By chance alone, Nightshade was in the right place at the right time to watch Korin fighting the practice dummy. Of course, no one really noticed her from her vantage point. The far more graceful mixed breed had taken a seat up high to watch the show with great interest. At first, she'd thought nothing of someone using one of the many practice areas in the war ready city, but that thought had lasted half a second before she noticed the large pair of pitch black wings that were so mesmerizingly similar to her own. Night's own wings were smaller, but the ratio of wing to body was about the same, Night perhaps even having a little more wing in comparison to her tiny, lithe body. Her wings looked like they were made for more distance than speed but had been rigorously trained to have both. For a moment she had sat quietly, watching the much larger mixed down below. The moment she saw the large pitch wings she'd felt a striking kinship, and she'd been contemplating going down there and giving a few pointers. It was easy to see it was the size of her wings that was messing Korin up, but that was something counteracted with practice and the knowledge of how to move one's body.
That was when she noticed the pair of civilians down below. Despite the fact they were 'muttering' they had spoken loud enough for everyone in the area to hear. It was amusing to watch. Some of the guards in the area had taken to looking upon the mixed with kind eyes, her wings similar to Night's own to draw a couple comparisons. Those that weren't familiar with what Nightshade did on a daily basis were the ones to sneer with racist delight. They were also the one whose Night's eyes locked on dangerously. She didn't have the ability to see air currents like most purebred Avriel, but her eyes were sharper than most human beings. She smirked to herself quietly. Allowing her body to slide off of the railing from which she had quietly perched. The creature wasn't made for silence, but the cackling pair were too involved with themselves to take note of her almost predatory approach. One of the blackguard who had been quietly standing off to the side and looked at the pair quickly being approached by Nightshade. A small smirk graced his features.
"Freak huh?" She said. The two quickly turned on her in confusion. Their expressions quickly turned to glares.
"Yeah, you heard me, freak! You're one of them too, ya know? What, you gonna scold us? Tell us how, oh so good you are with a blade. How it wasn't a mistake for your mother to keep you?" The second one began to laugh as the first spoke.
"What if I am?" She growled. She eyes turned to a wooden training dummy right now to Korin. If the mixed had turned curious and decided to look at her fellow misfit, Night would be quick to give her a warm smile. "50 nels and an apology says I can take the head off that training dummy in one swing," she said. After she'd spent time observing Korin she was roughly able to guess how thick and strong the wood was. The neck of the dummy was roughly the size of her fist, but it seemed to be dense and sturdy. That wasn't to say impossible for someone of her standing. She wasn't the strongest person, but if she was going to behead a person with a neck equivalent to this one, she'd say she could do it.
The two men glanced at each other before bursting into laughter. "You know how impossible that it? Most people can't even cut through a human neck without practice, observation, and a sharp as heck sword!" The civilian howled as his buddy clung to him for support. "What makes you think you can do it?"
"Because I have all three," she said simply. She'd just come back from the blacksmith and gotten Red Brand sharpened, meaning he was the sharpest he'd been in seasons. After doing a quick job for the smith she was able to get him to do it for free. When it came to experience, there were few in Etzos who knew their way around a blade as well as she did. Not to mention their way around human flesh. She knew how much force it took to rend it, just how much would be sliced at different speeds and forces, and she knew how much of her strength to use if she wanted to slice straight through a man's arm if he was wearing armor. Of course, the one time she'd tried the man had been using leather, but surely a man in leather armor couldn't be easier to delimb than a wooden dummy! She shook her head quietly. "I really need to get off these morbid trains of thought," she muttered to herself, allowing her long clawed hands to move to her head and work their way through her ebony locks.
"You know what, yeah! Sure! Knock yourself out!" The man said.
Night smiled quietly approaching the dummy that was closest to Korin. She careful she regarded the dummy for a moment. She prodded it with her hand for a moment, not wanting to waste her one swing on testing it. She took its neck and wrapped her hand around it, squeezing carefully. She then prodded the wood with her claw. She wanted to know how thick it was, how dense it was, and how easily it yielded. After taking a moment she quietly nodded to herself. Taking a stance she was familiar with, she placed both hands on her Scimitar's hilt. This wasn't going to be the easiest thing, considering the blade wasn't designed for such a feat, but it wouldn't be impossible.
In a quick movement she lashed out, weapon colliding with wood. For a moment it looked as though nothing had happened. Her sword had moved from one side to the other, but the dummy's head was still attached. The neck didn't even look like it'd been hit. The blackguard was still watching quietly, a hand pressed to his mouth. The two civilians once again burst out laughing. "Oh, don't tell me. Did she miss? She freaking-" both were silenced as a light gust of wind brushed against the dummy. Without hesitation, the head clattered to the ground. The neck was now a stump, the cut completely clean. In the background, the guard started roaring.
"Oh! Oh, Night! You need to stop tricking these poor senseless fools!" The guard cried out, trying to hold his sides and force away the boisterous laughter.
"So then. Consider I starting out just like this girl, would you like to revise your statements about her skill level?" The woman asked with a small smile. The two glanced at each other before pulling out the fifty nels and throwing it at the half-breed. She was quick to respond, using her wings like a shield. The nels scattered against her feathers and clattered to the ground. Quietly she sighed, picking them up. Her attention turned to Korin as she stood back up.
Approaching she put on a giant smile. "Hello there," she said in a gentle tone. "You wouldn't happen to be looking for a teacher, would you?" She asked, holding out her hand in greeting.
