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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!
"Course you didn't," Jack says, deferring to the other man readily. "Thick head like yours? Doubt you feel much of anythin' these days. Careful though - keep smilin' like that and you'll give yourself even more wrinkles." Winking at Remi and departing to enjoy his little meet-and-greet with Flora and Mateo instead, the captain's arm slips casually around the Doubletake's waist, and he offers a warm enough nod to the brother she clearly doesn't hate.
His gaze does linger on Mateo for a few moments, though, and whilst the botanist might take it as something to preen over, Flora will know better than most - better than anyone present, certainly - that the captain is taking his measure of him, fleeting and silent as it might be. "Il piacere è mio," he responds in the end; like Flora, the words don't roll quite so musically off his tongue, but it's enough to suggest that perhaps the Doubletake has been teaching him a thing or two about the oh-so-exclusive travelling tongue.
Jack can take or leave the food, however much of it there might be, but the offer of a drink absolutely gets his attention. "Dark rum, if you've got it."
you're the last of a dying breed; write our names in the wet concrete
I wonder if your therapist knows everything about me
"It is," Ronin agrees with Flora, allowing a lopsided smile to flicker across his face. "I don't know where yours is," he adds - because lol dad jokes - before gesturing to the table. "Help yourselves." Reaching out to snag Mateo's empty glass (yes, son, he has seen your oh-so-subtle outrage), the Knight soon finds himself glued back at Remi's side just in time to hear the latest exchange of barbs between Bastion and captain.
And where Remi's emotions are warbling and unhappy, Ronin's promptly grow thorns and fire, and though the hand that squeezes against his husband's hip is no less gentle than before, dragonscale is already beginning to trickle down the back of his neck and his spine. "Given that there's only a couple of seasons between us, I'm not sure you're the best person to be talking about age," he quips at Jack, before turning to nose against the Bastion's curls.
"Don't suppose you want a hand with those drinks?" he mutters.
"Well, we can rule out humour as the reason Flora likes you." Remi mutters under his breath as he turns away from Jack, only to see that he'd apparently wounded his son's honour by not offering him another drink. "Il tuo bicchiere non è vuoto!" Raising his hands in confusion, the Bastion grins crookedly at Mateo, before the smile is nearly slapped off of his face to hear Jack speaking the travelling tongue. Unhappy feathers snarl into the Bastion's curls as the fingers tucked beneath his husband's shirt grow long talons. Did he just say what I think he did?
Or rather, how ?
Swallowing down the sudden fire blooming in the back of his throat, Remi inhales stiffly, not needing to answer his husband with words, not with the plume of fury broiling out from his fingertips. "We'll be right back." He murmurs, turning away sharply in the hopes he wouldn't have to hear another word out of Jack's mouth before he had the chance to break something inside.
idealism sits in prison, chivalry fell on its sword
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
"They absolutely did." Flora confirms, her outrage only mitigated by the righteousness she felt. Whether or not Jack had ever fucked with them in a past life, the queen thought was entirely irrelevant (so long as he hadn't fucked them), and she said as much. "Does it matter? They literally could have said they wanted to talk about it instead of Remi literally keeping Jack hostage in a closet." Raising her eyebrows for emphasis, she shoots her brother a look of we're not done with this as he tucks the necklace away.
Hearing Jack speak the travelling tongue was not just an impressive manipulation, it was hot as fuck as well, such that while Flora manages to look proud of what Jack had 'learned', inwardly she felt like an ice cube that had just been tossed into a pool of lava. "I'm surprised you two have never met before, actually." Tucking herself at Jack's side, the captain likely doesn't need to go through Flora's mind to find out Mateo's proclivities. Not with the botanist standing right there. "Mateo is a botanist in Stormbreak. He grows all sorts of things." She 'explains' to Jack, before glancing toward her brother. "And after the collapse of the portals before the skyports were set up, Jack's ship was one of the only reliable ways of moving things around."
I don't like slow motion double vision in rose blush I don't like that falling feels like flying 'til the bone crush
Should'a seen what I wore I had a cane and a party hat
"È abbastanza vuoto," Mateo proclaims to his father, not that it matters all that much in the end, because his haughtiness has Ronin collecting up the empty-enough glass so he can get a refill. Anyway, back to Flora and their parents' crimes against her and her budding relationship. Raising his eyebrows at a number of things - Ronin's remark about his being the same age as Flora's new boyfriend, Remi's closet conduct, Jack speaking the travelling tongue - it's the latter that has his jaw dropping in delight in the end.
