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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!
The morning light filtered softly through the curtains, painting the room in muted hues of gold and gray. Flora stretched, her silk night slip shifting like liquid against her skin as she slipped out of bed, careful not to disturb Jack. Padding downstairs on bare feet, the queen moved as silently as the tide. In the kitchen, she set about making coffee, keeping her thoughts intentionally serene—rolling and rhythmic like gentle waves—hoping to keep the telepathic captain lulled in his sleep upstairs. Gods knew they'd both been sleeping so poorly lately.
Once the coffee was brewing, Flora made her way back up, her steps light and deliberate. Her curls framed her face as she peeked into the room, finding Jack still sprawled on the bed. The sight of him—dishevelled, relaxed, and entirely hers—brought a warmth to her chest that rivalled the coffee downstairs and had radiant golden light spilling through her thoughts.
Slipping beneath the covers, Flora shimmied closer to him, her silk slip brushing against his bare skin. Carefully, she draped herself across his chest, her hand splaying lightly over his heart. Her lips fluttered like butterfly wings against his skin, leaving a trail of soft kisses along his chest, moving upward toward his neck and jaw.
Her thoughts weren’t exactly subtle, but then again, they rarely were with Jack. Their colour warmed, shifting to something scarlet and sultry, an inviting ripple that hinted at her intentions. She shifted slightly, letting her knees brush against his sides as she positioned herself properly astride him, her kisses growing more insistent.
A surprisingly sound sleeper until his untimely demise - a fact Flora would have learned in the seasons they'd spent together - Jack's nights have been somewhat tumultuous ever since, such that his preference for rising early has been increasingly eclipsed by the promise of more rest. This morning is no different, the captain sleep-blank and uncomplaining as Flora slips out of bed. Her thoughts warm his subconscious like rays of sunlight dappling a forest floor through the branches of trees; gentle and unobtrusive enough to go beyond his immediate notice.
It's only as the Doubletake slips back into bed that Jack rises towards wakefulness, her body cooled by the ambient morning air, the smell of brewing coffee lingering on her skin and the heat of her mouth a delicious contrast to the rest of her touch. Inhaling deeply and releasing it on a sigh, Jack stretches enough to have his back arching and his head tipping back - conveniently at the same time as Flora settles astride him, pressing their bodies together - before his blue eyes blink open.
Calloused hands roam, slow but greedy along the outside of her thighs until they can sneak beneath her silk slip, the captain turning just enough to leave kisses of his own along the slope of Flora's shoulder. As wake-ups go, he's absolutely had worse.
fight so dirty but you love so sweet talk so pretty but your heart got teeth
Flora’s grin turns crooked as Jack stirs beneath her, his hands roaming against her skin in a way that sends shivers up her spine such that her body arches down and against his. Her kisses along his jawline become softer, lingering as she trails her lips toward his ear. "Good morning," she purrs, her voice as light as a breeze despite the scarlet flush of her thoughts. Her fingers toy with the strands of his hair near his temple, twisting them idly as she leans back just enough to take in the sleepy haze still lingering in his blue eyes.
Her own thoughts take on a golden glow, images of sunlit waves dancing just out of reach. "Hope I didn't wake you" she teases, her hands sliding down to rest lightly on his chest, her thumbs brushing lazily along his skin. If he hadn't already, no doubt Jack will notice the too-large ring on one of Flora's thumbs. It was silver rather than her usual gold with a chunk of mage glass in the center surrounded by thick silver waves that formed the band. It was impossible to keep secrets from Jack for the most part, and Flora was fairly certain that if she tried to hide his birthday present, he'd just help himself to it early. This way, at least, she could make sure his thieving fingers touched only the things she wanted them to.
Shifting slightly on his lap, Flora hums softly as her curls fall forward, framing her face before dipping her head again and kissing the corner of his mouth.
Despite the softness of her kisses, it's the flush to her thoughts that Jack chases, still dozy and uninterested in the morning other than what he might do with the woman sitting astride him. Humming his response against the column of her throat, the sensation is one he chases even as Flora draws back enough to look down at him. "Liar," he replies, his voice rough with sleep and affection, blue eyes deep and calm as the Spillwave.
