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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!
karma's a relaxing thought, aren't you envious that for you it's not?
The Rainbow Road is vibrant beneath the Flowerbirth sun. Warm tropical breezes stir through Flora’s loose curls, carrying the tang of salt and the subtle scent of flowers blooming along the coastline. The ocean foams and churns around them, hues dancing from turquoise to coral pink, the geysers beneath the waves bubbling playfully, as if in welcome to the group gathered along the vibrant shoreline.
Flora leans close to Nova and Sohalia, her curls pulled back into a high, messy ponytail, gold hoops catching the vivid colours reflected from the vibrant volcanic rocks beneath their feet. Her voice dips into a conspiratorial whisper, eyes flicking briefly toward the sparkling waves where Kaiden waits, just out of earshot.
"Okay, so quick PSA," she murmurs softly, keeping a casual, breezy expression despite the seriousness of her words. "Kaiden’s infected, so we're totally lying about what we're doing. Officially, we're just picking out pretty stones for some fountain upgrades, yeah?" Her aqua eyes sharpen meaningfully, ensuring her friends understand the importance of discretion. "Got it? Got it."
Straightening, Flora flashes a bright, sunny smile, waving enthusiastically at Kaiden (who presently looked to her like there were worms crawling out of his mouth in various violet shades), her voice raising loud enough to carry across the water. "Hey you! Ready to help us grab some fabulous rocks for the fountains? We're aiming for super aesthetic, just so you know. Bonus points for glittery ones!"
When Flora had asked them to help collect stones to upgrade the healing fountain, of course Kaiden had agreed. How could they not help their Family? The Queen is so nice to them too! They weren't sure what she'd done, but Hadama hasn't bothered them since the incident. Kaiden is incredibly grateful now that they don't have to keep looking over their shoulder.
The mer smiles brightly in return, giving Flora a salute, "Yes!" Diving under the water, Kaiden begins their search. Typically, they'd be drawn to the blue stones but of course they had to grab purple too! Scouring the bottom of the river, they toss the boring colors away. Each purple and blue stone is carefully inspected for shininess and the best are placed into their bag.
Bouncing impatiently in her noisy patchwork of a dress (many dresses?), Nova most certainly doesn't 'get it.' She looks to Flora, her mouth agape like she might ask 'Infected? What does that mean? How do you know? Am I infected too?' but the queen is already turning towards the Mer with a surprisingly smooth shift in her expression. She might have been impressed if she wasn't so otherwise distracted.
As if the Attuned might have answers, Nova meets Soh's eyes, her confusion evident as she begins searching the area for rocks. Unlike Kaiden, she decidedly avoids the purple rocks, suddenly not as interested in the color. However, the wide array of glittering stones immediately brightens her mood again, thoughts of 'infection' and 'deceit' not as important when faced with such pretty colors! She shrugs her shoulders to dismiss all the negativity that might cast an annoying shadow over the hues, starting a pile of her own as she flits from shimmering pool to shimmering pool. And if her magic adds some extra 'shine' to the rocks in her pile, Nova just smiles innocently.
Life is nothing without a little chaos to make it interesting
Sohalia had made the trip back to Torchline as soon as she’d heard about their regional quest, determined to help in whatever way she could, even if that meant abandoning the search for flowers for a brief moment in time. She arrived on the Rainbow Road to find Flora, Kaiden, and Nova already gathered. And though she knew that Flora wasn’t infected anymore, she’d yet to have a chance to confront her friend about using her in her ill-conceived but hopefully successful plans.
So if she regarded the young queen with a frostier smile than she might normally have leveled at her best friend, well, who could blame her?
In any case, news of Kaiden’s infection had the Luminary blinking with surprise, though she tried to keep any confusion from her face lest she give the game away. She shared a look with Nova as Flora turned away to start the hunt, then shrugged. As long as Kaiden didn’t do anything weird, like attack them, then she supposed she could pretend everything was fine.
As everyone dispersed, Sohalia meandered away from the group, keeping an eye out for particularly pretty stones. She opted to search for colorful, smooth rocks, things without pointed and jagged edges, and grabbed some in an array of colors - yes, even the purple ones. She periodically returned to the starting point to create a small pile that could be sorted through by the powers that be in their search for the perfect stones.
Minor powerplay allowed without permission.
Feel free to use force/magic on Sohalia.
karma's a relaxing thought, aren't you envious that for you it's not?
