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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!
champagne, cocaine, gasoline and most things in between
Grumbling, because of course his sister is correct, Mateo sighs and nods and shrugs off any potential sympathy he might have had for his fathers because of the gods and their interference and focuses on his arriving drink and Flora's looping writing on the parchment. "Oh, that is clever." Grinning, he hunkers closer (and almost falls from his bar stool in the process) to peep over her shoulder expectantly, but of course nothing immediately happens. It will, just... give Jack a sec, okay?
"Do you write each other dramatic admissions of love, or sexy poetry when you are away from each other?" he wants to know, jostling Flora's shoulder and finally seizing his drink to take a slurp of it. As for Everest, Mateo's expression does grow more solemn, and he shakes his head somewhat helplessly. "Your mother is a demigod with superpowers," he points out. "And Ever is... Ever. I am confident that if he tried to kidnap Isla, she would tell him to go sit and think about what he had done before they ever got out of the house."
Rubbing at the back of his neck, he does agree that the infection isn't a great state of affairs, but... fuck. "So you would rather him be uninfected and miserable and the way he was before? It would ruin his life."
I roam the city in a shopping cart a pack of Camels and a smoke alarm
"Look me in my face and tell me you think Jack seems like the kind of guy to like poetry." Sure, Flora could imagine a situation where Jack would like it, presumably if the words were centred around him and the queen was taking great pleasure in writing them, but as her ability to rhyme was childlike at best and she'd much rather do other things with her hands than pen poetic words and phrases to Jack, the answer was no. "Unfortunately lately it's been more like "hey haven't heard from you in a while, sure hope you haven't been kidnapped" " Flora huffs with a roll of her eyes.
Wanting to keep her expression solemn, the corners of her mouth nevertheless quirk into a crooked line as she imagines Isla scolding a violet-coloured Everest and sending him to his room to think about what he'd done. "Okay, but if he did try and attack Isla, however unsuccessfully, don't you think that would ruin his life too? Or...what if Dahlia just decides she wants him to go and kill himself, or burn down Isla's clinic so she can't heal anyone anymore?" Reaching for her drink, the next sip is the one which ultimately will push the queen fully over the line of inebriation, explaining the following scribbles Jack will receive on their parchment.
"And like...I dunno, whatever has happened to him, can't Frey or someone just...do it for him?"
champagne, cocaine, gasoline and most things in between
"I have only met him once, he might be a secret romantic for all I know. He certainly made an impression on our dear old dads." Grinning into his drink - because for all of the tension it had caused (and with him being left at the table alone at the end of the get together) - Jack had proven that he could hold his own against Remi and Ronin if nothing else.
Propping his own elbow on the table so he can try and see what else Flora is scribbling, as well as adding suggestions where he thinks they might work, this time once the Doubletake is finished writing, she gets something in return. "Ah! There you go, he is on his way. Poetry," he purrs, straightening back up for another sip of his drink.
Not particularly wanting to continue speaking about Everest - he is not his friend's keeper, particularly since he'd gone and shacked up with his Middle Name - Mateo nonetheless huffs out a long sigh, giving his sister a reluctant nod. "I was trying to help him with Frey," he admits. "It is the only quest I have ever been set, but... well, he got infected, and it became quite unnecessary."
I roam the city in a shopping cart a pack of Camels and a smoke alarm
01-05-2025, 10:58 AM (This post was last modified: 01-05-2025, 10:58 AM by Flora.)
she's the kinda song you could play over and over
"He's...not not a romantic." Wrinkling her nose, there's no real way to describe what Jack was without revealing his secret, leaving Flora just shrugging her shoulders at Mateo. No, Jack wasn't a thousand roses on her doorstep kind of guy, but he was a I'll come pick your drunk ass up without too much of a fuss kind of guy, and wasn't that even better? "Besides, our Dads version of romance is like...wall-breaking sex at inappropriate times and murder."
Glancing down at the parchment and grinning like a lovestruck fool, scribbles an obnoxious heart with both of their initials written into it before tucking it away into her bag. "Oh really? I mean...maybe that solves it then. Just shove that boy into the hot springs and finish your quest." Said in a very what? like it's hard? tone of voice (mostly because Flora had the good fortune to delegate the majority of her quest components to Tal and so always found them rather easy), Flora softly nudges Mateo's shoulder with her own.
