• Closed • Put Up Your Dukes

[Nightshade Eld]

Ymiden 78th, 718

The only sound that accompanied the early morning was a continuous dull thump. The repetitive sound that was a herald to the routine striking of a hard object. In this case, a tree. Bark met with flesh, the only sign that anything was abnormal was the sound of wood crying out in resilient protest and the huffed pants of the perpetrator hitting the tree. The large oak showed no signs of yielding, mostly the punches were truly rendered ineffective, but the woman showed no signs of stopping either. Without a proper sparring partner, one made due with what they had. The half-breed, who had spent far too much time away from home for her liking, hadn't had the chance to dedicatedly practice any of her combat disciplines and there was a quiet part of her that became anxious at the idea she might start to become ineffective in combat if she didn't start getting in more practice. That wasn't to say that her entire trip was spent idling. She'd done plenty of fighting. But no dedicated practice. The repetitive moments that bound certain actions to muscle memory and made certain that one was not to forget in the middle of a fight. Partners were good and all, and one would never fight properly without learning how to react to the movements of someone else in the heat of a fight, but without being totally certain in the nature of one's movements a battle could turn more to a competition of luck than true skill.

Honestly, the half-breed was a little frustrated using a tree of all things. There was part of her that kept holding back, not wanting to hurt her fist or the tree. She felt entirely guilty punching a tree in spite of the fact she wasn't doing any damage, couldn't actually do any damage. The elderly tree was far past the skill level the half-breed for being able to do damage with a punch. She thought about going into town and just using the training dummies at The Roost. Hell, if she please she could probably even convince a guard to train with her or better yet use their dummies. But she hesitated on that idea. She didn't Noth to wake up alone. The man had fallen asleep after she'd helped to ease his nerves. But the insomnia that Nightshade was so familiar with still plagued her thoughts and kept her awake. She'd lied with him for a while, hoping and praying for sleep to take her. But when she finally did catch a couple bits of rest it had been a nightmare and the arms of Noth tightly curled around her waist had not made the situation any better. She thought she was going to suffocate. So she'd carefully moved out of his grip in order to not wake him and had grabbed a couple of cloths which she tied around her fists. The padded cloths helped her from splitting her knuckles or anything else similar.

Out into the early morning air, she slunk when the sun was barely starting to rise. The air was soft and clean, still cool from the night time and the absence of sunlight. The sun itself was barely starting to rise on the horizon, just enough out of view that Nightshade could enjoy the scenery. There was no sun yet, just light, beautiful golden lights that were a gift from Qylios. No obnoxiously vicious ball of flame that screeched and raged just like its master, scorching whatever it was privy to. Just gentle warmth and cool breezes that slowly pushed away the moon and stars off to sleep, relieving the children of Xuir and Treid from their nightly vigils. The coming of Dawn was second only to the arrival of Dusk which welcomed the moon and stars with the daily death of the one object she hated most. Besides. Even during the nighttime, Qylios still gave her blessed gifts in the form of moonlight and starlight. The only thing to fear about Dusk was when there were no moons and no stars and it was just the dark. The half-breed had taken a couple moments to drink in the relaxing air before she got to work.

She didn't expect the possiblity that at some point she might have woken up Noth, her focus becoming entirely devoted to her task the moment fist touched tree for the first time.

"Common"

"Ith'ession"

[Noth]

Believe In Dark Wings

The sudden stinging of chill rippled across the Avriel’s chest, and his eyes flickered open with the realization that he was, in fact, rather frigid. It was not as if though the air itself had happened to fall into any semblance of a chill, but rather that it was early morning, and he lay uncovered by the protective sheets of cloth that typically ensured ones’ warmth. It took him a few moments to regain any measure of composure, and feathered fingers worked tirelessly to scrape away the last vestiges of sleep from his eyes, a brief yawn groaning out of him as he forced himself into a more aware state of being. He was surprisingly tired, he considered, rubbing at his sides in order to generate warmth as he searched the tent for his shirt. He remembered discarding the item the night before, and scrounged throughout the remnants of the tent, carefully avoiding the strange doggish beast which slumbered near the dying embers of a fire.

