Control is excellent. Note: "Thoughts and emotions" include anything written in a character's narration in a post.
"That's a stupid name," Jack quips, the words as casual as the tone is amused. "An' before you get your panties in a twist, a close friend of mine was called Zephyr, and he thought that was a stupid name too." Best thing the kid can do is own it, in Jack's opinion. Still, the last name is a nice touch, and Jack lifts his glass towards Vesper before taking another sip of his (much, much better quality) liquor.
"Yeah, well, we both know she thinks you're pretty, so maybe you'll be able to flirt with her and get somethin' decent on the next round," he drawls, setting down his glass and replacing it with the ring that comes sliding across the table, lifting it to the light to examine it, as if wondering whether it's the real deal.
"Good," he says of the boy's siblings - Calypso and Nova, he assumes. "If they need connections, I've got 'em. Let's just not get too touchy feely about it, yeah?" He regards Vesper, then, tilting his head. "And what about you?"
// I got this feeling, yeah, you know where I'm losing all control //
Arching a brow, Vesper says nothing as his name is insulted—though if Jack would like to take it up with his mother, he can feel free. He's sure that she'd love to hear his opinions on the matter.
"Reckon I'll probably flirt with her anyway." The demigod says, leaning back into his chair until the front two legs lift off the ground. "Their minds are a much nicer place to be when they're feelin' good about themselves." If it's meant to be a dig at why any telepath in their right mind would choose to be such a bastard when it colours the minds of those around them, Vesper doesn't push.
Staring blankly ahead as if to say no shit, his chin lifts as Jack's eyes fall properly on him, before he lets his chair clunkily fall forward. "The girls take after their mother. They're keen to be seen, to be out, to make a splash." Had Jack been in Vesper's mind he'd have felt the warm affection flooding the demigod's thoughts no matter how succinctly it was stopped by his teeth. "That ain't my style." If the girls took after their mother, Vesper took after their father, not that either of them would probably want it said in those words.
"Another?" Rising, Vesper picks up his glass and chucks its contents into a potted plant, eyebrows raised at Jack.
Vesper
//Go ahead and throw your stones, 'cause there's magic in my bones //
☆ has a pale star tattoo beneath his left eye, and freckle-sized constellations move across his skin
☽ hair changes from bleached blonde to brown
☆ telepathic: Sunlit Shadows | The user can read the surface thoughts and emotions of those within a 60ft radius. Control is excellent. Note: "Thoughts and emotions" include anything written in a character's narration in a post.
"A nicer place to be, and they're much more inclined to do the things you ask of 'em," Jack agrees. That's not to say there isn't a time and a place to make the minds of the general population not nice places to be, but given how new Vesper seems to be at the whole humanity vs stardust thing, Jack leaves it at that for now. "How long have you been out of the sky?" he wonders, before settling back to hear more of Vesper's sisters.
Humming an acknowledgement - seen, out, understood - and tilting his head to hear the youth clarify the opposite for himself, Jack slips the ring onto the pinky finger of his right hand and reaches out once more for his glass. "Ain't mine either," he says, finishing his drink and smirking to see where the rest of Vesper's goes. "Sure. You let me know if you'd prefer me to order." He assumes not, since he's risen to his feet.
// I got this feeling, yeah, you know where I'm losing all control //
"And it's the nicest kind of quiet when you make 'em cum and it goes from loud to just..." He waggles his fingers vaguely. "It's a bit like starlight, really." The sensation that followed rigorously moving your hand over a carpet, or the way limbs that had fallen asleep sometimes tingled in a pleasant way. The few orgasms he'd found time to coax out of others thus far had been like that, the star bright silence ruined only by the latent mewls of pleasure or desire to cuddle.
"About a week." He answers, reaching for Jack's glass and giving his dear old papa a wry smile. "Nah, I got it."
