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Character of the Season
From Attuned to Ascended to Ancient, Kiada Njovu-Reyes has been reborn several times throughout her short life, but her fighting spirit has never once been diminished. With beauty, grace and a quick wit, Kiada is the whole package wrapped in an infectious smile. Recent endeavours have found her in the heart of the Hollowed Grounds, aiding the region and bettering it for her new Ancient kin, and whatever she does next, we know it's sure to pack a punch.
Congratulations, Kiada!
Credits
Court of the Fallen was created in October of 2018 by Odd, Honey, and Crooked.
Skinning and hosting by the epically talented Kaons, and functionality fanciness by the coding magic of Neowulf. If you ever see either of them around, make sure to show them some love!
Having come up to Stormbreak in order to find a particular artist that she'd met earlier in the year, Charlie had become almost instantly distracted by the city itself as she stepped off of the skyship. Winding her way through streets and paths, having no real concept of how much time was passing due to the always-dark sky, the ancient's wanderings eventually brought her toward the city gates. The presence of all the dragon pillars made her think that perhaps she might see some of the creatures in the flesh, but in fact all she saw were a bunch of sweaty soldiers smashing swords at one another.
Bundled up to the tip of her nose and wearing boots that ended above her knee, Charlie might have been mistaken for a child from the back, given her pint-sized proportions and the way the fabric she wore softened most of her feminine curves. With her mittened hands on the bars of a fence that ran around the training grounds, the ancient watched with interest as the dragoons went about their various lessons and spars. Flicking her tail and wondering if any of them would be of any actual use in a fight (or an ambush), the priestess watched silently, wondering if there was some sort of special handshake or code worded needed to go in and try for herself.
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Hella golden retriever energy. Small unrefined horns made of ruby. Regular spade-shaped tail.
Once upon a time, Longnight had been a time of pure, unadulterated horror for Ronin. Even now, his mind occasionally takes him back to the night of Vanya's death, or Roana's, or the guildhouse burning down, or the haunting, not-real-presence of his daughter lurking in the dark at his heels. He remembers flesh turning to jagged pieces of metal before his eyes, monsters keening and shredding unlucky travellers to pieces, and the way even the light of his luxere shift never seemed to reach far enough.
Perhaps that is why he's up at Stormbreak right now instead of partying away down on the shores of Torchline - whatever keeps his mind busy, especially having just recently seen Aoife again, is not something to take for granted.
Speaking of luxere, though, his partially shifted crown of antlers helps to shed literal light on the soldiers as they spar; occasionally, it might even blind or distract or hinder, but that's all the more reason to keep them out, in Ronin's opinion. Having just taught one adept the proper way to parry, he accidentally smacks the practice sword right out of his hands where it clatters towards the fenceline right before where Charlie is watching.
"Shit - it didn't catch you, did it?" Ronin asks her as he jogs to pick it up. "Even through the fence, a bash with a blunt object isn't exactly pleasant.
Charlie, whose reflexes were not the quickest, was still able to step back fast enough as the sword flew her way. Though the fence rattled the priestess was free of injury if not all the more intrigued for the way the man with the antlers had so easily unarmed his opponent.
"Nope, all good!" Charlie chimes brightly flapping her mittened fingers at the man as he approaches for proof. "Hey! I've seen you before." Illuminated though he was, a halo of fire appeared over the priestess's head to cast additional light on the Knight. "At the Ball, right? In the Grounds? You looked really serious. I was going to come and find you but then you seemed to duplicate? and I didn't know who to follow and then got distracted." With a little chuckle, Charlie shrugs, before peering beyond the bars.
"Do you think you can teach me how to do that? Knock a sword out of someone's hands?"
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Hella golden retriever energy. Small unrefined horns made of ruby. Regular spade-shaped tail.
"Oh, good." Smiling at the young woman and wiping the practice sword free of dirt and sand where it had landed on the ground, Ronin's brow furrows for a second before his expression smooths out again. He, unfortunately, does not recognise the woman (Ancient, he realises belatedly, if the fire and the tail are anything to go by) opposite, but then his mind had been entirely elsewhere at the ball, as she's just pointed out.