Stepping back and plopping down into his seat, Mateo gestures for both Jack and Flora to do the same while he helps himself to a plate and some of the sandwiches the Knight has set down. "Perhaps we have met but not so much in person," he suggests with a carefree shrug, and whilst he's more than happy to discuss the seedier sides of his business, it can absolutely wait until their parents are out of earshot. "Either way, if you keep talking like that, I will have to fight my sister for you."
I was the king of this hologram where there's no such thing as getting out of hand
There is no smug smile on Jack's lips, at least, the captain's poker face one that he's perfected over decades. Indeed, as he turns his back on the Bastion it's both literally and figuratively, giving himself over to a new conversation whilst Remi simmers and frets about the knowledge he shouldn't possess. Alas, if it weren't for his closet conduct, as Mateo's thoughts have put it, perhaps he wouldn't have to make himself such a thorn in a demigod's side.
More than content with the Doubletake snug against his side, Jack opts to sit on a small bench opposite Mateo at the table such that he can tug Flora along with him as he sits. "I try not to mix business with pleasure, especially if there's gonna be fightin' involved," he says. "Later, though, I'm sure we can work somethin' out." In the business side of things, anyway, and he turns to gesture towards The Ark's ruddy sails in the distance, the rust red colour making her stand out in the port. "That's where you can find me. Or us, I should say."
you're the last of a dying breed; write our names in the wet concrete
I wonder if your therapist knows everything about me
He did, yes. Come on. Knowing better than to linger and put the entire beach at risk with their rising tempers, Ronin squashes down his outrage and the questions that crackle on his tongue in lieu of turning away with Remi to lead him back up towards The Northaven. And although their son, daughter and her problem are still close enough to hear, the words are no longer discernible, and Ronin can only trust that it means the same is true in reverse.
Letting out a shuddering sigh and rolling his shoulders as he releases Remi to barge back into the houseboat, the Knight honestly can't remember the last time he'd been wound up so tightly in such a short space of time. "I suppose it's too late to change our minds and call this whole thing off?" he asks softly, heading to their liquor cabinet and pulling out a bottle of something spiced and sweet. They might have come in to get refreshments for the rest of the 'family', but he fully plans to split this with Remi first.
"What the fuck is happening out there?" he grumbles, uncorking the bottle and taking a long drink directly from it.
Able to keep himself quiet only by grinding his teeth, as the pair enter into the houseboat Remi huffs out the breath he'd been holding as he reaches for one of the cushions on their couch. Kneading it violently between his fingers, the Bastion swallows hard, the metallic taste of blood making his pupils widen for a moment. "I'm going to kill him." He mutters, glancing at Ronin over one shoulder and sipping at his lower lip.
Holding out a hand for the bottle and not trusting himself to look out the window, Remi shakes his head before he too takes a long pull directly from it. "The worst part, is he knows there's nothing we can do. If we call him on his bullshit, we're still the assholes." And Jack fucking knew it.
The alcohol does little to cool the rage simmering in Remi's stomach, but the burn is as welcome as the sweet aftertaste is on his lips. "That day on the beach with the jaguar, twice I felt the pain of Jack's attacks and just now when he shook my hand, he did it again."
idealism sits in prison, chivalry fell on its sword
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
"Not if I beat you to it," Ronin mutters. "I bet between us we could make it look like an accident." And yes, he knows - he knows that if they act on any of this they risk losing Flora forever rather than just having her currently pissed off at them. But gods if he doesn't want to rip the captain's tongue out of his head regardless, and as soon as Remi is done with the liquor bottle, Ronin is taking it right back for another pull.
Setting it down on the counter and relishing the sweet burn in his chest and throat, the Knight wipes his mouth with the back of his hand and steps forward to slip his arms around Remi, holding him tightly as if they might find some way of being polite for the rest of the evening. "Maybe you should accidentally break a rib if you need to get past him," he mutters, quietly seething but at least feeling at home with it, especially with the Bastion close by.
