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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 bat trails about as high as he can go through the woods without getting tangled up in the vast branches. But it also means that he’s entirely at the Greatwood’s mercy when it comes to his directions. He drifts toward an unknown direction, shifted around by magic and whims, only to stumble across a very familiar building.
It feels ironic, in a way. And it almost makes him feel a bit like a desperate stalker, because the only person as of late that hasn’t hated him is the man that lives within the funeral parlour. So he waits a few heartbeats, settling in a tree upside down to peer at the house and wage war with himself inside if it was too much or if Niki might not mind, before the bat drops from the branches and spreads out his leathery wings to fly toward the front door in its usual jaggedy motions.
Upon reaching the door, though, he shifts back – lightning scarred hand lifting to knock on the door as he shoulders his bag of holding and waits, wondering if he’s even home, then wondering if it was better or worse if he was.
the Heartless
// i'm tensin' up thinkin' about what i'm supposed to call you now //
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.
Niki is at home, which Sunjata will realise soon enough, though it takes him some time to come to the door. Usually that might be attributed to nothing more than his usual slow going, but today he's been attempting to pack away things in his workshop. It has proven more difficult than anticipated (because, as Niki is learning all of a sudden, he apparently has a strange attachment to broken and unfinished projects) and what had started as an exercise in putting away tools had become a walk down the memory lane of his past inventions.
Having been forced to battle his way out of the workshop after hearing the knock, when he finally appears in the doorway it's with cheeks slightly flushed from the exertion, his dark hair boyishly ruffled and one sweater sleeve shoved to the elbow while the other has been left loose. "Sorry," he is already saying as he straightens up. "I hope you have not been waiting... too... Sunjata?"
Blinking up (and up) at the Heartless on his doorstep and feeling his mouth go suddenly dry, Niki swallows back the urge to ask whether the demigod is lost and instead opts for, "Is everything alright?"
He waits just the right amount to not give into the anxiety to just leave - realizing quietly he’d feel bad, too, if Niki had spent all that time getting here from whatever it was he was doing only to find an empty porch. But the courage is still there, right when Niki opens the door and offers the start of a bland apology for how long the wait was, as if Sunjata wouldn’t mind waiting and warring with himself to linger there a bit longer.
A soft lopsided smile is shot toward the other man, and before he has a chance to respond he hears the question fall from his lips and internally winces. Not really. He wants to say, but it isn’t really Niki’s business, nor is it something he wants to burden him with. So he chooses something better, something that feels safer. “Yeah, mostly.” It’s a nonanswer, really, but he pushes past it quickly. “Just left the Mathair and was heading for the Village but the woods had their own idea.”
His cheeks puff out a little and he shifts the weight from one of his legs to another, rolling a shoulder in a shrug in the process. “So here I am. Hope I’m not bothering you.” He tacks on, taking note of the sleeve that remains rolled up while the other is still long and covering scars, the ruffled hair, the faint glint of nostalgia and reservation in the necromancer’s sharp face.
the Heartless
// i'm tensin' up thinkin' about what i'm supposed to call you now //
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.
"...Mostly?" Niki can't help but catch on that, not to mention the strange awkwardness in the other man's posture as he shifts his weight and smiles towards him. "Ah, a lot of people have been paying their respects to the Mathair this season," he adds, assuming that might have been why Sunjata had ventured out to the Greatwood's mother tree while the skies are... er, screaming.
Straightening up and smiling knowingly back as the Heartless explains - Niki is no stranger to the woods having their own ideas, after all - he's already stepping slightly to the side and gesturing for the other man to come in. "Not at all. I have been spending the past week or so packing my belongings in readiness to move. I was making a start on my workshop today, but I sense it will take a few days on its own. About time I took a break anyway."
“Mostly.” Sunjata confirms with a slightly awkward smile. “I, uh.. Met my ex fiancée there to pay respects, yeah.” As it comes out from his lips there’s a slight wince with how awkward it does leave him. And with it, the Heartless sucks in a breath that hopefully steadies him enough to put all of his focus into here, a space of respite with a man who seems to be very adamant about moving which replaces any apprehension in his chest for saying that this was a bad idea.
