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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!
Should'a seen what I wore I had a cane and a party hat
Rolling his eyes at Flora - not that the Doubletake would know, but his boat very rarely smells like dog any more since Ever started to prefer being on two legs - Mateo is intrigued by the idea of sharing closet space. "Ah, like that... what was it? The two-way parchment I think a few people have? But with closet space." He grins. "Bonus points if we can climb through it ourselves. It would save me a lot of time." And Flora would have less excuse not to visit.
Alas, Mateo honestly doesn't think his sister has even heard the majority of what he's said, and given that their father is staring into his drink as if it's his job, the botanist's grin is helplessly amused. Clearing his throat, he leans across the table a bit towards Flora. "You are not being as subtle as you think you are," he whispers. "I will cover for you if you want to go."
I was the king of this hologram where there's no such thing as getting out of hand
Well, see, the time to have left would have been before Remi returned.
Having downed a good amount of something inside of the Northaven and with thoughts of fey-blue eyes half-lidded as two pairs of hands tugged at his skin, the Bastion was in moderately better spirits as he returned to the little group. "Per te," he hummed musically, handing Mateo his drink (in a new glass) before sinking down into his chair and reaching immediately for his husband's hand.
Starbursting his fingertips against the Knight's palm before intertwining their fingers together, he eyed both Flora and Jack's refilled glasses with an approving nod. "So Jack," smiling sunnily in the captain's direction, Remi raised his eyebrows. "Do you have much family in Torchline?" If the captain wanted to play the part of scumbag boyfriend, fuck it, Remi was happy to go into Dad mode.
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.
Wishing he'd decided to go inside with Remi but knowing it would have been crystal clear that he was being avoidant, Ronin is stuck feeling very awkward indeed, to the point where he does manage a grateful smile towards Mateo for at least attempting to give Flora an out. Unfortunately, by the time he's spoken the words the Bastion has returned full of sass and liquor, Ronin raising his eyebrows up at his husband as he re-takes his seat.
It's automatic, the way Ronin immediately relaxes with Remi's presence beside him, though he does raise his eyebrows questioningly at the topic of conversation he chooses. With uncharacteristically very little to add, instead the Knight fills a glass with yet more liquor to slide in the Bastion's direction, giving his hand a squeeze and a pulse of affection. Going on the offence, I see?
Knowing better than to give himself over entirely to the feelings that Flora's filthy thoughts are liable to provoke, Jack nonetheless finds himself - not for the first time - happily drowning in the rose gold shimmer of arousal and need that pours out of her. And with Mateo calling them out (he could get to quite enjoy the botanist's company as Flora's relative and a possible business partner, he decides) it almost seems like a done deal for them to make a swift exit.
Oh, but then dear old dad comes back.
Straightening up and inhaling a long breath that he sighs out again before taking a sip of rum, Jack raises his eyebrows over his sunglasses at the Bastion. Fuck it indeed. "Yeah, technically," he says. "I'm an only child, for my sins, and my father's still drinkin' himself to death out in the seedier bars somewhere." And aren't you lucky to even get that much out of the captain?
"But thanks to Safrin, I find myself suddenly with a few kids of my own. Three of 'em - they just touched down in Torchline from wherever they were before. You'll probably know 'em if you meet 'em." He gestures casually to the stars flecking the corner of his eye.
you're the last of a dying breed; write our names in the wet concrete
I wonder if your therapist knows everything about me
"Who says I'm trying to be subtle?" Flora hisses back, glancing at Mateo over her shoulder. Truth be told the botanist had been subject to hearing their dads have sex much more than she ever had, but the Doubletake was happy to take this one for the team if it meant keeping Jack's fingers clutching at her hip the way they were. Besides, even if she and Ronin were on good terms now, the fact that he was the reason she'd once had to sneak soundlessly through the Greatwood in order to see her father, meant she had very little sympathy to spare for any awkwardness he might be feeling.
Oh, but then Remi returns and as Jack sits up, Flora sighs moodily into the rim of her glass before taking another healthy sip. She's swallowed by the time the captain mentions the arrival of his triplets, which is a shame because now seems like the perfect time to dramatically choke and die.
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
"Oh, that is a relief. I was going to start questioning it otherwise," Mateo sasses back, though whether or not Flora's attempts at subtlety are genuine, it doesn't matter, because here comes Remi with his drink! "Grazie," he trills, accepting the new glass with a brief raise of his eyebrow (and what had happened to the other one, father?) before slouching in his seat to - presumably - see his sister and her boyfriend make a swift exit.
Only, you know, that doesn't happen at all, Mateo's eyes widening and jaw falling open in a perfect facsimile of that GIF of Andy from Parks and Rec. "So there's actually more of your family than ours in Torchline, huh?" he says to Jack, absolutely stirring the pot for the sake of it. "Damn. Safrin must like you."
I was the king of this hologram where there's no such thing as getting out of hand
10-09-2024, 12:52 PM (This post was last modified: 10-09-2024, 12:54 PM by Remi.)
honey, you're familiar like my mirror years ago
What? I'm just trying to get to know the man. Remi thinks, his lips curling into a somewhat smug smile as he glances at Ronin out of the corner of his eye. Of course the captain is about to verbally slap the smile off of his lips, but the Bastion isn't to know that just yet.
When the revelation does come, Remi's first thought is for his husband, for whom both Safrin and children are sore subjects for different reasons. I love you, he thinks immediately down the bond, and as his fingers tighten around the Knight's, his touch is steeped in stormy affection.