"There's no way Ever would prefer to be a potential harm to Isla than going back to what he was before. Not if he knew what the Family was capable of making him do." She murmurs quite sagely, before needing to grip the side of Mateo's stool as the bar began to swim around them.
champagne, cocaine, gasoline and most things in between
"Awwwww," Mateo gushes, because of course he does - it's his job as Flora's older brother to wholeheartedly support her romantic endeavours, even if he has no desire for any of his own. "And you do not even know the half of it," he continues regarding their fathers and their sexcapades. "The things I could tell you, but I will not, because you will never be the same." Scrunching his nose and promptly knocking back the rest of his drink, Mateo evidently does not want to think or talk of that any more.
Not that the other subject of conversation is any better, and the botanist pulls a face and tilts his head at her as Flora decides, apparently, that everything is super fine and easy when it comes to helping Everest before and after he's healed of his infection. Alas, though, she also makes an annoyingly good point with her last comment, and Mateo's shoulders sag and he reaches out to try and steady her despite the thick fuzz that has settled in his own thoughts. "Fine. The next time I see him, I will talk to him about it," he decides, unaware of course that Isla might beat him to it.
I roam the city in a shopping cart a pack of Camels and a smoke alarm
Flora had informed him that she was going to be looking for her brother in a place called The Pacifist Plaza, but when her message arrives somewhat slurred, he automatically adjusts his trajectory towards The Silk Houses instead. And it doesn't take long before he catches the kaleidoscope of the Doubletake's thoughts from within a bar whose doors are adorned with glowing luxere antlers, the captain smoothly turning towards it and slipping inside.
In his coat to ward off the chill from the wind, ice and snow up in Stormbreak at Deepfrost, as well as a pair of sleek leather gloves and a loose scarf, there are still a few speckles of blood on Jack's stubbled cheek as he approaches the bar, but other than that, he's clean. "Havin' fun?" he rumbles, glancing between Flora and her brother and smirking beneath the scarf. "You're lucky I finished my errands early. C'mon, up you get."
Reaching out to guide Flora into a standing position, Jack is already half prepared for her to turn into a liquid and for him to have to catch her.
you wanted perfect, you got your perfect but now I'm too perfect for someone like you
"Ewwwwuh." Where Flora had the misfortune of being chased away from Remi because of Ronin, Mateo had the opposite experience of being forced to endure them both for long periods of time. It probably wasn't worth trying to figure out who'd come out with the worst trauma from it, but gods if she didn't appreciate her brother's reluctance to share.
Before Flora can say more about Everest, Jack arrives. Whether or not a slow swirl of snow actually swarmed around him as he dramatically flung open the bar's doors stepped inside the White Hart hardly mattered, because in Flora's mind, the captain had just arrived with all the pomp and circumstance normally associated with the sorts of characters found in her brother's romance novels. "Babbbbbbbbbbe!" Spinning unsteadily in her chair and immediately groping reaching out for Jack, the Doubetake wraps her arms around the captain to tug him close.
"Mmm, I haven't finished my drink though?" She protests mildly even as her legs unhook from around her brother's chair and press against the floor as if to test and see whether or not that would make the room stop spinning or not. While Flora's mind is an utter mess of different thoughts, it's an entirely soft and whimsical place to be, made all the more sunlit and radiant each time the room steadied enough for Flora to be able to gaze up at Jack.
champagne, cocaine, gasoline and most things in between
"Mmhm," Mateo says with a dramatic widening of his eyes, very happy to close the lid on those memories forever if he can. Whilst not as drunk as Flora (he's had quite a lot of practice in being inebriated every day by now, don't you know), the botanist is certainly very socially lubricated by now, and he straightens and turns on his barstool to see Flora's Dark and Brooding beau swan into The White Hart as if he owns the place, whether he knows he's doing it or not.
"I am going to make myself scarce before I have any new trauma to add to my existing set," he decides with a musical laugh, leaning in to hug Flora tightly (and hug Jack as well, given how she's wrapped around the captain currently). "Thank you for coming to visit me, sorellina. I think I needed this more than even I realised. I will see you very soon, yes?" Grinning and slipping off his barstool, Mateo wobbles a little before seeming to adjust to his new state of tipsy, promptly swanning for the door - snow be damned.
