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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!
with every breath and every intake tip toe further away
At least his region isn’t that difficult to navigate without the moon to guide him. Without all the sprawling trees and forests that the Grounds or Greatwood had, it’s relatively smooth sailing for the storm dragon to fly through. It’s cold, of course, he’d expected as much given the snow piling up everywhere. But he tries to ignore it as he lands just outside of the Castaway Exchange in order to shift back into himself lest he ruin the docks with the weight of his shift.
He says hello to those running the shops as he drifts by, but his main goal is to head toward the Ark or spy if Jack is out and about somewhere else. Why, you might ask? Distractions, mostly. Trying to find something to do that isn’t just waiting away the time until the sun comes back and they have a chance to get rid of the freezing snow. Instead, it continues to fall and continues to freeze, pile upon pile, like the region is its own personal fossil with the layers of each day varied and easy to pinpoint.
He's stopped short from the Ark when he spots a merchant selling packs of cigarettes. And while he’d been trying to quit, he can’t quite help himself from snagging a pack to light up. It at least helps him feel a bit more fuzzy and warm, the orange of the cherry mimicking the fire lanterns that dot the boardwalk, before he’s on his hunt for the Captain again.
further away from this mistake i'm no savior, i'm no saint
No permission needed for power play!
Feel free to use magic/force on Sunjata, without killing him <3
Sunjata speaks with an Australian accent and has a passive magic that makes him produce a subtle scent that matches exactly to whatever those around him most desire him to smell like.
It's funny, really - Sunjata has come seeking out the good captain, and Jack has just been about to depart for the House of Midnight. The Ark's mini-Longnight party is in full swing, and now that it's accompanied by Nova's sentient broom, things are rapidly descending into chaos. (As he steps onto the gangplank to head down into the Exchange, someone is trying to make a tiny crown for the top of the broom handle, and that's more than enough of a sign for him to get the fuck out of there).
Of course, no sooner has he set foot onto the docks when the Flood's mind passes into his orbit, his thoughts half frozen in the inertia of the season, and he turns to face the other man just as he passes by a couple of lanterns. Wreathed in smoke and shrouded in shadow like some winter devil on the prowl, Jack raises his eyebrows up at Sunjata, hands still buried in the pockets of his Kingmaker coat, collar turned high against the wind.
"Lookin' for me?" He drawls, a smirk kicking up the corner of his mouth. "'Fraid I ain't got much business to conduct until the sun rises - not with the state of my crew."
fight so dirty but you love so sweet talk so pretty but your heart got teeth
with every breath and every intake tip toe further away
The voice calls out to him and immediately has a smidge of relief spreading through him after all this aimless searching. “Yeah, I was.” He mutters with a smoky laugh, exhaling a plume of smoke as he steps over to meet Jack back on the pathway he was originally intending on heading – unaware that it’s back to where he came from. “Nah, I wasn’t really asking about business.” He admits, flicking some ash off the end of his cigarette before he continues.
“Just was bored and figured you might’ve had something going on, since it’s your first LongNight here in King’s End if I’m not mistaken.” Looking back at Jack with a crooked smile, the Flood’s broad shoulders shrug. Seems like he might be wrong about that, too, given how he’s walking away from the Ark and not toward it to join in on the rambunctious event his crew has started on.
further away from this mistake i'm no savior, i'm no saint
No permission needed for power play!
Feel free to use magic/force on Sunjata, without killing him <3
Sunjata speaks with an Australian accent and has a passive magic that makes him produce a subtle scent that matches exactly to whatever those around him most desire him to smell like.
10-24-2025, 02:23 PM (This post was last modified: 10-24-2025, 02:23 PM by Jack.)
JACK
It isn't often these days that relief is what pours through a person's thoughts upon seeing him, and so Jack really does assume something urgent has come up business-wise. So to hear that Jata has just been looking at him cuz bored is a surprise to say the least, and it shows in the faint raise of his eyebrows as the other man closes the distance between them.
"I mean, goin' on is a word for it," he says through a quiet laugh, nodding back up towards The Ark and the cheerfully lit braziers through the falling snow. "Nova has learned how to make magic shit, an' she came up with a brush that sweeps by itself. The crew are losin' their minds over it," he explains. "Can't blame 'em, to be honest. They're used to the bonfires out in Torchline at this time of year."
And because of his decisions, they don't get to have that any more. So let them crown Crisweeper Columbus all they like.
