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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.
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Niki, as always, listens with the sort of quiet intensity that suggests he's taking in more than the words alone, and he gives a soft nod as Flora explains. Her unease is something that lingers with him, too, leaving him vaguely homesick for the Greatwood at the same time as he's wary of what he might find there after being gone for two seasons. "Well... if she does decide to lead, I hope that there aren't too many tough decisions to make for some time," he says, his eyes dropping to where Starfall still sits on the horizon, however innocuous it might be now.
With his mind still lingering on that fateful ball Flora had mentioned, Niki has to make himself turn his thoughts back towards Stormbreak, a smile touching to his lips to hear that Sohalia was the one responsible for dismantling whatever had made Abandoned unwelcome and unable to set foot in the region. "I suppose the only way to find out is to go up there and see, right?" he says. "But not today, I do not think. It will be enough just to get back to your house from here."
stay your pretty eyes on course keep the memories of who i was before
Flora almost nudges the necromancer to demonstrate the way he listens, weighing everything without rushing to judgment, is exactly what would make him the kind of advisor she claimed he’d be great at. But she swallows it back, letting it settle unspoken between them. Instead, she just nods, curls brushing against her sweater. "Hopefully things do stay quiet for a while," she murmurs, the words carrying more weight than she lets show on her face. "For all of our sakes. I think everyone deserves it."
Her eyes widen playfully a moment later, the shift as quick as the flicker of colour across the Rainbow Road. "You only have to say the word," she promises, grin tugging at her lips. "It’s colder and windier up there, but if we keep an eye on the weather, we could go one weekend when it’s supposed to be calm. If you want to see it this season, I mean."
i scream for whatever it's worth "i love you" ain't that the worst thing you've ever heard?
"Mm, I think so as well. Especially you, given everything that is happening now." Niki smirks; Hadama stepping down would be difficult at any time, but with peace having settled over Caido - hopefully for a while - he's quietly hopeful that the transition will be as smooth as possible. "Luckily, you have just built yourself the perfect place to relax, no? Although I am certain that one of your spirit friends has moved into my room."
He doesn't sound remotely upset about it, but it seems right to let the owner of the house know in Niki's mind. As for visiting Stormbreak, he brightens and nods, gazing up once again at the vague smudge in the sky he things might be the region. "I would like that, I think. Especially with it being so close compared to other places." It's a mere skip away compared to the Grounds or Halo. "Would you take The Sugar Tide, or one of the larger skyships?"
stay your pretty eyes on course keep the memories of who i was before
Flora laughs softly under her breath, though the sound hardly touches the ache that still lives in her chest. She shoots him a look, brows lifted, voice light but edged with something sharper. "Is it terrible that it’s been harder dealing with breaking up with Jack than it was with everything that happened with the Family and Dahlia?" The question hangs there only half-rhetorical, her cheeks colouring as she exhales through a sigh.
Her lips twist into a grin, genuine this time, at his mention of spirits. "I’m sure some of them are absolutely cats," she says, the thought warming her more than it should. "Wouldn’t even surprise me, since I never actually specified human spirits when I asked Ludo to send some along."
Nodding, she tucks the idea of Stormbreak away as if she’s just circled it on a mental calendar. "It’d probably be easier to just take the Sugartide, since it’ll only be us. That way we don’t have to wait on anyone’s schedules. We can sail up and head home whenever we want."
i scream for whatever it's worth "i love you" ain't that the worst thing you've ever heard?
Niki doesn't need to consider Flora's question for long, the boy smiling and shaking his head. "I do not think so, no," he says. "What happened with The Family was something we were all dealing with, to some extent. I think that made it a shared sort of hurt, even if some people were affected much more deeply than others. This is the sort of personal that only you can know." In his very limited (read: non-existent) experience, anyway.
"But at least you have a future you can build too, right? With Kaisel, hopefully?" he adds. "It is not all terrible, even if it will take time to process." Almost instinctively his eyes flick towards Kaiholo and the harbour, if only because he knows it's where Flora's gaze often turns when it comes to this subject.
"If the spirit in my bedroom is a cat then it is remarkably dexterous," he adds with a laugh. "It has started to lay out my clothes in the morning."
It's remarkably easy to imagine their little trip up to Stormbreak, Niki already wondering at the region overhead wreathed in clouds and what their time up their might entail. He doesn't circle it on a mental calendar, but he will be making a physical note of it when they get back. "Then that sounds perfect to me."
stay your pretty eyes on course keep the memories of who i was before
Flora can’t help herself this time; she leans lightly against his arm, warmth in her voice as she murmurs, "See? That’s exactly what an advisor would say." The wrinkle of her nose makes it clear she’s teasing, but she softens a heartbeat later. "I’m lucky to have you as a friend, Niki."
