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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 picnic table’s wood is sun-warmed under her bare thighs, the sea breeze cool where it brushes against skin left bare by her shorts. Flora’s sweater hangs loose and slouchy over one shoulder, a shade of coral that glows against the shifting blue of the water beyond. Somewhere down the boardwalk a hel is raising hell over a stolen chip, but here under the fringe of palm shade it’s all the scent of fried fish, roasted pineapple, and the faint salt-sharp kiss of the ocean.
She props her elbows on the table, chin tipping toward Niki over the paper tray in front of her; grilled fish wrapped in banana leaves, steam curling out where the foil’s been peeled back. "Soooo," she says, a slow smile tugging at her mouth, "did you have fun at the masquerade?" One hand idly swirls her straw through a sweating plastic cup of something bright and fruity, the ice clinking softly. The wind ruffles her curls, catches the salty edges of the afternoon, and she leans forward as if the whole coastline has just pulled up a chair to listen in.
I hold my breath just a little bit longer halfway out the door but it won't close
Niki in Torchline looks pretty much like what you would expect. Sitting opposite Flora at the picnic table - his seat is the one mostly wreathed in the shade of the palms - and stirring at his own drink (a shot of espresso poured over a glass of crushed ice), he raises his eyebrows at her over the sunglasses he's been forced to procure to ward against the glare. It's far too hot for his usual garb, but whilst he's not given up the long sleeves or sweaters, they've dimmed to shades of dove grey and slate blue that bring out his eyes, when he dares to squint across the boardwalk without protection.
"The little of it that I remember was fun," he tells her with a soft chuckle, raising his coffee to his lips to take a sip. "The morning after much less so. If you had told me that my first time properly drinking would be at a party attended by demigods and Mort's herald, I would have laughed at you." But his life has changed in more than one way since the Greatwood had opened back up - and especially since meeting Flora.
"Did you?"
stay your pretty eyes on course i guess i never really faced my fears before
Flora’s grin comes quick and wicked, shoulders lifting in a languid shrug as she leans back against the bench. "Things like that don’t happen in Torchline," she says, as if it’s a simple fact of life, "because we have our fountain water. You down a glass before bed and—" she snaps her fingers "—instant hangover cure." Her eyes glint with mischief as she swirls her straw again, letting the ice chime against the plastic.
At the mention of demigods, her brows bounce in a knowing little arc. "Mmm, I only really saw you talking to one," she teases, hiding the curve of her grin behind a sip of her drink. The fruity chill slides over her tongue, and she lets it linger before setting the cup back down with an exaggerated casualness, as though she hasn’t just planted bait and sat back to watch for the tug.
When his question swings the spotlight back, she presses her lips together as if trying—and failing—to temper her amusement. "It was...surprisingly perfect?" she admits, colour blooming high in her cheeks. "Pretty sure I told you about hooking up with Jack in the woods which was super hot." The smug sparkle in her eyes says she’s still riding the high. "Oh, and I snagged the rose that showed up after Ludo booted the party crashers. So," she spreads her hands in theatrical triumph, "pretty much the best night ever."
I hold my breath just a little bit longer halfway out the door but it won't close
"If you remember to do it, certainly," Niki retorts, smirking over his coffee before setting the glass back down. "For me, I do not know if it would have mattered where I was. The decisions I made before falling unconscious were entirely in the lap of the gods." Which is why there isn't even any shame in his expression (not any more, now he's had time to get over it) as Flora teases him about one particular demigod.
"We had worked together on a project previously," he tells her with dry amusement, poking at the crushed ice with his spoon. "He was just checking how it had gone - I think. I remember most of that part, and introducing him to Theea."
Perfect isn't a word Niki uses often himself, and he can only tilt his head with interest as Flora brands the masquerade with the description, her cheeks flushing prettily at the same time. "Ah, I see. I do recall holding a mirror for you at one point. Congratulations on both accounts." He raises his drink as if to clink it against her own in a toast.
stay your pretty eyes on course i guess i never really faced my fears before
Flora tips her head in a breezy little shrug, the corner of her mouth twitching. "Drinking it in the morning works too," she concedes, chasing the words with another pull from her straw. Under her breath, too low to be anything but an afterthought, comes, "The gods’ lap, huh," if only because she's quite sure it could easily have been the demigods' lap if given a bit more time.
When he mentions a project, though, her brows jump high and she leans in across the table, aqua eyes widening in exaggerated scandal. "What sort of project of yours needs the demigod of sex's help?" she asks, voice feathered with feigned innocence but dripping with suggestion, lashes fluttering like she’s trying to fan the question into something far more indecent.
Her grin blooms bright again as she clinks her glass against his, the ice chiming in cheerful agreement. "Speaking of questionable projects…" she begins, cheeks warming, "I know you’re not exactly a relationship guru, but...do you think I’m crazy for hooking up with Jack?" The admission tumbles out in a rush before she adds, lower but no less gleeful, "Because...it might have happened again since the masquerade."