As Niki steps to the side, Sunjata steps in, blanketed by the easy warmth of the home from the slight Leafchange chill just outside. “Ah, I know what that’s like.” He agrees, choosing the easier topic of conversation, turning to Niki to flash him a lopsided smile that hides all the previous awkwardness. “I’m happy to help if you need it. I’m pretty good at moving heavy things.” The smile brightens, like it’s a joke based off his demigod strength. “I’m glad to see that you weren’t flooded in.” A worry Niki had previously when he’d left King’s End and they’d all had all that rain.
the Heartless
// i'm tensin' up thinkin' about what i'm supposed to call you now //
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.
"Oh...? Oh." Niki is also wincing before he can school his expression into something more neutral, clicking the door shut behind them once the other man has stepped across the threshold. "I take it did not go well, but then I get the impression that those kinds of meetings rarely do." Even when there are the best of intentions, though Niki doesn't know the context behind this particular run-in, it's true.
"That is kind of you to offer," he says with a smile, heading through to the kitchen - one of the only spaces that hasn't been entirely packed away given that the boy still has to eat and drink up until he leaves. "Though I think I have everything arranged on this side of things. Perhaps you could help to unload it once I arrive at King's End, though...?"
The smile is a little crooked as he glances over his shoulder, as if that should be confirmation that he'd chosen the southern region to move into. "Coffee?"
They share the little awkward wince and for that, Sunjata’s a smidge grateful to see the same reflected across the necromancer’s face. “It didn’t go poorly.” He says after a moment, chewing on the inside of his cheek as he soaks in the warmth of the house. “I didn’t really explain much the last time when I ended things. Said I needed space. So this was to just.. clarify, I guess, for her to not wait up.” He doesn’t care either way whether Niki wants more clarification, but it would really depend on how much coffee and how much time the necromancer had.
For now, though, he follows the abandoned toward the kitchen, taking note of how packed up the space seems to be, but it isn’t until he mentions arriving at King’s End that the Heartless’ head snaps toward Niki – a certain brightness overtaking him and the storm clouds his eyes have become. “Yeah. Yeah I can do that.” A smile breaks across his face, lopsided and a touch relieved that he hasn’t pushed out everyone in his region – losing Colt, losing Hotaru, and a variety of others here and there.
“Gods, I’d love some coffee. Yes please.” He nearly groans at the thought, drifting into the kitchen to lean against the counter out of the way as far as he could tell.
the Heartless
// i'm tensin' up thinkin' about what i'm supposed to call you now //
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.
"Ah, I see," Niki says with another sympathetic smile, opting not to dig verbal fingers into a wound that appears freshly reopened. Not poorly indicates that Sunjata had gotten what he had needed out of the meeting though, and at least that means there should hopefully not be any further pain caused by it. (Not that he's entirely certain what the Heartless would consider painful in such circumstances any more due to his... well, his title).
Still, his news about moving seems to be lifting some of the stormclouds away from Sunjata's mood if not from the turbulent weather outside, and Niki has to stifle his smile at the prospect of someone being so pleased that he's going to be joining their region. Let alone that person being the ruler. "Thank you, I would appreciate it," he says as they arrive at the kitchen and he begins to make coffee, glancing over his shoulder to the other man. "I will send you a letter ahead of time, in case you will not be there," he adds, not assuming Sunjata would be camping out in King's End awaiting his arrival.
"Did you at least manage to pay your respects to the Mathair? She can be quite a vengeful goddess."
Content to leave the subject of why he’d been at the Mathair in the past for the moment at least, the Heartless lets Niki’s news of moving warm him and give him something to look forward to. Perhaps it wasn’t going to be an awful mass exodus like he’d thought King’s End was about to go through. And for now, that’s perhaps all he can ask for. At least there’d be somebody new – fresh blood, as it were.
At Niki’s thank you, his smile lingers – boyish and easy on the panes of his scarred face as he nods. “Sounds good.” Is what he says rather than the initial thing that comes to mind – that he doesn’t really have anywhere else to go, that he’s pretty much expecting to be in King’s End for the foreseeable future unless something he can’t anticipate calls him away.
“I did, but, I think I should probably give another one. It didn’t feel like she got enough attention given everything else.” He admits with a slight wince – though he isn’t sure what the Mathair could do to him now that was worse than what he’s already going through. “Unless she doesn’t mind.” To this, he looks at Niki like he might have more information on the goddess that resided in his current region.
the Heartless
// i'm tensin' up thinkin' about what i'm supposed to call you now //
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.