Glancing automatically down at the touch that brushes across his bare skin (his own fingers are taking full advantage of the curves available beneath the Doubletake's slip), the siren song of her mind has him focusing on the ring upon her thumb more than anything. Rumbling out a laugh and surrendering one of his hands to snag at her own, he raises his eyebrows at what he knows well to be a mageglass ring even without telepathy. "Surprised you didn't have this made into an earring, or some other bit of jewellery you wanna see on me," he rumbles, turning his head to steal a real kiss from the one she aims to the corner of his mouth.
"Your generosity overwhelms me, love." Mischief infects the smile against her lips, Jack's hand drifting away to return to its roaming, his hips rolling beneath her own as if to suggest that she's chosen a very deliberate way to wake him up, and he'd like to go back to it now.
fight so dirty but you love so sweet talk so pretty but your heart got teeth
The sleepy affection in Jack's voice has Flora's heart fluttering in her chest despite the way she casually shrugged in response to his accusation. He was right, of course, though she doubted that he was in need of verbal confirmation given the way her thoughts had grown immediately drenched in blue as he gazed up at her. Her smile only widened as Jack’s laughter vibrated against her hand, his fingers curling around hers in a way that sent a further ripple of sea-blue heat through her thoughts. "I like your hands." Flora protests, before lifting the one tangled around her fingers and brushing the pads of his fingertips lightly between her teeth. "Besides, you’ve got plenty of fingers left, I might just keep going until every one of them has something shiny on it.” She counters, her words playfully threatening as her aqua eyes dart briefly toward his left hand before sliding back to his face, one brow arching. The queen had no doubts that if she adorned each of Jack's fingers with powerful magic-amplifying stones he'd marry her for it, but of course they both knew if he ever did propose, it'd have to be because he LoVeD HeR SO MuCh and not because it made good business sense.
The deliberate shift of his hips earns a soft, delighted inhale of breath as Flora presses herself into the stolen kiss before straightening in order to peer mischievously down at him. Reaching for the hem of her slip, Flora pulls it slowly over her head and lets it drop over the side of the bed; the morning light plays across her skin, highlighting the golden warmth of her complexion but also drawing sharp lines around the faint scars that stretched across her stomach and shoulder.
"Shut up and touch me," Flora whispers as she shifts her hips again, before reaching for one of his hands to press his palm against her pebbled flesh breast.
Flora's thoughts might have turned a suspiciously similar shade of blue to his eyes, but Jack is keen to have them heating scarlet once more, surrendering his hand to her teeth and her touch. "Most of them do have something shiny on them," he points out with a lazy raise of his brows, amusement lacing his tone; his fingers had been clad with rings long before Flora, after all, though he'd absolutely not complain to replace the current gems with mageglass.
Pointedly not following her gaze to his left hand - he's been awake for all of a minute and Flora is creating a delicious amount of friction between them, so sue him if he doesn't give a damn about anyone's thoughts on marriage - Jack instead lets his gaze slowly drink her in as she straightens up. Eyes run over her every curve on display, the silk shift pooling on the floor beside the bed (a shame, he'd have liked to hear the sound it made when it tore, and the way she'd delight at it), and her command has a laugh rumbling in his chest.
"Someone's bossy this morning," he purrs, though no part of him even considers resisting, his thumb brushing over a peaked nipple as his hand is guided to her breast. Squeezing gently, the palm of his other hand runs down Flora's side and across her hips, teasing against the delicate fabric of her underwear. For the captain's part, he'd fallen into bed wearing nothing but his ink and scars that evening, asleep before his head had properly hit the pillow. Suffice to say, there's very little between them and a very good morning indeed.
fight so dirty but you love so sweet talk so pretty but your heart got teeth
"Guess that makes my job a whole lot easier then, huh?" Flora purrs, smirking. While she didn't know the origins of all of Jack's rings, she knew they all had some meaning or other that explained their permanence on his fingers such that if her generosity did continue, yes, she'd probably have to resort to other types of jewelry.
An admonishment for having not shut up as she'd requested—bossily or not—dies on Flora's lips as the callouses on Jack's fingers brush against her nipple. It sends a mirrored sensation tickling the bottom of her foot, against which she curls her toes beneath the sheets, her breath hitching softly. Leaning to the side in order to press her hip into Jack's hand, if the captain is at all inclined to hear the sound of cloth tearing, no doubt the delicate midnight blue lace that serves as the only barrier between them will do nicely.