I hold my breath just a little bit longer halfway out the door but it won't close
"Should I ever find myself blind drunk on Torchline's shores, I will be sure to stop by the fountain before retiring to bed for the evening," Niki says; for anywhere else, though, he'll simply have to suffer or remain sober. (And the latter has worked quite well for him thus far, to be honest). Either he doesn't hear or opts not to respond to her remark about laps, Niki wondering quite when so many of his conversations revolved around booze and hookups, but putting that train of thought quite tactfully to one side for now.
As for his project with Sunjata, he lifts his coffee to his lips for another long sip, as if purposely leaving her in suspense, before responding. "Trinket boxes," he says matter-of-factly. "It was last Deepfrost after the Festival of Lights. He ran into me - quite literally - in the woods at the dead of night, and so I offered to let him sleep on my couch."
Watching the ice slosh around in his glass, Flora's sudden question catches Niki off guard, and he tilts his head towards her. "I do not think anything that makes you happy makes you crazy. It is not as though you are hurting anyone," he says plainly enough, offering her a small smile. "But then it is as you say, and I am not, by any standard, a relationship guru. But that is my opinion, if you want it."
stay your pretty eyes on course i guess i never really faced my fears before
Flora nods with mock solemnity, as if imparting sacred wisdom. "Most inns and brothels have a big stash of it too," she says, flicking her fingers in the vague direction of the shoreline. "Comes in handy when the night gets...ambitious."
As Niki details his run-in with Sunjata, she fixes him with an affectionately skeptical stare, one elbow braced on the table and her chin resting in her hand. The truth ring on her finger isn’t heating, but that doesn’t stop her from narrowing her eyes like she’s catching him in the middle of some elaborate fib. "Sure Jan, sure," she drawls, lips curving into a grin. "Just being polite." A beat passes before her grin sharpens. "Did you know he’s my step-dad?"
His opinion on Jack earns another nod, slower this time, the kind that hides how much she wants to take it at face value. On the surface, it’s exactly what she wanted to hear; beneath, she knows better. Someone would get hurt—her—when sex with Jack tipped into wanting more, but for now she doesn’t see (or care to see) any reason to stop.
She tears off a bite of fish, the banana leaf crackling under her fingers, and mumbles around it, "Since I snagged the rose from the masquerade, I’m gonna plant it up in the Cordillera." Swallowing, she tilts her head at him, brows raised in invitation. "Don’t suppose I can tempt you to come along...?"
I hold my breath just a little bit longer halfway out the door but it won't close
"Good to... know?" Niki says with a slow raise of an eyebrow. Inns he can understand - he's staying in one at the moment after all - but given how pitifully little of an impression he's made as someone who spends ambitious nights at brothels, he's quite unsure what to do with the rest of her sentence.
Shaking his head defeatedly the second she fixes him with skeptical blue eyes, Niki scoffs and runs a finger around the rim of his glass. "I cannot recall if you ever told me directly, but I am not surprised by it," he says - the days when he was in awe of Flora's dozens of divine connections are over, alas, because they just keep coming. "I was just being polite, though. He did not seem well at the time."
Pushing away his coffee now that the ice has melted and turned it more watery than enjoyable, the boy casts his eyeline across the boardwalk and the glittering sea beyond it, looking like a pale and sickly tourist at best. "The Cordillera?" He turns back towards Flora sharply, brows drawing together in a frown. "I cannot say that it is high on my list of sight-seeing destinations, no. Why, do you need someone to go with you...?"
stay your pretty eyes on course i guess i never really faced my fears before
Flora tips her head in a slow nod, sympathy flickering through her expression. "Might’ve been when he was infected by the void..or just after," she says, nose wrinkling faintly at the memory. "Not exactly peak health either way. How nice you got to see him again, then."
When Niki’s frown all but seals the refusal she’d expected, she lets out a long, theatrical sigh, flopping back against the bench as though the weight of her disappointment is too much to bear. "I don’t need someone to go," she says, drawing out the word with mock injury, "but it’s a long flight, and Spice isn’t always the best conversational partner."
Above them, where the palm fronds sway lazily, the little white dragon cracks open one frosty blue eye at the sound of her name. Without lifting her head from her coil, she exhales a slow stream of glittering frost in Flora's general direction. The queen just lifts a finger to point skyward, lips curving in smug vindication. "See?"
I hold my breath just a little bit longer halfway out the door but it won't close
"Oh, that would make sense," Niki says slowly, nodding his agreement. "He did seem a little paranoid of the woods. More than I would say is healthy..." Still, it had been nice to see the Flood in better spirits. More than nice, if he lets himself linger on that for too long, but as heat threatens to flush into his cheeks in a way he knows will draw Flora's attention, he forces his attention elsewhere. Luckily, the Doubletake has just the subject.