So saying the youth saunters over to the bar, setting down his empty two glasses and positioning himself in front of their waitress. Sliding a hand into his back pocket, he curls himself forward, leaning effortlessly against the bar before whispering something in her ear. From his place across the room Jack will feel the flash of sadness and concern before heat quickly took its place and the waitress suddenly had her hand against Vesper's cheek before scurrying away to fix he and Jack a drink. Turning, the demigod leaned against the bar, casting out his net as Jack so often did and letting the thoughts drift behind his eyes. Winking as the waitress returned, Vesper mumbled something to her before returning to Jack, setting their glasses down before taking his seat. Should Jack bother to probe, he'll find Vesper's thoughts quite cheerfully smug.
Vesper
//Go ahead and throw your stones, 'cause there's magic in my bones //
☆ has a pale star tattoo beneath his left eye, and freckle-sized constellations move across his skin
☽ hair changes from bleached blonde to brown
☆ telepathic: Sunlit Shadows | The user can read the surface thoughts and emotions of those within a 60ft radius. Control is excellent. Note: "Thoughts and emotions" include anything written in a character's narration in a post.
Never having heard his own proclivities thrown back at him so casually, it's safe to say that Vesper catches his dear old man by surprise, and Jack's expression is surprisingly genuine as he nods, tapping a slow finger against the weathered grain of the wood. "Shame it only lasts a few seconds," he agrees, unaware that from either side of the table, two minds that are frighteningly alike are beginning to tick over.
A week isn't too long. A week is perfect, in fact; long enough to get bearings, to know what's what in Torchline before seeking him out, but not long enough to start getting ideas about the world and their places in it. "Alright, best of luck."
Not that it seems as though the boy needs it, Jack watching idly as he handles the interaction with the waitress, though of course he's only able to really hear her side of it. With one hand casually twisting the new ring on his finger, by the time Vesper returns he thinks he's gotten the general gist of what's happened, the captain sitting up to take his glass and feel, perhaps for the first time, the smug bubble of the young demigod's thoughts.
"A quick learner," he observes. "I'll drink to that." He reaches out to clink his glass against Vesper's.
// I got this feeling, yeah, you know where I'm losing all control //
"It is indeed." Vesper agrees. Still young enough to think he might find a way to stretch it out, or that with the right person maybe it'd just stay that way forever (hey, people had to fall in love for a reason, right?), he hadn't grown as jaded to it all as the captain quite yet.
"Ain't hard. From what I've seen, most of 'em like to have somethin' to fix, so," he shrugs. "Told her that I meant no offence by it, but that she looked an awful lot like my first love who tragically died in the war." Lifting the glass to his lips, he pauses just before he takes a sip. "Told her I never thought I'd get it over it, and boy did it hit me hard thinkin' I'd just seen her face again." The swallow of liquor is brutally silky, sliding down his throat with an electric burn that has him tilting his chin up toward the ceiling and his lips parting. "Now that is good."
Combing his fingers back through his hair, Vesper sets his glass down and picks up the toothpick he'd been chewing earlier. "I was able to get the lay of the land while I was up there. Time..." He presses his lips together, head tilting to the side. "..doesn't work the same way as it does down here. So while I get my bearings if there's anything that needs doing, I'm not afraid of getting my hands dirty while I figure things out."
Vesper
//Go ahead and throw your stones, 'cause there's magic in my bones //
☆ has a pale star tattoo beneath his left eye, and freckle-sized constellations move across his skin
☽ hair changes from bleached blonde to brown
☆ telepathic: Sunlit Shadows | The user can read the surface thoughts and emotions of those within a 60ft radius. Control is excellent. Note: "Thoughts and emotions" include anything written in a character's narration in a post.
Listening quietly as Vesper offers his insights, Jack sips slowly at his own drink - and it is good, kudos to the young man - Jack nods gently, though there's something lingering in his eyes that suggests he's done exactly the same in the past, but it hasn't stayed so easy. "All well and good unless you wanna keep drinkin' here long-term," he remarks over the rim of his glass. "'Cause she's gonna remember you. And unless you wanna keep that ruse up permanently, she might resent you when she figures you out." There's more to mind-reading than telling people what they want to hear, after all. "Or worse - she might want to see you more."