Kaisel’s name draws her smile wider even as icewater churns low in her belly. The timing of it all still makes her want to fold in on herself if she thinks too long, like she hasn’t properly mourned Jack, but also can’t quite give herself over to the shimmer of something new. She tucks the feeling down, forces her smile into place, and nods. "You’re right—it isn’t all terrible."
The news about the spirit laying out his clothes makes her laugh outright, grin flashing. "That explains it," she crows, aqua eyes bright with mischief. "I’d noticed you dressing a little differently lately." Seems Niki's had a slightly different taste in fashion than the necromancer did.
Straightening, she claps her hands together as if the decision is final. "Then it's a date!" She rises in one fluid stretch, arms lifting overhead before she grins down at him, curls spilling around her shoulders. "You want something warm to drink for the walk back?" she asks, nodding up the road.
i scream for whatever it's worth "i love you" ain't that the worst thing you've ever heard?
"A friend, but not an advisor," Niki says with a crooked sort of smile as Flora leans into him. "Do not leave yourself out, though. I am lucky to call you a friend as well, Flora. My life has become much more colourful since we bumped into each other on that bridge." Granted, it wasn't exactly monochrome to begin with, given that she'd found him having taken a tumble down onto the riverbank, but still.
With that settled - that it isn't all terrible - Niki takes her laughter with good humour, the boy gazing down at his clothing as if wondering whether it really is all that different from his usual style. "Some of them are my own clothes," he admits, "but I am unsure where other items came from. Either way, it felt like it would be rude not to wear it."
Flora rises fluidly to her feet, Niki joining her a second later with his cane in hand, the boy taking a moment to roll his shoulders and get accustomed to being upright once again. "That would be nice. I am quite enjoying Torchline's coffee," he says with a nod. "Lead the way."
stay your pretty eyes on course keep the memories of who i was before
Flora snorts softly, because colourful is hardly the word she would’ve chosen for the kind of impression she’s left on his life. Mischief, chaos, drama—sure. But colourful? That one makes her lips curve wry. "If I hadn’t been attacked by Pierce, I probably never would’ve met you," she says in a quieter voice, a flicker of sincerity woven through the words. "Silver linings, I guess." Y'know, to being murdered.
Her grin returns a moment later as she tips him a sidelong look. "I fully expect one day we’re both going to wake up in matching outfits," she teases. "Pretty sure one of your sweaters is in my closet right now, and I don’t remember knowingly stealing it. Then again, I might have."
She falls into step easily, leading them back toward the road. Raising her brows at his admission, she tilts her head. "Oh? I always thought you were a tea drinker," she says, unaware that he’d been politely drinking the tea she made for him all along, even while preferring coffee.
i scream for whatever it's worth "i love you" ain't that the worst thing you've ever heard?
"Perhaps not in the way we met originally," Niki agrees slowly, brow furrowing as he considers it. "But I imagine I would have bumped into you one way or another if you were in the Greatwood once the void let people walk around again." Still, she's right in some aspects - he'd probably not have features so heavily as a ghost in her personal lore, anyway.
Somehow all of that is less befuddling than the idea of his sweater ending up in her closet, Niki blinking across at her. "I did wonder how that string bikini ended up in my things, too," he says, deadpan. "I confess, it is not really my colour, so you may steal it back if you like."
They fall into step together, accompanied by the steady click of Niki's cane on the colourful road back into town, and he at least has the decency to blush as he's finally caught out on his preferences. "The Greatwood is full of tea houses," he says in his defence, "and I do not dislike it. But... yes, given the choice, I suppose I am more of a coffee drinker."
stay your pretty eyes on course keep the memories of who i was before
Flora shrugs, shoulders loose in her sweater, clearly unconvinced by the neatness of that particular hypothetical. Her eyes catch on his, though, brightening with a sudden thought. "I wonder if I ever saw you in passing when I was little," she muses, tilting her head as she studies him with open curiosity. "Did you always live around where you are now? You know…roughly, anyway." Given how often the woods liked to move around, definitive addresses were difficult in the Greatwood.
His deadpan earns her a burst of bright, adoring laughter, and she rolls her eyes. "Please. That bikini would probably be too big for you, anyway." He’s slender in a way that always leaves her guessing what shape really hides beneath those layers; his clothes swallow him so thoroughly that even her sharp eyes can’t tell for sure, though she is nearly positive her hips are wider than his are.
With a sigh as dramatic as she can muster, she fixes him with a playfully withering look. "You could have said something, you know." Still, her grin comes easy as she nods. "Coffee does sound really nice." Turning toward the road, she sets their pace toward a cluster of stalls where the smell of roasting beans already lingers warm in the breeze.
i scream for whatever it's worth "i love you" ain't that the worst thing you've ever heard?