"I was about to head up your way, if I'm honest," he says, nodding up the path towards the House of Midnight in the far distance.
fight so dirty but you love so sweet talk so pretty but your heart got teeth
with every breath and every intake tip toe further away
His lips quirk up at the mention of something going on, following the nod toward the Ark where it seems to be lit up like it was a Christmas tree itself, the cheers and joy erupting from the ship a clear indicator that there certainly was something happening. As Jack explains, the roaring laughter and cheering certainly seems to make a lot more sense. So Sunjata offers his own chuckle in response, a shrug of understanding. “Yeah, we don’t really have the weather to manage it.” His nose wrinkles, clear that he does miss the temperature of Torchline but he’d rather avoid ruling the Safrinesque region with a ten foot pole.
A low whistle leaves him in playful surprise, twisting on his heel before he takes another drag from his cigarette, holding the smoke in his throat for a few moments longer before he exhales it in an easy exhale, slipping past his nose. “Ah, well, allow me to lead the way.” He hums with a soft laugh. “The House of Midnight’s pretty busy this time of year. People don’t typically wanna be alone, y’know?” Which, all things considered, it was leagues better than the Grounds had been when the Voice was around. And he takes a decent amount of solace in that.
further away from this mistake i'm no savior, i'm no saint
No permission needed for power play!
Feel free to use magic/force on Sunjata, without killing him <3
Sunjata speaks with an Australian accent and has a passive magic that makes him produce a subtle scent that matches exactly to whatever those around him most desire him to smell like.
"Not unless you wanna flood the Barrows an' make a giant ice rink," Jack agrees, following Sunjata's gaze back towards The Ark for a moment before letting it drop away again, trusting Murphy to keep a handle on things in his absence. "An' even then, I guess it's no substitute for gettin' wasted in the sand in front of a fire." Who knows, though - maybe there could be more to Deepfrost in King's End than frozen, endless night. Maybe next year Jack will feel at home enough to contribute.
Tilting his head as the other man easily angles himself to head back to the House of Midnight, Jack watches his departing back for a lingering couple of seconds before he joins him, scoffing out a breath that fogs the air in front of him. "An' yet you left it to come an' find me. I'm honoured, Jata," he drawls. "What was so bad 'bout the Grounds?"
fight so dirty but you love so sweet talk so pretty but your heart got teeth
with every breath and every intake tip toe further away
“I was thinking about a lazy river.” He jokes instead, even if it wasn’t entirely a joke. He had been considering it, after all. What their next quest could be. But that wouldn’t really solve the idea of getting wasted on the beach in front of the fire. If anything, it would only make things colder, but it might also offer for some easier transporation through the region.
Y’know, once they dug up plenty of graves and bodies since it was kind of the point of the bulk of the region.
Anyway, they head toward the House of Midnight and the lanterns begin to fall away behind them, leaving very faint light sources on the way there. Illuminated by the cherry of his cigarette as he drags on it again, he nearly forgets about Jack’s abilities before the question about the Grounds is said. “Oh, y’know. Just prepping to hide in a house for a week, filling floorboards with moss so you don’t make a sound, and refusing to answer the door even if it sounded like a loved one trying to break in because it almost always was a monster ready to rip you apart.” Not too bad, right?
He sighs a touch before he glances over to Jack. "Last year the void killed one of the merfolk.. I don't know if you remember her. Narcissa, I think? Anyway, she washed up in the refuge during LongNight. So I guess I haven't really gotten over the what if this LongNight has another death?"
further away from this mistake i'm no savior, i'm no saint
No permission needed for power play!
Feel free to use magic/force on Sunjata, without killing him <3
Sunjata speaks with an Australian accent and has a passive magic that makes him produce a subtle scent that matches exactly to whatever those around him most desire him to smell like.
"A what?" Jack wrinkles his nose, objectively disliking the sound of anything he doesn't instantly understand. "What makes it lazy?" And why the fuck would they need one running through King's End? "Careful if you go diggin' up graves to make it, either way," he adds, plucking that addition directly from the Flood's thoughts, "you might get more than you bargained for."
At minimum you might dig up some criminal's ill-buried loot (hello), and at worst you could unleash an enenra or a daemon or some other massive nasty. But then again, this is Sunjata, so he doubts the other man will even flinch at having to take care of something like that.
Strangely at ease as the darkness folds them up in its still, cold embrace, Jack glances towards the Flood even if he can't see his face properly, an eyebrow arching as he explains the Grounds at Longnight. "Sounds like a riot," he drawls. "Surprised you ever went back there, honestly." Not that the Grounds seems to bear any resemblance to what it had been behind the barrier, but something something memories or whatever.
Shaking his head lightly as he mentions the Mer - if he ever met Narcissa, he doesn't consider her important enough to remember - Jack instead glances out towards the solid wall of blackness. "Sometimes death just happens," he points out. "Even if somethin' does happen this Longnight, don't necessarily mean anythin' terrible caused it."
fight so dirty but you love so sweet talk so pretty but your heart got teeth
with every breath and every intake tip toe further away
“Easy rapids, quicker transportation.” Sunjata murmurs, thinking of it more than the explanation. He figures Jack would understand it better if he paints the watercolors of his mind into images of a smooth flowing river, innertubes and small rafts to relax on and get from point A to point B a bit quicker than it might take someone to walk and without any of the effort for it.
