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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!
Flora shrugs, brushing a bit of sand off her thigh. "If it hadn’t worked?" Her lips twist in a half-smirk. "I probably would’ve lied about it. I hid my tracks real well though, so, I doubt it'd have come on me unless Ludo snitched." There’s no shame in it, not really. She might be growing into her crown, but the Doubletake is still the Doubletake.
But as Melita goes on, that irreverent glint fades just a little. Flora’s grin falters into something wryer, eyes flicking down to her knees where a shimmer of sun-gold dances on skin. "I...genuinely can’t really imagine it. The monsters, the dark, the silence." She glances over, her expression tinged with guilt. "Sorry if I sounded like I was making fun of it. I'm sure it was fucking terrible."
The thought lingers, but not for long—Flora’s eyes are already drifting toward the horizon, narrowing at the distant shape of Starfall, still visible even now. "Though I’ll say, knowing the danger’s coming?" she adds, flicking a casual middle finger toward the island. "Way easier than wondering if there's a monster scraping at your windows."
Turning back to Melita, her tone lightens again. "So, speaking of creeping horrors...you going to Pierce’s pool party?"
The Honeybee quirked a brow at Flora’s admission, but didn’t say anything. She’d never been in such a situation – nor ever with her father (since he’d abandoned them immediately anyway) – but the parameters left her wondering about the lengths people were willing to go to. Melita was all for violence, vehemence, and all sorts of other provocations, but she’d never quite gone the manipulative route.
Leaving that to silence, Flora seemed to have taken on the more terror-laden aspects of LongNight, and everything they’d all tried to avoid for so long. The demigod was one who didn’t linger on too much of the trauma for long – she usually ran over it with some kind of demonstrative kick to the side – but those perilous evenings had left a lasting impression nonetheless. “Yeah, well, at least we don’t have to worry about it anymore. And so many others never had to experience it, so,” she shrugged, casting it aside.
The middle finger towards the island earned a Cheshire grin from Melita though, content to ignore the woes and tribulations for aspects of anger. “I know I got put in the broadcast for the Halo stuff, but, man, I’d like to stick it to them again.” Specifically in the desert, if she could rally some others or get enough shit together first. Because fuck ‘em.
But with that admittance came the arch of her brow and a low sigh, placing one shell in her pocket and dusting her hands off. “Gods, probably. Just to see what goes down, I guess,” and to be there for assistance of shit really did hit the fan. “You?”
Flora’s brows lift with interest, a slow smirk creeping across her lips. "If you wanna pull some shit, I’m in," she says easily, tapping a fingernail against her thigh like she’s already mapping out a plan. "Mateo and I were just up in Hak Etme the other day and we got immediately attacked. Like, barely touched the sand before something was trying to eat us." She punctuates it with another flicked glance toward the distant island, her glare sharp enough to cut glass.
At the mention of the party, her expression softens into a sigh and she gives a reluctant nod, brushing her curls back off her shoulders. "Yeah. For the same reasons, I guess. See who shows up, who doesn’t, what happens." Her gaze turns sidelong, speculative. "You think it’ll be in Stormbreak? Like…at the Eye? Or do you think the creep’ll throw it on Starfall, just to make it extra cursed?" The question’s half-joking, but only just. Knowing Vox and Pierce, nothing was off the table.
With LongNight subject lines dropped, the Honeybee put more emphasis on the present, and the potential lines of the future. With Flora so much more stronger than her, currently anyway, there’d have to be some jostling here and there with something, but it’d been a long time since they’d collaborated on a piece together. Drops where Ancients were idiots notwithstanding. “Wonderful,” she grimaced, clearly words not matching her expression, thinking of all the misadventures she’d already had in the desert. “I’m planning on getting some cannons for my boat, but then we can see if there’s enough of us to go make a…situation.” To which she winked and pocketed another shiny shell.
The shitty and impending pool party left her mildly irritated, but knowing Flora, and likely many others, were going to be there was nice enough – it was just predicting what sort of shitshow would occur. “Too much to dream about it being somewhere pleasant, huh?” She glanced back towards the offending island, huffing a little under her breath. “That’d be real fuckin’ grand. Wade around in the water and get attacked by void shit.”
Flora’s eyes light up at the mention of cannons, grinning wide. "Okay that’s badass," she says with genuine delight, tucking her legs beneath her as she leans in a bit, conspiratorial. "I’ve got a skyship now, too—the Sugar Tide. It’s where I’m living, since, y’know…" Her shoulders lift in a shrug that tries to be nonchalant and almost pulls it off. "City’ll be off-limits. No weapons on her yet, but I can take one passenger if you need the space for whatever this chaos-cruise is gonna be."
She hums in agreement, casting her gaze down the shore. "Only place I can think of that’s remotely pleasant would be right here. But the idea of a Family party on our sand?" Her nose wrinkles.
Flora's eyes lift to the sky, squinting at the angle of the sun—and that’s all it takes. Just a heartbeat of calculation before her brain supplies the time, and her thoughts skip like stones across the surface of memory of the first time Jack said he'd loved her. "Shit," she mutters, almost to herself. She glances back at Melita with a guilty, sheepish smile. "I thought about the memory. I was trying not to."
Her teeth catch her lower lip for a second before she shakes her head, brightening with the kind of manic determination that usually ends in glitter or bloodshed. "Okay. I need a proper distraction. Can we drop a thousand rubber ducks all down the beach or something? Or start a fake cult? Or both?" Her grin sharpens. "I just need a solid hour of chaos. I'm sure that'll do the trick." And, she was sure Melita was just the one for such a task.