Following her gaze up towards Spice and smirking, Niki inclines his head in a reluctant admission of agreement. "Be that as it may, as a self-confessed recluse and a cripple who has been on a skyship a grand total of one time, surely there are dozens more suitable people who could go with you?" He gestures out at the boardwalk and the pier in the distance.
"What about Jack? Or that ghost-busting friend you sent to my house?" He means Kaisel, obviously.
stay your pretty eyes on course i guess i never really faced my fears before
Flora’s nod is slow, her expression sliding into something wry. "Then it’s good you’ve never been infected," she says, lifting her cup for another sip. "Because Sunjata still occasionally looks to me like he’s got three tongues and his eyes are melting." She wrinkles her nose, a little shudder running down her shoulders at the memory.
For someone as social as she was, it might surprise Niki to know how much of her time is actually spent alone, and not always because she wants it that way. The realisation creeps in around the edges now, dimming the spark in her eyes even as she keeps the smile in place. She exhales a sigh, the sound light but lacking the earlier brightness. "Jack’s not really the ‘let’s just hang out and do nothing’ sort," she says at last, gaze flicking out toward the glittering stretch of ocean with a quiet sigh.
Kaisel’s name, though, is another thing entirely. Her mouth twists into shapes that can’t quite decide on humour or bitterness, anger and sadness tangling together until she just presses her lips shut for a moment. Finally, she shakes her head. "Kai and I aren't talking right now."
I hold my breath just a little bit longer halfway out the door but it won't close
The face Niki pulls in response to that little tidbit of information lies somewhere between horrified and fascinated, and it takes a beat before he can offer Flora a slow nod. "A shame that kind of side effect did not disappear when the Family left," he says. "Still, at least they are not around to re-infect people now." And whilst he'd never been close to that side of things - the void or the fight against it - he can still feel his shoulders slump in relief.
Sensing the way the light inside the Doubletake begins to dim and instantly feeling responsible for it, Niki flashes a smile across the table that tilts towards mischievous. "Neither am I," he points out gently, "and yet here we are. Sun, sea, and I have not even brought a notebook with me today." A true vacation by his standards.
But then Flora's expression somersaults into lemon-sucking territory, surprising the boy into brief concern, until her curt explanation settles things and his smile flinches into an apology. "I am sorry - I did not know," he says softly. "If I were to come with you, what would I be expected to do? I could not ride along and be of no use, so you would have to put me to work somehow."
stay your pretty eyes on course i guess i never really faced my fears before
Flora’s head tips in an easy nod, curls slipping forward over her shoulder. "It's not as strong as it was at first," she says, the words carrying a shrug of hope, "and I’m betting they’ll fade out entirely over time." She leans back again, letting the breeze toy with the loose knit of her sweater, and when Niki’s little tilt toward mischief lands, her smile deepens in a way that doesn’t just answer him but adores him for trying.
"As for Kaisel—" she flicks her fingers like she’s brushing crumbs from the table, voice light and dismissive in that way people get when they’re lying on purpose "—it’s nothing."
"There’s really nothing to sailing into the Cordillera," she goes on, straightening and snagging another sip from her drink as if to punctuate the point. "A day or so in the air, a few dragons to fight off, nothing dramatic." Her eyes tick upward toward the palm canopy where Spice’s pale coils are just visible through the fronds. "Spice usually handles most of it," she adds, grin tugging at her mouth as the little dragon gives the faintest flick of her tail, like she knows she’s being volunteered.
And even though Flora knows Niki won’t come, there’s something impossibly endearing about him even entertaining the thought. It warms her in the same quiet, steady way the sunlight does through the shade, settling somewhere deep and certain. "And I know I've said it about a dozen times already, but I do super appreciate you coming down to help with my house. It really means a lot."
I hold my breath just a little bit longer halfway out the door but it won't close
"I hope they do, for both of you," Niki says earnestly, leaning his forearms casually against the edge of the picnic table now that he doesn't have a drink to fuss with any longer. As for Kaisel and everything it isn't, now it's his turn to gaze at her skeptically. "Yes, well." He tugs at the cuff of his shirt. "If ever you would like to speak about nothing, I will ensure I make myself available."
Relaxing a touch, he nevertheless gives his head a slightly defeated shake as it dawns on him from Flora's words that this isn't even the first time she's flown into the Cordillera. Alas, whilst fighting dragons and sailing into a divinely protected mountain range is just another Tuesday for the Doubletake, Niki is still a mere mortal and prefers to keep himself out of intentional danger where possible.
As for her house, he can only give a bashful shrug at that. "I have been doing my best. I am better checking your plans and blueprints and taking stock of inventory than I am at any actual construction." But he'll agree that there has been plenty to work on, and it's certainly different enough from his usual pursuits that he's been forced to think in different ways.
stay your pretty eyes on course i guess i never really faced my fears before