All the fun begins to vanish, though, with the mention of LongNight and he does his best to hide away the starker memories to keep Jack from having to live them, focused instead on the comment of going back there. “I had to after the war.” He wasn’t really welcome anywhere else and Nate was there. So despite the trauma, the Flood found himself back there again and again.
These days it’s different enough to not relive all of those memories at least.
Nodding and dragging the last little bit off of his cigarette, he stamps it out in the snow as they walk, exhaling the plume of smoke before he speaks. “Yeah, that’s true. I guess I’m just hoping for nothing brutal this year, if it does happen.” The last thing he wants is a nightmare of a headache when the sun rose and he could finally feel normal again. “How’ve things been working out for you here so far?” He switches the subject, like he’s remembering belatedly to check in with the Captain in regard to how he’s fared getting the Ark set up on the shores of King’s End.
He's sure it’s an adjustment.
further away from this mistake i'm no savior, i'm no saint
No permission needed for power play!
Feel free to use magic/force on Sunjata, without killing him <3
Sunjata speaks with an Australian accent and has a passive magic that makes him produce a subtle scent that matches exactly to whatever those around him most desire him to smell like.
Hey, what's that? Out of the corner of your eye, you see a colourful, hand-painted egg. Perhaps it's sitting amidst some flowers, on a tree branch, next to a river, or in a merchant's shop, but wherever it is, it doesn't seem to be accidentally placed there. On one side you see a painted hot air balloon. Maybe it has something to do with the upcoming festival!
Go ahead and pick it up!
You've found a painted egg!. Whoever is next to post in this thread will be the first one to see the egg, but if they wish to give it to someone else, they're more than welcome! No need to post in account updates, just keep track of this thread and pick up your egg IC!
Jack does manage to knit the imagery together in his mind, though that doesn't mean he agrees with the term any more than before. (If anything, a lazy river should get you somewhere more slowly, no?) But it's not his region and it absolutely won't be his lazy river, so he merely grunts his acknowledgement of Sunjata's explanation. Things take a turn at that moment anyway, and while he's appreciative of the automatic mental wall, he's already retreating from the Flood's mind to avoid imagining anything else lurking in the dark out there.
"Well, at least it seems like your days of havin' to are long behind you," he mutters in consolation. As leader of King's End and a powerful demigod in his own right, Sunjata doesn't really have to do anything he doesn't want to, not unless it's to suddenly become a celibate nun. (And even then, Jack wonders whether sex-Frey would find a kink for that).
As for himself, the captain wrinkles his nose and shrugs, glancing over his shoulder like he might still be able to see the flicker of braziers on The Ark. He doesn't, of course, but when he turns back he does spot a weird, painted little egg nestled in the snow nearby. "Fuck is that?" He nods towards it.
"Things have been fine. Colder seasons are always hard to judge," he admits. "Ark's repaired and ready to go come Flowerbirth, though. Maybe then I'll be able to give you a real answer."
Jack offers for Sunjata to grab the egg.
fight so dirty but you love so sweet talk so pretty but your heart got teeth
with every breath and every intake tip toe further away
“That’s a perk of it, yeah.” Sunjata hums, quietly grateful that the region wasn’t driving him crazy by means of not knowing what might come next. He’d take the uneventfulness as a boon, even if it was boring, compared to how he’d had to manage Torchline while his father had gone on his spree.
He’s just about to say as much when Jack looks back toward the Ark and spots something, drawing Sunjata’s attention too as he half turns toward the egg in the snow. Drifting over to it, he plucks it from the ground to realize it’s nothing more than a painted egg nestled in the snow and continues to carry it as he tunes back into the conversation. “Just an egg..?” It comes out like a question mostly because of his confusion, but he’ll hold onto it anyway, just in case.
As for the Ark and her journeys in the future, Sunjata can spy the distant flickering lights of the House of Midnight in the distance as he casts a small smirk back toward Jack with a nod. “Then I look forward to it. Let’s get warmed up for now, though, huh?” Nodding toward the House of Midnight that’s approaching, he can almost feel the heat of the brothel if he thinks about it long enough, craving it in comparison to the snow he’s always disliked.
Sunjsta picks up the egg!
- FIN
further away from this mistake i'm no savior, i'm no saint
No permission needed for power play!
Feel free to use magic/force on Sunjata, without killing him <3
Sunjata speaks with an Australian accent and has a passive magic that makes him produce a subtle scent that matches exactly to whatever those around him most desire him to smell like.