Rolling her hips slowly again and again, wanting to feel him growing harder beneath her, Flora glides her fingers down the length of her stomach and then beneath the lip of her underwear, sliding them lower before pressing just one inside of herself. Exhaling a shivery breath as the heat which had pooled low in her belly now had her fingertip slick and wet, Flora met Jack's gaze as she let that same finger glide over her clit with a touch so light it had her own mind shivering with frustration.
Letting his thumb sweep beneath the swell of Flora's breast, Jack's mind swims with the simmering flush of her thoughts, the captain able to focus on little else. His fingers glide back across her nipple, pinching at it just hard enough that he might follow the rising plumes of her arousal, and as her hips grind down against him, she's easily able to finish what the morning has started. Exhaling a deliberately slow breath and arching against her so she might feel the full, hard length of him, his other hand sneaks beneath dark lace, curling around the garment and pulling - hard.
The sound of tearing lace is delicious in a way that Jack has learned he enjoys aside from any additional effort from the thoughts around him, though as he glances back towards Flora's face, he's immediately caught in the pleasure convulsing through her mind. It's enough to have him biting at the inside of his cheek, Jack tugging away the ruined lace to cast it aside, leaving her bare to him.
Encircling her wrist with clever fingers to draw her away from touching herself further, he tugs that wicked hand towards his own lips, tasting her with a hot curl of his tongue.
fight so dirty but you love so sweet talk so pretty but your heart got teeth
It's quite possible that only a telepath could so perfectly walk the line between pain and pleasure such that Jack's touches never strayed too far into the former that it snapped Flora out of the moment. Gods help her if they were ever to break up because there'd never be anyone again who could touch her quite the way he did; who could let his ministrations stray just far enough to create tension before pulling back before anything should break.
The sound of tearing lace has a shiver racing up Flora's spine where it spiderwebs out in ruby red strands her thoughts, her mind torn between the delicate sensation and the hard length of Jack's cock now pressing firmly against her. Biting at her lower lip to see and feel her finger disappear into the captain's mouth, the curl of his tongue around her finger has Flora tilting her hips forward and pressing down in a fruitless effort to mimic the feeling between her legs. Feeling her cheeks flush as a new plume of heat licks up through her belly, it's only because she'd quite like to hear the captain's voice become strained with desire that she resists the urge to grab his cock and thrust herself upon it.
Instead, though she raises herself up slightly, it isn't enough to uncage Jack's length from where it's currently pinned between her body and his, and despite the way she lets her hips continue to slide forward and back, she stops teasingly close to the head of his cock before sinking back again.
A wolfish smile curls at his lips as he draws back from her finger with one last flick of his tongue, Jack releasing her hand so that his own can continue to strum a harmony from her body and mind with wicked, teasing touches. "Are you thinkin' about us breakin' up when we're about to fuck?" he asks with a mischievous raise of his eyebrows, his voice low, the sharp buck of his hips enough to send a thrum of aching frustration through his cock, though he considers it worth it if it has Flora feeling the same.
"A guy could get offended--" Cut off by the feel of her against him, slick and wet and not nearly enough, Jack isn't able to give any other clever additions as his magic seizes on the shivering threads of crimson in Flora's thoughts, wanting to pluck them to hear their sweet music. "Flora..." His voice is tight, husky in all the ways he knows she wants to hear, her name wrapped in an oh-so-soft warning against too much of this.
And if that isn't incentive enough, Jack slips a hand down across her hips and upper thigh, his thumb slipping between her legs to graze against her clit with every roll of her hips against him.
fight so dirty but you love so sweet talk so pretty but your heart got teeth
"I'm very complicated," Flora mumbles, hissing in a distracted breath. "Maybe the thought of us not being together turns me on." It didn't, not by a long shot, but teasing him certainly did, and so with a catlike grin she glances down at the way his cock was forced against his body. "How much do you wanna bet I could make you cum just like this?" The infamous Captain Jack, rendered no better than a two-pump chump all at the hands of his wonderfully hot and thoughtful and clever girlfriend. At least, that's how she'd remember it.