"Do you think if I prayed really hard right now, I could have Ludo make me its demigod again so that I could knock Jack's soul from his body?" That he could do from a distance at least, giving him at least some claim to plausible deniability.
"His, or mine?" Raising his eyebrows, Remi's hands immediately tug Ronin against him before his fingers lace themselves around the Knight to prevent him from moving. "He is a bit scrawny now that you mention it." Having never thought of Jack like that, Remi wrinkles his nose in disgust before pressing his forehead against his husband's shoulder.
"The worst part...I understand why Flora is acting like this. Much as she doesn't want to admit it, she at least is young." What Jack's excuse was, Remi had no idea. "But imagine showing up to a family dinner just to act this way." Not only was it shortsighted of the captain if he really did think he had a future with their daughter, the Bastion couldn't fathom what about this little stunt of his was meant to be at all endearing or attractive.
idealism sits in prison, chivalry fell on its sword
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
"His, obviously. Two ribs, if you want to be petty," Ronin mutters. His limbs already feel a little more loose thanks to the considerable amount of alcohol he's just downed, and he has no intention of moving anywhere away from Remi. Able to do little more than grumble as he replays the past few minutes and how every part of their interaction with the captain felt as if it had taken place on a powder keg, eventually the Knight lets out a long, deep sigh and tilts his head to rest against Remi's.
"You know," he says softly, "I bet it would piss them off so badly if we just stopped rising to the bait." It sounds like the stupid sort of thing you'd say to a teenager being bullied, but gods, everything about this screams of wanting to rile up the Taliesins. "What if you just come and sit with me and we'll get drunk, have dinner and catch up with Mateo and Flora? Either she and her boyfriend talk to us, or they don't. It's not going to change her decision either way, right?"
"I do want that." Remi agrees immediately, and if he sounds a bit childish so be it. Apparently, it's the flavour of the evening.
Groaning into his husband's chest, although what Ronin suggests makes perfect sense and would probably piss the pair off more than any witty retort either of them might come up with, taking the high road sounds absolutely awful. "Or, we go upstairs and have sex and just...don't come back down." Releasing his clasped hands, Remi lets them drop down toward his husband's ass, which he squeezes. "Alternatively, I could always just teleport to Isla and we could pretend I was channelled and that there's some emergency we have to take care of." He adds hopefully.
Lifting his head off of Ronin's shoulder, despite the rather crumpled set to his lips, Remi does manage a small smile as he sighs. "But if we're going to do it your way, I need another drink, and you have to promise to think your dirtiest thoughts at me if you can feel me getting angry. Deal?"
idealism sits in prison, chivalry fell on its sword
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
Taking the high road does sound awful, and given Remi's other options - being petty, breaking ribs, pretending to be channelled, having sex - the Bastion isn't the only one feeling very put upon as they are forced to consider being adults over every alternative. Scoffing into the other man's curls as his ass is squeezed, Ronin is still half considering the having sex option when Remi speaks again, and he grumbles and holds him closer rather than letting him go.
"This is beginning to remind me quite a bit of that other dinner we attended. The one up at Stormbreak with Tobi and Finn?" They'd ended up fucking in their bathroom if he remembers correctly, and whilst at least this was their own home, it's a similar enough feeling. "I say we finish the fucking bottle up here, take the rest down with us, and I'll think my dirtiest thoughts at you whether or not you're angry. We'll call it a preventative measure?"
"Or do you remember the time we nearly broke the bathroom in that bar in the Greatwood?" Gods, that had to have been years ago now, and despite having been the Greatwood's Gaurdian, the pair had slunk out with their tails between their legs soon after if he recalled correctly.
Leaning his hips forward as if they might forgo the part of the plan where they even make it upstairs, Remi lets his hands wander up his husband's back, holding him tight. Though they'd never actually gotten off the subject of Jack, just having been around the Knight alone for a few moments had settled the Bastion more than just a little, and if he made good on his word, Remi thought everyone might just make it through dinner in one piece.
"Fine." Straightening slightly if only to be in a position to lean forward and steal a kiss, should the boat be within 40ft of where the captain was, Jack would feel the overbright pull of Remi's love for Ronin as he silently affirmed the words so often passed between the two: it's only you, for me.
idealism sits in prison, chivalry fell on its sword
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
