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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!
"Mm?" Having crumpled forward against Jack's chest at some point, as Flora blinks her eyes open she's only aware of the salty-sea taste of the captain's skin against her lips and the deep bronze of his skin. Pressing one hand against the mattress, her aqua eyes still hooded and hazy, she glances toward his hands, huffing a shivery and apologetic laugh. Having been taught to tie knots by none other than the captain's crew, Flora is able to release him with a few quick tugs, before twisting atop him and freeing his legs. His pants were still bunched up around his ankles, but that seemed very far away from where she currently was perched, and Flora thought that if Jack really wanted the full use of his legs, he could kick himself free of his jeans.
Twisting back to centre and sighing softly as sensation begins to work its way back into her muscles and limbs, the Doubletake rests her hands gently against the captain's chest, before leaning down and fitting her lips against his. Where do you want me? She wondered silently as her tongue wrote hasty apologies for the strain on his wrists.
My house of stone, your ivy grows
And now I'm covered in you
"Mm," Jack echoes, barely able to contain the smirk on his face as he follows her gaze up to the knots currently cutting off his circulation. Shifting as best he can to give Flora space to work, as he's finally released, the captain does take the opportunity to kick off his jeans, reaching back up for the Doubletake the second she settles over him again.
Drawing her down into a kiss she's already offering, Jack's touch is as hungry and greedy for her as it ever has been, ghosting across all the places she'd painted with her own hands, as if keen to provoke the same sensations in her that she'd managed by herself. With his mind still blissfully blank and nothing but Flora's warmth blanketed across him, evidently he's decided that he wants her right where she is.
Eventually, granted, his arms wind around her enough for him to roll onto his side, ferrying her along with him as he goes. "Alright," he whispers against the soft line of her jaw, "you win that one."
romancing yourself is possible, narcissistic and recommended
Breaking their kiss if only to laugh shakily against Jack's lips as his fingertips dance across wildly oversensitive skin, Flora shivers both away and into his touch with a needy moan. Her mind sparks as if with the after-images of what she'd felt before, but even Flora isn't ready for a round four (yet), and so as Jack shifts them onto their sides, the queen sinks bonelessly against him, utterly content.
Beaming softly at that, the colours of her thoughts aren't necessarily smug so much as they're some hybrid of relief and pride to be able to surprise and please Jack the way he so easily could do for her. Sure it probably had something to do with her wealth of daddy-issues, but surely it wasn't a bad thing to want to make someone else feel as good as they made you? "I thought for sure you were going to freeze and then break the knots." Flora whispers, brushing her lips against his forehead and grinning.
My house of stone, your ivy grows
And now I'm covered in you
"If you'd left it a few more seconds I would've," Jack assures her, closing his eyes against the kiss to his forehead - a strangely sweet gesture that has him both wanting to lean into it and shrink away as if it's something poisonous. Sitting with the feeling rather than rolling over as he might once have done, eventually the captain huffs out a long sigh and grasps Flora closer, latching on to every aftershock and ripple of bliss her mind can provide.
"They heard - the crew upstairs," he adds with a catlike smirk against her neck, fingers skating possessively across the curve of her hips and down the back of her thigh; it's too hot for real blankets, but he finds himself fumbling for a sheet to drag over them nonetheless. "Now, excitin' as the day has been, if you feel the urge to do any overthinkin', could you keep it to a whisper?"
romancing yourself is possible, narcissistic and recommended
Despite all that's happened between them today, that the captain wants her close sends a thrill of surprise and delight up her spine that has Flora arching softly against him.
"Yeah? Well, now they don't have to feel left out when the others come back from the tavern bragging about all the things they heard." Flora's thoughts are still wonderfully hazy and without form, though amusement has some bits sharpening ever so slightly. Sighing into the touch of Jack's hands across her skin, the goosebumps that follow in their wake have her thoughts shimmering with pleasure and satisfaction.
"Mmmm..." Nosing her face into the crook of the captain's arm and adjusting the sheet over her shoulder ever so slightly, Flora stretches out her lips as if meaning to brush them against Jack's skin without having to actually move. "No, I feel like the best way to start out this whole thing is by keeping you up with a bunch of annoying thoughts." She murmurs, grinning slyly.