With the matter settled, Niki focuses on making their drinks for a few moments, able to use his limited telekinetic ability to slide mugs into reach and to encourage things down from higher shelves. It had been something he'd initially resisted using, but given how useful it is for someone with limited movement, it hadn't been a hill he'd been willing to die on. "I do not have any hazelnut syrup to hand, I am afraid," he remarks to the Heartless with a smile over his shoulder, recalling the way Sunjata had liked his coffee back in New Haven.
Hopefully Sunjata will be content with plain caffeine, the necromancer turning to set their drinks down on the counter nearby when they're finished. "That is the thing with the Mathair. Sometimes she might mind, other times she might not," he says with an apologetic shrug and a laugh. "If you are screamed at by the rain after this, perhaps that is an indication that you ought to leave another offering. I can go with you if you like - depending on how the forest feels, the Mathair is not too far from here."
He watches with a quiet and yet very clear attention to the mugs and items that move of their own accord – the telekinesis something that he’d always been quietly awed by. Each one of his magics were solely based on something somewhat tangible – even his grappling magic was visible. But as Niki mentions not having hazelnut syrup, Sunjata huffs a soft but warm laugh. “I’ll survive without it, I’m pretty sure.” Though it was kind of him to remember that.
Once the coffee is sat down on the counter, he pushes off the edge where he’d been leaning against, reaching for the cup to cradle it and warm his hands. “Oof. She’s the one making the sky scream?” He asks, squinting over the mug of coffee back toward Niki – trying to lighten the mood from the whole reason he was there in the first place. “Good to know.” He admits, though a part of him wonders if the sheer drama of the ordeal wasn’t enough. "If that's the case then I'll be back to bug you again."
the Heartless
// i'm tensin' up thinkin' about what i'm supposed to call you now //
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.
"If you are sure," Niki says with a grin, taking up his own drink once he's set the demigod's mug down and bringing it to the kitchen table so he can sit - unsurprisingly, he isn't a fan of being on his feet for too long if he can help it. He gestures for Sunjata to join him too, if he wants. "If this is going to become a habit, perhaps I should invest in some when I get to King's End," he says of the syrup, smirking down at his own black coffee; unadorned and unsweetened, some might call it boring. Others might call it intense.
As for the Mathair and the screaming rain, Niki shakes his head softly out towards the window where the rain has begun to softly patter down. "I do not know," he confesses, "but many people in the Greatwood seem to think so, and it would fit her aesthetic, no?" You know, spooky, leaving you feeling vaguely cursed and on edge, that sort of thing. "Even if it is not her doing, I imagine she would happily take credit for it. And you do not bug me, Sunjata, I assure you."
“At least ninety-nine percent.” He reassures Niki with a lopsided smile as he follows the gesture to sit, joining the necromancer at the kitchen table to sit and stretch out his long legs off to the side lest he knock them into Niki’s legs. “Luckily for you, King’s End has quite a variety.” He bounces his brows playfully – as if it wasn’t solely because of the fact the Heartless liked hazelnut that many of the stores kept it stocked.
Following his gaze over toward the window with the pitter patter of rain against the window, glancing back toward Niki with the realization that it might be the Leafchange deity herself that’s making quite the showing with her displeasure and curses. “It would.” He agrees with a soft laugh, lifting it to take a sip of the coffee, content to remain amused about the Mathair taking credit for the screaming rain. But it’s the latter that has his smile softening a smidge to hear that he doesn’t bug the other man.
And it’s honestly refreshing as of late, given how he feels like he bugs the vast majority of people just by existing. But those are thoughts that he doesn’t air, doesn’t want to ruin the general vibe. “Don’t say that or I might test that theory.” He teases instead.
the Heartless
// i'm tensin' up thinkin' about what i'm supposed to call you now //
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.
"That still leaves a one-percent chance that there will be a hazelnut syrup related tantrum in my future," Niki says with dry amusement, smiling around the rim of his coffee mug as he lifts it to his lips. "So it is a good thing I am moving to King's End so I can stop up. I would not wish for you to offer me a new living space only to flood it if your coffee is not to your liking."
Setting his drink back down and relaxing into his seat, he watches the rain at the window for a moment as if waiting for the sky to shriek its anger at them. When it doesn't he's almost quietly disappointed, if not for the teasing in Sunjata's voice. It isn't a tone he recalls ever hearing before, Niki tilting his head and laughing softly to the other man. "Oh? How would you bug me?" he asks. "Going to take my cane when I am not looking?"