"Ah, yeah, that," he says with a soft laugh and a shrug. "I found myself playing security for the event unintentionally. I'm Ronin," he introduces, and were it not for the fenceline, he'd have held out his hand to shake. He's about to turn back towards his training when she speaks again, and it's with a prolonged glance at the soldiers that he makes his decision and nods to her.
"I've got a few minutes spare," he confirms, nodding to the gate a few metres away from where she's standing. "Come over there and I'll let you in."
"Boooooooooooo, sounds boring. It looked it, too." That's why she'd initially been following him you see, to try and figure out what had caused his face to go all serious at such a fun event. "Hiya, I'm Charlie!" Ronin would practically be able to feel the sunshine in the ancient's voice—or perhaps the warmth was simply from her fire—but either way.
"No need!" Taking a step back, Charlie shrinks into a ball of feathers that sprouts wings and flies over the fence before reassembling into the shape of the ancient. "I just didn't want to come in without being invited. I wasn't sure if this was some sort of dragoons-only thing." She explains with a small shrug.
Peering up at him, the priestess looks down at her mittened hands as her tail flicks animatedly behind her. "I usually do most of my fighting shifted, but that—" She nodded over his shoulder to indicate the spar he'd just finished with. "—was a super cool move."
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Hella golden retriever energy. Small unrefined horns made of ruby. Regular spade-shaped tail.
"Mm, it did put a dampener on an otherwise fun evening," Ronin agrees with a sigh. He'd been enjoying undressing his (very well dressed) husband with his eyes, drinking good wine and dancing the night away. Alas. "Good to meet you, Charlie. I'll just be-- oh, never mind." Stepping back as the Ancient soars gracefully over the fencing and lands on sure feet back before him, the Knight's smile is impressed.
"It's mainly a dragoons-thing, but that's usually because they're the only ones who like to be beaten up for fun," he jests, before lowering his voice and stage whispering to her. "Everyone else likes to do it for money." Hint hint, fight clubs, hint.
Beckoning Charlie over to an empty training area, Ronin spends a moment digging through the weapon racks to find a practice weapon that won't be too difficult for the petite Anicnet to wield. Finding a gladius after a little bit of searching, he draws it out and offers it to her.
"Oh, I'm sure you can pull off super cool moves while you're shifted," he says, grinning. "Have you ever used a sword before? We can start there if not."
"Oh?" Grinning, her fangs neatly fitting together, Charlie peers at the trainees with renewed interest. "Normally you find those kinds of people in a brothel." She muses, before wondering if she might not allow herself a bit more of a distraction before going to try and find the artist. "Or people into S&M." The ancient counters as she turns her blue stare back to meet Ronin's, smile mischievous and eyes sparkling.
Trotting along at his side—her steps were shorter compared to his—Charlie pauses as he inspects the weapons on offer before holding out her hand to accept the short sword. "I can, yeah." She agreed without embarrassment, nearly adding that she had all sorts of super cool moves even when she wasn't shifted. But maybe that'd come up later.
"Only ceremonial ones." Charlie answered as evidenced by the way she held the sword up as if she was going to knight Ronin with it rather than attack him.
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Hella golden retriever energy. Small unrefined horns made of ruby. Regular spade-shaped tail.
"You can find those types here as well," Ronin says easily enough, recalling his time in the Silk Houses with ease if not a little bit of an internal wince, because he'd been far from his best self back then. "But this is more of a gambling thing. Placing bets on fighters and whatnot." Gods Charlie, not everything has to be about sex.
After handing her the sword and making sure his own is still serviceable (there's a joke in there somewhere, speaking of making everything about sex), the Knight takes one look at her posture and smiles playfully. "It shows," he admits, moving to stand beside her and demonstrate the proper way (or ways, because there is more than one) to hold the weapon.
"That might feel a little uncomfortable at first, but practice will make it easier."
"Oh?" Looking a good deal more interested, the little blonde turns her attention from Ronin once again to size up the various stances and postures of those currently sparring. "And...are there rules?" Catlike, her tail flicks. Charlie could certainly hold her own in certain types of fights, and if there weren't any restrictions about what assets she could use? Well, she wouldn't mind making a few coins on being thought of as a long-shot.