Setting his glass down as well, Jack walks his fingers around the edge of it, nodding mild approval at the young man's rather grey morals. "A good outlook to have. One thing, though." And it's almost a shame that they have to get down to something akin to business, but before he continues to have a good old chat with his kid, it needs saying.
"Ain't sure if you and your sisters inherited your little gift from me, or if any of you picked up on this from way up there, but I don't advertise." Ergo, Jack's telepathy is a well-kept, iron clad fucking secret, Vesper. "If that ain't the way you wanna run your life, good for you - tell the world, if that's what gets you hard. But if you get loose lips about me, or if anythin' you do lets people put two and two together about me, I will fucking kill you." It's a soft statement, one made without bravado, such that Jack almost feels the need to clarify against what is sure to be a few ruffled feathers.
"And I know, I know - you might have power I can't fathom. Your mother is a goddess. You've got each other, and you've got time, and it might be that I'll find it hard to touch you given even a few seasons. But I'll find a way, I promise. You exist because I'm buildin' something here, and if it falls apart, so do you and your sisters." He sighs. "As long as that's understood, though? I don't see a reason why we can't get along."
// I got this feeling, yeah, you know where I'm losing all control //
Smirking into his glass, Vesper pauses, blinking across the table before giving his head a wry shake. "Well shit, I didn't think of that." For all the shit he was full of, the demigod wasn't unwilling to own up to his mistakes; how else was he meant to learn from 'em?
"It's just me." Vesper murmurs softly. "Maybe Nova in time, but for now.." He shrugs, entirely unphased about Jack's threats if only because he isn't in a position to argue or bargain just now, and while one day he might be hot shit, for now he's just a crashed little star with a few party tricks he can pull out when he needs them, but not the sort of firepower to take on a man like Jack. Maybe one day, when he's good and ready for a dick-swinging conversation they can revisit this little negotiation, but for now, the demigod just nods easily.
"When you think about everything you've done and what it's taken to get here...you really think it bein' a secret has done more help in the long run?" Honestly asked, even eagerly, Vesper leans forward, hunching his shoulders as he rounds over his glass of whiskey and eyes Jack from across the table. As it was, he still had the luxury of choice, and if it really was such a bad thing for folks to know, well...maybe he'd think a little bit more about keeping that particular card close to his chest.
Vesper
//Go ahead and throw your stones, 'cause there's magic in my bones //
☆ has a pale star tattoo beneath his left eye, and freckle-sized constellations move across his skin
☽ hair changes from bleached blonde to brown
☆ telepathic: Sunlit Shadows | The user can read the surface thoughts and emotions of those within a 60ft radius. Control is excellent. Note: "Thoughts and emotions" include anything written in a character's narration in a post.
"Neither did I, the first couple times," Jack says with a scoff, as if only just realising the plethora of mistakes and first times he's never been able to share; not even with Flora, as close as they are were, purely because there would be no frame of reference without sharing that vein of telepathy. "Bribes, compliments and threats are best, until you've figured out your place in the world and people know you." And respect you, but that goes without saying.
Speaking of things going without saying, Jack at least does Vesper the courtesy of time to mull things over, and he nods gently to hear the full situation - for the time being, at least. Taking another sip of his drink, as it appears that they've reached an understanding, the captain relaxes once more, only to find the young demigod suddenly leaning in as if they're sharing secrets. Which, he supposes, they are.
"For me, yeah," he says with a nod. "The business I'm in, people won't deal with someone they don't think they can lie to. Them not knowin' gives me the edge I need to be better than the rest." And he is better than the rest, of that he's very willing to argue. "If that's the sort of shit you want to try to work towards, discretion is your friend. If you want to sleep your way through Torchline at the Halenani, you'll have a line out the door of people wantin' to fuck a telepath. All depends on you."