My house of stone, your ivy grows
And now I'm covered in you
"She's all for equality among the crew. Could make a captain one of these days yet," Jack drawls, his voice half muffled against her, though his smile is something she'll likely be able to feel as well as hear. As for the surprise and the delight, as long as Flora keeps it to herself, he's more than happy to settle into tonight's new normal. If nothing else, he's also been treated to three orgasms this evening, and there's a lot to be said for the haze and exhaustion of post-sex satisfaction.
Blinking his eyes open at her parting shot of sass, Jack scoffs and shrugs his shoulders, however sleepily it might be. "Nice to know that some things won't have changed," he fires back, before clasping her closer as if that might head off whatever consequence he might have provoked. "So long as you don't get another stupid song stuck in your head. I could've killed you last time."
romancing yourself is possible, narcissistic and recommended
Grinning in response, Flora snickers under her breath, one of her arms snaking around Jack's shoulder in order to curl her fingertips into his hair. "Helps to be shown the ropes by the best." She hums, the words not far from the truth, but certainly Flora's intention had been to stroke Jack's ego. Letting her fingers wander through his dark for a moment, the queen merely hums affectionately before letting her arm slip back down against her side. Much as she'd like to take advantage of the captain's willingness to cuddle, it was far too hot to be unnecessarily tangled up against him.
Rolling her eyes even as Jack tugs her closer—she was quickly coming to realize that his go-to was physical affection when he wanted to shut her up, not that she was complaining—while Flora doesn't resist, she does imagine the muffins she'd once made, mentally lobbing a few at the captain's head both in contempt of his point as much as to make it for him. "Well, tell your crew not to hum when they go by the door, then." The queen snarks, tucking her head beneath his chin and nuzzling against his chest. "Or just think about it like a lullaby." No, she didn't expect Jack to be the sort of man to whom anyone had ever sung lullabies, but as a newly minted immortal there were lots of firsts he'd now get to experience. Why shouldn't that be one?
My house of stone, your ivy grows
And now I'm covered in you
Tilting his head down a fraction to allow her fingers to slip through the back of his dark hair, Jack of course doesn't feel the need to respond to her agreement, however much she might indeed be stroking his ego. It's enough to hear it, at least for now, and though it absolutely is far too hot for them to be all over each other any more than this, a whisper of magic has a soft breeze circulating through the room and tiny snowflakes forming in the air.
"That first muffin was like being hit by a rock," he drawls; as far as he remembers, she hadn't even been aiming at him with that one either. "At least you're good at your day job, so don't feel the need to quit and become a baker, yeah?" You know, Flora's day job. Queen of Torchline, or something.
"The sorts of songs the crew hum aren't the sort that tend to put you to sleep," he points out, rolling his eyes but falling quiet nonetheless, as if expecting to be haunted by whatever jingle Flora comes up with purely because he's put the thought in her head.
romancing yourself is possible, narcissistic and recommended
Snorting her laughter into the dark space between them, the queen grins, her eyes falling softly closed. "You'll have to tell me one day how you learned to be such a good baker." She hums, recalling how Jack had chosen to vault in through her window rather than use the front door and had somehow fixed the recipe she'd been working on all while helping himself to her whiskey.
"Yeah, not the way that they sing them, they aren't." The Doubletake agrees, shivering pleasurably as the snowflakes which have fallen on her skin begin to melt and then trickle their way across her body. Instead of reviving any such songs, instead Flora just thinks. What Jack will be able to pick up on she's not quite sure, but whatever it is she intends it to be relaxing. So, thinking back to her childhood, she imagines walking slowly through the Greatwood, the thick layer of moss and pine needles beneath her bare feet dampening the sounds of her movements. Golden sunlight spills down through the leaves dappling her skin as the Stonesong hums somewhere off in the distance. Should Jack opt to fall asleep at Flora's side more often he'll be treated to this vision fairly regularly, as it's one she conjures up anytime she's having trouble falling asleep.