"I suppose you might have," Niki considers, tilting his head. "Though as you can imagine, I did not run around the woods like most other children my age. The orphanage was close to the Sidhe Village - when it suited the village for it to be that way, at least. I was there until I was apprenticed to the undertaker, though I cannot remember how old I was. Young enough not to know why I was being sent away." He smiles, now, at the memory. "Were you and Enzo there often? At the village, I mean?"
Scoffing and leaning into the bit with the dry sort of certainty Flora has come to expect from him, Niki waves his free hand at her. "I craft with much more delicate materials than a bikini. I am sure I would have made it work," he says. "Alas, I suppose you will never know, not unless it is replaced with something that is not pastel."
The banter eases some of the redness from his cheeks at least, and he's able to offer Flora a sheepish shrug at her remarks. "I could have, but you always took such joy in preparing it for us," he points out. "And besides, I do not know how your coffee making skills compare."
stay your pretty eyes on course keep the memories of who i was before
Flora’s lips twitch thoughtfully as she listens, eyes drifting out across the molten colours of the road. "We didn’t really go to the village much," she admits. "Our Nonna would go if we needed something, and sometimes Enzo and I got dragged along, but it always felt like doing chores, so we usually stayed home instead." The smile that curls at the corner of her mouth softens when he mentions the orphanage, though, her brightness dimming just a little without losing its spark. "What happened to your parents?" she asks gently. Enough time had passed that it didn’t feel like prying now, not when he was living under her roof and potentially wearing her clothes while she wore his.
The glitter in her eyes returns quick as lightning when he leans into the bikini talk. Pressing her lips together to try and hold back her grin, she tips her head, voice dropping into a faux-thoughtful murmur. "Like sequins? Or lace?" Flora, of course, was the sort of girl who had plenty of bathing suits that were not in fact suitable to get wet.
Had his cane not been in his nearer hand, she would have swatted his shoulder. Instead, she angles him a playful look, aqua eyes bright. “"Have you ever met my father? Remi?" she asks, almost daring him. "Because he’s a total coffee snob. Didn’t do a lot right in the parenting department, but at least he taught me how to make coffee properly."
i scream for whatever it's worth "i love you" ain't that the worst thing you've ever heard?
"Ah, then it is perhaps less likely that we would have encountered one another. I imagine you would have been running through the woods or climbing trees while I was inside reading somewhere," Niki says with a soft chuckle. He doesn't begrudge their differences in childhood - it isn't as though he dislikes reading, after all - but it has meant that they have developed necessarily differences when it comes to the need to socialise.
As for his parents, he shakes his head softly; it isn't an unwelcome question, even when strangers ask, because Niki has no memory to bring hurt from it. "I really do not know," he says. "All I remember is that it was Flowerbirth. There was a storm, and a fire I think from a lightning strike. Then they were gone." Whether killed by a falling branch, swept away in floodwater or perishing in a fire, he hasn't a clue.
"Oh, neither," he says of her suggestions for bikini materials. "More like leather and chains." Interrupted by his own laughter - because Niki is self-aware enough that the mental image in and of itself is hilarious, he shakes his head. "Perhaps sequins. I do not know that I would be able to move with the weight of any chains."
Soon enough they come upon the coffee stand, Niki falling to a halt so they can wait in line for a drink. "I have only seen him in passing at the masquerade," he confesses. "I did not know that being a demigod of death made good coffee a necessity, though I am far from displeased to learn it."
stay your pretty eyes on course keep the memories of who i was before
Flora nods, a small smile flickering across her lips. "We spent a good amount of time in the Stonesong trying to catch goldfish," she adds, as if that rounds out the picture of her childhood perfectly; muddy knees, wet skirts, hands darting after flickers of gold in the shallows.
Her brows lift softly as she listens, sympathy tracing across her features. The scene he paints grows dramatic and vibrant in her thoughts as she imagines the sort of storm and subsequent fire that might have ensued, her mind painting in details that likely weren't present, but will now forever live in her memory. "How old were you?" she asks gently, lips pressed together, her voice carrying a note of quiet she rarely lets into the open, though
But then—leather and chains—and her aqua eyes go wide, brows shooting up as if he’s just revealed some deep, delicious secret. Her lips part in a scandalized gasp, the kind with a sparkle buried beneath it like that gif of Andy gasping. By the time he admits he couldn’t move under the weight of chains, she’s already snickering, biting back a quip about Sunjata and how she was sure he could help with any weight Niki was forced to bear. Instead she hums knowingly, gaze glinting.
Glancing over the menu at the stand so she’ll be ready when they step up, Flora shakes her head with a soft laugh. "Honestly, I think it might be one of the only skills he came by on his own," she teases about her father. "But anyway, all that said, I’ll make sure the house is stocked with more coffee going forward."
i scream for whatever it's worth "i love you" ain't that the worst thing you've ever heard?