I roam the city in a shopping cart a pack of Camels and a smoke alarm
Jack, AKA babbbbbbbe, finds himself caught in a group hug he never asked for within moments of arriving at the Hart, and he's too distracted by the star-spangle of Flora's thoughts to be able to fend it off. By the time he's pulled up some gentle blocks around her soft and shimmering mind, the extra participant in the embrace is luckily already getting to his feet.
Offering little more than a nod to Mateo, the captain reaches past Flora to the drink she hasn't finished, promptly knocking it back himself. "There," he says, jaw feathering ever so slightly because it's fucking strong, before he gazes back down at her, offering steadying hands for her to topple between. "This is the second time in as many outings that I've found you trashed at a bar," he points out, quietly amused. "Anythin' you wanna tell me, love?"
you wanted perfect, you got your perfect but now I'm too perfect for someone like you
Thinking that falling asleep sandwiched between Jack and Mateo would be amazing right then and there, Flora mewls briefly as she feels her brother pulling away. "Chowww Mateo. I love you okay?" She mumbles half into Jack's chest as she twists around in time to see the botanist heading toward the door. Puckering out her lower lip for a moment as her heart swells with an alcohol-infused affection for her sibling, the queen is hardly in a position to stop Jack as he reaches for—and then finishes—her cocktail.
"Hey," she admonishes loudly, straightening far too suddenly for the result to be anything other than her slouching heavily against the captain in an effort to remain vertical. "I am not trashed." Flora huffs confidently, though the way her words all seem to melt together even as she tries to annunciate them properly to prove she isn't drunk, utterly gives her away over and above the way her mind is nothing but a golden sea of rum-based thoughts.
"Mm? No. Just that I looveee youuuuuu." Twining her arms around Jack's neck, Flora sways in his arms to the rhythm of music that exists only in her mind. "And also that Mateo is going to come visit and also it's fine that you aren't a poet." She adds, her words sweetly slurred out through lips currently aiming a sloppy kiss toward Jack's mouth.
"He seems happier," Jack rumbles of Mateo, setting Flora's glass back down and leaning back a touch as if he can get out of range of her loud admonishments. "No? What would you call yourself?" he wonders, a catlike smile curling across his lips. It's safe to say that his business down in the Grotto has gone well, flecks of blood and all, because the captain is feeling quite tolerant of whatever drunken antics are guaranteed to come of his collecting Flora from the bar.
"Oh, I see," he says, raising a brow at the disjointed way her thoughts seem to thread together; not that he hasn't listened in on many a drunkard before, but it's different when he's actually willing - and trying - to have a conversation with one. "Who said I'm not a poet?" he wants to know (he's not, but he's keen to hear Flora's reasoning) as he turns them smoothly towards the door.
"C'mon, you can tell me everythin' on the way to the Skyport." Sloppy kiss and all.
you wanted perfect, you got your perfect but now I'm too perfect for someone like you
"Yeah?" In an instant the intensity of Flora's affections for the captain shifted, her mind growing thick brambles of ivy that curled not unlike her brother's hair. "Surprising after that fight with Remi, but....I'm gonna cheer him up when he comes to Torchline." Flora hums with a rum-soaked confidence that quickly had her mind shifting from forests of green to speckled maroon sails as she noted the red freckling Jack's face. "Gonna have to clean you off when we get home." She purrs suggestively, her mind already filling with hot steam and greedy fingers wiping the blood from every inch of Jack's skin.
Slinking an arm around Jack's waist, Flora huffs loudly. "You aren't a poet 'cause I don't want you to be a poet." Rolling her eyes like it should have been the most obvious thing, the queen sags against the captain's side as her free hand tries to sneak beneath his sweater.
"mmmk, but on the way can we stop for ice cream?" Fluttering her lashes up at him which only sends the room spinning again, Flora grumbles and presses her nose into the crook of his arm. "Or better yet, maybe just a bath."
To the surprise of no one who has had to walk a drunk 22-year-old home, Flora neither made it into the bath or into Jack's pants that night, despite her best intentions.