The sound of her name on his lips wipes away her smirk as a sudden flare of heat has her inhaling sharply, her body bracing against a wave of overwhelming need. "Gods you're a bastard," she moans as her eyes slip shut; every intention of toying with him further vanishes as she presses into his touch. Leaning forward to brace one hand against his chest, the queen opens her eyes enough to roll them at Jack, but before she manages to do even that, the press of Jack's thumb has her body shivering as something inside of her core yields.
Swallowing, with her free hand Flora reaches for his cock, grasping the base a good deal more firmly than was strictly necessary as if to punish him for so easily shredding her willpower. Lifting her hips up enough to free his length entirely, the queen positions herself above him before immediately sinking down, suddenly desperate with the need to feel him fully inside of her.
"I don't need to bet - we both know you can," Jack declares, a little more challenge in the raise of his brow. Granted, for Flora to do such a thing, she'd also have to cum, and he gets the impression that while it would be thoroughly enjoyable all around, she'd still prefer to have his cock buried inside her. Case in point with the way her mind turns scarlet and hazy with lust, Jack huffing out a quiet and distracted laugh. "Guilty," he purrs, only for his breath to stutter suddenly with the grip of her fingers against the base of him.
With words still forming on his lips and his magic melting into the crest and plunge of her need, anything the captain might have to say warps into a quiet groan of surprise and pleasure as Flora takes him completely, his hips lifting to meet her, filling her as deeply as he can. "Point taken," he pants, hand pressed to her lower belly to support the rise and fall of her hips, his thumb continuing to brush teasingly against her clit every time they meet.
Clasping her thigh with his free hand, Jack recalls with sudden clarity the last time she'd ridden him, when he'd been bound at the wrist and ankles in his cabin, and if that isn't incentive to make up for lost time he doesn't know what is.
fight so dirty but you love so sweet talk so pretty but your heart got teeth
Fire flares in Flora's leg muscles with every rise and fall, though it has nothing to do with the way she forces her body to move and everything to do with the way each thrust of Jack's cock has the fire in her core burning brighter and hotter. Wanting Jack simply because she wanted him and not because his touch was the only thing able to chase away the ghosts lingering in the corners of her mind, Flora's thoughts were blissfully free of traumatic fragments and the muffled screams and curses of her parents, filled instead by sweeping waves of crimson that crashes upon golden shores.
Wishing desperately that Jack had more hands with which to touch her, as the queen straightened her spine and arched her back into the rise and fall of their bodies, she imagined his calloused fingers clasping at her ass, splaying across her lower back, squeezing her nipples or wrapping around her throat. She thought of his fingers in her mouth, curled around her hair, or gripping tightly enough around her thigh to leave marks. Fuck having a threesome, maybe for LongNight she'd drag him to the House of Midnight where he could have as many hands as she wanted him to and where the combination of their thoughts could paint the walls around them.
"Jack—" It started as it so often did, as an expanding screaming in the back of her throat, one which quickly ballooned down into her lungs, her belly, and then down her thighs until it brushed against the soles of her feet. The crashing waves quickly turned tidal as her hips began to roll against his rather than just rising and falling, the beat of her heart a thunderous and runaway thing inside of her chest that had her gasping for air.
It often takes Jack by surprise, how quickly and succinctly Flora's thoughts get him in a chokehold when they are like this. One might have expected him to grow restless with it after these initial few seasons, but the truth is that with every burst and flare of fire in her mind, he falls ever more deeply, scorching and drowning in it. And gods, he could burn like this for eternity if the world and their bodies would let him; Jack might only have two hands, and one is very much focused on dragging forth her climax, but the other can bring as many of her fantasies to life as possible.
Gripping at her outer thigh hard enough to leave an imprint of his fingers as she rises and falls above him, his hand slips back to cup the soft peach of her ass, bringing her down harder onto his cock with each slam of her against him. And as he feels the pulse of her thoughts grow frantic and fizzy with the rise of her orgasm, the captain shifts enough that he might tangle his hand in the back of her curls, tugging her head back to bare her throat as he grinds against every tantalising roll of her hips.
"Fuck, look at you," he grates out in a whisper, his thumb rolling quickly and relentlessly against her clit, his own release tangling against hers and tightening like a noose.
fight so dirty but you love so sweet talk so pretty but your heart got teeth