"Maybe I was just trying to get you in exactly this position, and then BAM!" The priestess warns, suddenly flinching at Ronin as if she might make him jump. Of course Charlie has been asleep far too long and has been too caught up in her own adventures to have learned much of demigods, so it probably looks absurd to anyone watching for the pocket-sized blonde to be trying to intimidate the Knight, but never mind.
Laughing, Charlie adjusts her grip on the hilt of the sword (even in mittens her hands made it look smaller, aayoo), before glancing at Ronin for confirmation.
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Hella golden retriever energy. Small unrefined horns made of ruby. Regular spade-shaped tail.
"Sometimes," Ronin says with a shrug. "It depends on the place, the opponents, the stakes. There's no general consensus." That would involve it being legal, not an underground fight club between shady characters with shadier motives.
Naturally, Charlie's BAM! is about as effective as someone throwing a crumb at a marble statue, though Ronin's smile is indulgent enough, and he's entertained by the little Ancient if nothing else. Looking back to her stance and the grip on her sword, the Knight nods encouragingly, adjusting the height she's holding the blade ever so slightly, before he's satisfied and goes to stand opposite her.
"There. That should make it so someone needs to get through your sword to get near you," he says. "Like this." Reaching forward, it's with a featherlight (for Ronin) tap that he lets their blades meet, as if to try and bat her arm out of the way to leave her open.
"Huh." Filing the information away for later, Charlie twists her lips into a polite smile as she takes hold of the hilt and waits for Ronin to sidle up to show her how it was done.
"Tough guy, huh?" She guesses, raising her eyebrows and grinning approvingly. If he wasn't so bundled up against the cold she might have seen his numerous scars and come to that conclusion sooner, but there was no embarrassment on Charlie's face, just cheerful amusement.
Having very little physical strength to begin with, even a light tap from Ronin is enough to have Charlie's sword straying from centre. "Well, see that's the point I'd shift and just go for your throat. Or dissolve your sword." She says with an easy shrug. "But I want to know how to make you drop yours."
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Hella golden retriever energy. Small unrefined horns made of ruby. Regular spade-shaped tail.
"Something like that," Ronin says of being a tough guy, the Knight smirking and stepping back a touch after batting at her blade. "And whilst it's good to have a lot of tricks up your sleeve like that, if you want to know how to make me drop my sword, first you need to know how to fight with one." Tutting at her playfully, he gestures for her to have a turn. "Try and move mine the way I moved yours," he instructs.
And since she's already opened the conversation, Ronin has no qualms about continuing their little chat while they host the world's slowest sparring match. "I didn't realise Ancients also had disintegration magic," he remarks, never having met one a high enough level with it before. "I thought it was only fire manipulation."
Charlie's instincts were just to hit Ronin in the balls or kick his shin: that would make him move his sword, wouldn't it? But then he had to qualify his instruction with the way I moved yours, which had the blonde sighing a touch doubtfully. Lifting her blade again and readjusting her grip as Ronin had showed her, Charlie focused a little too obviously on what she was going to do—but hey, small steps—before lashing out and jerkily knocking her sword into the Knight's.
"Sure do!" Charlie chimes. "I could get you naked with just a hug, even if you were in armour." That was normally one of her tricks; getting a soldier near enough to reach out under false pretenses, and then stripping everything away. Men for some reason fought quite badly with their cocks out. "We have quite a bit actually, we're just mostly known for the fire stuff." The priestess explains proudly.
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Hella golden retriever energy. Small unrefined horns made of ruby. Regular spade-shaped tail.
Holding the sword loosely enough that Charlie is able to move his blade with her swing, Ronin exaggerates the movement of his arm to demonstrate how his chest and torso have been left open to attack. "Whilst hugging me out of any armour I'm wearing is absolutely a fight winning move, if this happens, you can also just as easily stick me with the pointy bit of the sword." He grins.
"And forgive me - I haven't met many Ancients in my time. The most I've ever been around was at that ball a few weeks back." Nodding between them, Ronin gestures for them to practice a few more times so Charlie's swings become smoother, and the connection between their blades is somewhat more intentional.
"Alright," he says once he's satisfied, "now go again, and I'll show you what I did to that other soldier."