I love you, she thinks gently just as sleep begins to weigh down her bones and the rock of the Ark quiets her mind entirely.
My house of stone, your ivy grows
And now I'm covered in you
As with quite a few of Jack's skills, there isn't all that much to tell - he'd probably lifted a recipe from a baker's mind at some point or another, retaining just enough information to be able to pass it along to Flora when she'd needed it. Even so, he can't resist a smirk at the memory that plays out in full in her mind, having also recalled vaulting in through her window; likely the first time he'd even been in her house, if he thinks about it.
That memory, of course, gives way to one of the Greatwood - a place Jack has never been and as such one that he watches all too eagerly until sleep drags him away into its clutches. He's already drifted off by the time Flora is thinking her I love yous, but perhaps they manage to reach the captain nonetheless, deep in his subconscious.
The following morning creeps upon them with bright sunlight and hels harping outside the window, and for his part Jack is having none of the early wakeup call. Reaching for the sheets and dragging them unceremoniously over his head (and Flora's, if she hasn't already gotten up), the captain requests at least one go of a snooze button.
romancing yourself is possible, narcissistic and recommended
Actually, Flora has gotten up and is already out of bed. She'll not blame Jack for having not noticed her absence, especially with how new her presence in his bed is, but as she didn't want to wake the captain by laying in bed and thinking, the Doubletake had slipped out of his bunk and helped herself to another of his shirts. Assuming the crew would think little about seeing her in so little given her performances the night before, Flora simply flashed those she passed a crookedly confident smile before wandering towards the kitchen to either beg for or prepare some coffee.
Returning to the deck with a large mug of coffee between her hands, though the day was already threatening to be the sort to dictate that they all stay inside, presently it was cool enough for Flora to want to remain above deck, enjoying the open air. Leaning against the railing and with her back toward the port she could almost pretend that they were moored somewhere far out at sea if she angled her gaze just right to ignore both Starfall and Stormbreak.
My house of stone, your ivy grows
And now I'm covered in you
With the new range on his abilities, Jack is able to sense Flora's presence much more easily as she navigates herself around his ship, and he helps himself to the contents of her leisurely thoughts as he waits to wake up properly. Eventually, and not before scanning the upper deck for trouble (i.e. people who will want something from him as soon as he appears), the captain peels himself out of bed and into some fresh clothes.
He's already wearing sunglasses against the morning light as he emerges, feet shoved into a pair of sandals, and his shirt loose and open, his own coffee in his hands. Slinking across the deck to Flora, he raises his mug in a cheers and carelessly slips an arm around her waist to draw her against him. "Look at you, walkin' around the place like you own it," he rumbles, amusement lacing his words.
romancing yourself is possible, narcissistic and recommended
Hearing the flip flap of Jack's sandals across the boards of the deck, as Flora turns and shields her eyes against the sun, she grins at Pool Party Jack the captain's choice of clothing. "What're you on vacation or something?" She wants to know, thinking that if he'd been intending to look that good first thing in the morning perhaps she should have woken him up before slipping out of his bunk.
Sliding her arm around him in return, making sure to slide it beneath his shirt where she could trickle her fingertips across his skin, Flora takes a sip of her coffee and shrugs. "Something tells me that's how your ship likes to be treated." Glancing up at him with one eye closed against the sun, she chuckles and looks back out across the water. "Respectful but...you know, confident too."
My house of stone, your ivy grows
And now I'm covered in you
"Can it really be called a vacation if I wake up to it every work day?" Jack asks with a raise of an eyebrow, glancing out at the glittering horizon and the gentle waves slapping against the side of the Ark's hull. Sipping at his own coffee and seeming strangely at ease with Flora's careless affection, one might argue it's because the captain hasn't long woken up. Others might say he's finally starting to succumb to the idea that the Doubletake means something to him. (The truth? Somewhere in between).
"Mm, that's true. She does need a firm hand sometimes," he agrees of his ship, leaning back against the railing with Flora. "Don't take advantage of her, though. She has her moments." As does the ocean, and the various things lurking in it. "Might have to check her over, anyway, since she can be airborne indefinitely now."
romancing yourself is possible, narcissistic and recommended