Flora crouches beside her own growing pile of stones, the hem of her gauzy sundress pooling in the warm sand as she carefully turns over a jagged piece of blue quartz in her hand. Around her, the rainbow-hued waters of the coastline churn and hiss, sending up glittering mists with every burst of geyser spray that breaks the surface. Her curls are pinned up today, swept high and gold like a crown—even if her smile, at the moment, is more strained than serene.
"Looking good, team," she calls out, her tone chipper enough to pass for sincere. "I think Hadama's going to lose his mind when he sees how symmetrical these fountains are gonna be." It’s a lie—of course it is—but Kaiden seems content with the story, and that’s all Flora needs for now. She casts a glance toward the mer in the surf, lips twitching faintly. "Nice toss, Kaiden. Try and grab a few of the flatter ones too, yeah? Easier to stack."
Her gaze slides sideways toward Nova, narrowing just slightly at the suspicious sparkle coming off the younger girl’s rock pile. "Nice work, starlight," she murmurs with a wink and a conspiratorial grin. And then her eyes catch Sohalia ’s across the stretch of glistening shore. Her stomach tightens instinctively. The frost behind her friend’s smile hasn’t gone unnoticed, nor the quiet distance she’s keeping. Flora doesn’t falter outwardly, but her gaze lingers a little too long before she looks away, adjusting the strap of her dress as if it were the reason her shoulders felt suddenly heavier.
Still, her voice remains light. "Once we’ve got a decent selection, we’ll start sorting for consistency. Smoothest edges get priority—especially for the spoutstones." She doesn’t explain what a spoutstone is. She just makes it up on the spot and hopes it sounds real enough for Kaiden to continue contributing.
Kaiden scowls at the Demi-god's name, mumbling "Fuck, Hadama." under their breath as they add more stones to their bag. If they grab a few extra shiny purple ones out of spite, no one has to know. Well, until it's time to actually use the stones. But Kaiden isn't thinking that far ahead right now.
As Flora addresses them, the mer's mood flips and they pop out of the water with a smile, "Okay!" The mer has never heard of a spoutstone, but fountains have spouts and they're collecting stones. It seems reasonable enough, and they don't question it, simply doubling down on finding smoother stones. It takes them longer to sift through the stones, but they do manage to find ones that better fit Flora's description.
Her pile grows steadily, a vast array of colors glittering in the sunlight as she skips back and forth. She knows it looks good, but to hear her new friend say as much makes her smile, a beaming brilliant thing. "Thanks, Flora!" The cute nickname also makes her giggle, not even noticing as she picks up a purple rock to add to her collection.
Nova hasn't heard of 'spoutstones' either, but she's never worked with fountains before, and she's much more concerned about the sorting process, a frown on her lips. "We're not going to sort by color? That sounds boring." Although, she has to admit that the chaotic randomness of adding stones would be prettier than an organized progression of the rainbow, however, that doesn't change the fact that she'd rather focus on the brighter, more sparkly stones that which ones were shaped like a rock.
Life is nothing without a little chaos to make it interesting
It felt strange to be all but ignoring Flora, when in the past she’d have been arm-in-arm with the queen, sharing gossip and laughter as they hunted for pebbles. And there was plenty she had to say, but none of it was for the here and now - especially not with an infected person to report on anything she had to say to the Family. Not that they needed Kaiden for that - they had Vox, after all, and he seemed to be everywhere all the time.
In any case, she made her selections with care, bringing them back to her pile periodically. At Nova’s pout, Soh smothered a smile. She’d run into the girl a few times before now, and this seemed exactly in character for her. ”Maybe we can sort by color after we have the right shapes and sizes,” she offered, her eyes flickering momentarily to Flora with a conspiratorial gleam before she seemed to realize that she was still mad. Then she looked to Kaiden instead. ”What do you think?”
Minor powerplay allowed without permission.
Feel free to use force/magic on Sohalia.
karma's a relaxing thought, aren't you envious that for you it's not?
Flora stretches her arms overhead, letting the warm sea breeze tousle her curls as she surveys the growing piles of stones. "Alright, dream team," she announces, tone bright but just edged with the clipped efficiency of someone very much trying not to think about anything deeper than rock shapes. "We’ve got a good haul going here."
"We’ve got a wagon and horse not too far off. Can one of you go and bring them over?They’re just tied near that outcrop where we first came in. You’ll see the green and gold saddle blanket." Her voice softens with a little smile. "Tell the horse he's a very handsome boy, or he won’t budge."