"Well, you're going to have one hell of a Father's day this year." He murmurs as his eyes trace the stars peeping out from being the captain's sunglasses. Unless of course Jack was planning on taking his parenting tips from his own old man, in which case Remi could only hope that he ended up in some seedy bar on his own sooner rather than later.
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.
Is that so? Ronin might have joked to Remi, but before he can so much as speak the words down the Attuned bond, Jack drops his bombshell and the Knight chokes on the sip of liquor he'd just been taking. Setting the glass down harder than intended and squeezing Remi's fingers back hard, it takes a few seconds for the burning in his throat and chest to subside enough to speak.
"Never realised you were so devout," he rasps out - and of course not knowing that Jack's children are more than capable of holding their own in the world (Seren had been a child in earnest, after all), he can't help but glance at Flora with raised brows. "Are you okay with all of that?" he asks automatically, all pretense of charm forgotten in lieu of getting the truth.
There's something undeniably satisfying about pulling the proverbial rug out from under Remi's feet; if he'd wanted to get to know Jack, a verbal sparring match like this will give him a very good idea of the captain, at least. "I s'pose," he says with a roll of his shoulders, his eyes flicking to Ronin briefly as the Knight's line of questioning goes to the Doubletake instead. "They're adults, and they don't so much as share my name, so perhaps not."
And so where is the issue, he wonders, for a man who doesn't care to be a father anyway?
His fingers tighten a fraction around Flora's waist, eyes growing sharper behind his glasses as he tilts his head back at Remi. "Imagine you'll be havin' quite the Father's Day yourself at this rate," he quips back. You know, if he continues to try and splinter his relationship with Flora so spectacularly.
you're the last of a dying breed; write our names in the wet concrete
I wonder if your therapist knows everything about me
"All the more reason for you to move here," Flora trills to her brother, her voice unsteady and her cheeks hot but not for the reasons they had been only moments before. With all hope of escape seeming thoroughly doused (as was the prospect of slinking into the houseboat to fool around with her boyfriend, which fundamentally seemed like her right for having to sit through this nonsense), Flora pours herself a healthy third drink just as Jack steals the words right from her lips.
"Yeah." The Doubletake agrees, glancing toward Ronin before finding his gaze too difficult to hold. "They aren't like Seren or Kamaria." She adds softly. They hadn't been born as babes or as pawns, but had instead been agreed upon ahead of time, with both parties knowing exactly what was expected. "Besides, Jack didn't even have sex with her to make them, so...what's there to be upset about?" Plenty, in fact, not that Flora was going to say so.
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
Gods but it just keeps getting better (read: more like one of the trashy romance novels Mateo occasionally finds in Molly's). "Every time you ask is one more year I am staying in Stormbreak," he informs Flora with an affectionate scrunch of his nose, before his focus drifts wholly to Jack's triplets, the whole Safrin thing, the way everyone around the table - besides he and the captain - seem very ruffly about it all.
"So are you going to be una matrigna, orrrr...?" he asks Flora, before covering his mouth with his hand and shooting Remi an apologetic look. He'd said no further talk of wedding bells, after all. "Next time perhaps we ought to invite them along to dinner as well."
I was the king of this hologram where there's no such thing as getting out of hand
Knowing that patting Ronin on the back would hardly help to clear the liquor from his lungs, instead the Bastion simply squeezes his husband's hand back, his fingers able to endure what would have already shattered a lesser man's by now.
Lifting his brows, Remi has no idea whether or not he's meant to be happy about the fact that Jack hadn't slept with Safrin or not. On the one hand, he supposes it's a relief for Flora's sake, but on the other, there's something terribly impersonal and transactional about it that has him worried for his daughter.
"Alora, Mateo." Remi hisses out of the corner of his mouth, shooting his son a look. He wasn't wrong of course, and it had been the Bastion's first thought too, but seeing as Jack apparently had no interest in defending the Doubletake, he'd do it for him.
"Adults, mm? Like.." Glancing between his two children and then to Jack, Remi raises a brow. Adults like them, or like us?
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.
Ronin has a lot of thoughts about this new information, and very little of it has anything to do with his personal circumstances when it comes to Safrin and children. He's more concerned for Flora, for what that will mean for her to be in a position not dissimilar to Remi when it came to Jack and the goddess. Clearing his throat and straightening up in his seat as he's finally able to take a breath that doesn't burn his lungs, he raises a hand as if to try and keep the Bastion - or Mateo, for that matter - from twisting the knife any further.
"I hardly think it matters," he says roughly, shooting his husband an almost pleading look. "I'm gonna get some water." Yes, he knows Sugar and Spice are present to provide as much ice as he might need, and Jack has that very magic at his fingertips, but clearly the water isn't the point so much as the space is. As such, it's with an apologetic smile to Flora that Ronin rises to his feet and makes himself scarce.
Is Jack pleased to have been the cause of all of this going to hell in a handbasket? Of course he is, though the dark current of Flora's thoughts is a side-effect he'd have much rather avoided. With the shark's smile fading on his lips, the hand that has been wound around the Doubletake passes warmly against her back until he can slip it around her shoulders instead. "I like to keep my business with the gods separate from the rest of my life. I've found things can get messy otherwise," he drawls; and if Ronin's departing back is anything to go by, it's the right fucking decision.
"They're adult enough to tell you to fuck off to your face, put it that way," he adds for Remi's benefit. "So what's next? You gonna ask me about my prospects, or what I like to do in my free time?" Your daughter is the answer to that question, of course, and they all know 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