Grinning, Flora dusts off her hands. "Then the rest of us can start laying things out properly." She eyes the glimmering piles, tilting her head. "We’ll need to group them by colour first—bright, bold stuff in one, muted shades in another—and then from there sort by shape. Flat and wide, small and smooth, that sort of thing." You know. For the fountains and definitely not for some anti-Family defense system.
One person to go fetch the horse/wagon, and the others to start arranging rocks!
04-11-2025, 09:57 AM (This post was last modified: 04-15-2025, 02:30 PM by Kaiden.)
kaiden
There is no shame in survival
Only strength
Kaiden perks up from the water a the question, a hand rubbing their chin in thought before they finally nodd. "We should sort by color." They all seem to be in agreement and the mer watches as one of the team members goes to retrieve a non-fancy unicorn. They are far better than the fancy, pretentious horses.
It's time for the next step so the mer comes up to the bank and empties out their bag of stones. The small pile is predominantly purple and purple-ish blues. Though there are a few other colors scattered throughout. The mer has to heave their torso onto the bank so that they'll be able to properly sort the stones. Kaiden's tail lazily flicks in the water as they begin to separate their haul.
Placing her last glittering rock at the top of her pile, Nova raises her head to look at Flora. As much as she'd like to inflate a horse's ego (and she very much would), she's much too interested in the current sorting progress of the rocks, noting that they'd all agreed to do it her way. Bouncing on the tip of her toes, she waves her hand in the air. "Ooh ooh! I call all the sparkly ones!"
Leaving Soh or Flora to get the wagon, she flits between the piles, collecting her favorite colorful masterpieces while tossing any drab ones into a discard pile to be sorted the boring way later. One particularly gray mass plunks onto the others with a force that suggests it might have offended her, even as her expression remains buoyantly content with the work. A hum rings from her as she progresses through the selection of rocks, occasionally giggling as one shone a little brighter in her hands.
Life is nothing without a little chaos to make it interesting
Sohalia remained silent as the others started on the task of sorting the rocks, leaving either herself or Flora to go and get the horse. Thinking that Kaiden probably shouldn't be left alone without Flora, just in case Soh or Nova slipped up, the Luminary shrugged and shifted, taking flight as a snowy owl against the blue sky. From on high, she spotted the horse quickly and easily, and she approached with a certain calming air that she'd found to be useful with prey animals in the past. "Hello, love," she murmured to the creature. "You're a very handsome boy, aren't you?"
With the horse suitably mollified, Soh lead him back down the path and towards the others. "You know, this is so strange," she told him as they walked. "I don't know whether I should hug my best friend or punch her, and I'm helping out with this stuff for a region that's not even mine. Or, I guess it is, for now? I don't know. What do you think?"
It didn't take long before they were in sight of the others, and Soh quieted as they approached. She felt a little better for having let out some of her worries, even if it was just to a random horse.
Minor powerplay allowed without permission.
Feel free to use force/magic on Sohalia.
karma's a relaxing thought, aren't you envious that for you it's not?
Flora watches as Nova and Kaiden get busy with their sorting, the scene so charmingly mundane that for a moment she can almost convince herself that nothing more complicated than rock arranging has ever occupied her mind. "Sparkly ones are all yours, Nova," she agrees with a grin, before moving along the bank to survey Kaiden's purple-dominated collection. "Nice haul, Kaiden," she remarks approvingly, nudging a particularly smooth stone closer to the others. "These colours will be perfect."
She hears the gentle clopping of hooves, and turns to see Sohalia returning with the wagon and the horse. Flora's expression softens visibly—though whether it's for the Luminary or the very handsome horse is anyone's guess. "I'll help you," she calls, jogging over to meet them halfway and gently taking hold of the bridle, murmuring quiet praise to the horse as she guides him closer to the group. "Thanks for this," she says softly to Sohalia, a little warmth and apology mingling in the words.
As they reach the others, Flora pats the wagon's sturdy side, calling cheerfully over her shoulder. "Okay team, let's get these stones loaded up!" Her voice lifts with playful command as she gestures toward their meticulously sorted piles. "Sparkles and pretty colours on the right, muted ones on the left. Everyone ready?"
Kaiden looks at their rock piles and then at the wagon. Their tail curls sadly with realization. They call out from the water, almost whining, "Flora, I can't reach."
The mer does their best regardless, summoning their water magic to shove their two piles closer to the wagon. it's exhausting, but they push through for their Family, making sure that the two piles remain separate and are close enough to the wagon for one of the others to easily toss in. By the end of it, the mer is wiping sweat from their brow. They hardly ever use their magic, and it shows. Even if their magic has grown significantly stronger under that traitor Hadama's tutelage.