Strange that he hadn’t noticed the chill until now, he considered as he finally found the cloth implement, donning it without a second thought and finding himself instantly a touch more insulated against the cruel elements. The reason for the absence of frigidity suddenly revealed itself to his mind, the tender touch of his beloved coming to his thoughts as he recalled holding her tightly against himself, warming himself with her presence. Ah, what quaint and comfortable memories, the Avriel considered as he donned the adamantite mace which had been cast away from him the night prior, strapping it to his side and stepping free of the confines of the tent.

He hadn’t paid any true attention to the constant thwacking noise which echoed throughout the local area whilst he had been indoors, but now that he had exited, he could seldom help himself from focusing intently upon it, gradually finding himself drawn to the noise, curious as to what it could be. Of course, it was revealed rather quickly that it was merely his beloved, striking against the bark of a tree with what appeared to be a pair of impromptu cloth gauntlets; an entirely ineffective invention, perhaps training herself in some way.

“Nightshade, I didn’t know you held such a deep-seated hatred of nature.” He spoke in a deadpan voice, the dryness of his humor evident, a brief smirk coming to rest upon his face. “You know, it’s far more effective to train with people. Striking at objects doesn’t hold the same… reality.” He uttered, briefly recalling an experience wherein he had chained up a deer’s head in order to allow an initiate to strike at it in order to learn the genuine roughness of flesh and bone.

Believe In Dark Words

[Nightshade Eld]

The half-breed perked at the voice of her beloved, twisting around slightly so she could get a better look at the man. She gave an exasperated sigh and roll of her eyes, all in good humor of course, as he spoke. "It pains me greatly to punch a tree, but I didn't want you to make up alone so I made do with whatever was in the area. If I felt like it I could probably go find a blackguard sufficiently willing to get beat up," she huffed as she flicked her head slightly, turning away from the man. A smirk couldn't help but play across her features as she turned back to him. "In all seriousness though? I'm just practicing the basic movements. It's mostly just a reinforcement of muscle memory. Trust me, I am well aware that if you want to be good in actual combat you need to practice on actual enemies. But if you don't know theory and don't have any muscle memory then you'll just fumble the moments and really? It all depends on the style of both the learner and the teacher," she said. She should know. She'd spent some time reflecting on how her teachers all taught her, as well as those in the city, trying to best analyze the perfect teaching style. She'd eventually come to the conclusion that there was none. But no matter what learning the skills was the most important part. There were differences in real combat. There were differences when you punched a fleshy enemy instead of sticks or straw. But those differences didn't account for much if you couldn't even learn the basic theory behind the movements. "There's also the question of building up strength. Thanks to how much I was traveling over the course of this season I wasn't given any dedicated time to practice, and while eventually, I'll hunt down a couple of my old sparring partners for right now I wanna make sure that I'm not too terribly rusty."

She paused as she glanced at Noth for a moment, but was quick to shake her head. "I was about to ask if you know anything about unarmed combat, but honestly? I'd be shocked and highly disappointed if you don't, given everything I know about you," she huffed in the slightest amount of a laugh as she shook her head once more. Her blood was starting to heat up, she could feel the rush of wrath and adrenaline starting to jolt through her. Noth's words had hit a nerve, and if he meant it or not they'd been taken with the same weight as an insult and a challenge. And Nightshade Eld was never the kind of creature to back down from a challenge. "If you care to criticize my training techniques care to put your nels where your beak is?" Her tone took on the same kind of mocking ferocity as someone who'd just been told they suck at fighting and her eyes blazed into Noth's. She wasn't entirely certain if she'd win as she didn't know much about Noth's fighting style. What she did know was that Noth looked like wasn't the kind of person who could take a hit well. At least not to the half-breed.

Nightshade, if she was questioned on the topic, would describe Noth as squishy. He didn't have muscle and his skin wasn't all that tough underneath his feathers and armor. The half-breed liked to think she was one to talk about such topics. Especially after the up close and personal observations, she received the night before. But she saw an obvious difference between herself and Noth that made her think that she could last longer. She didn't break easily. Her body was hardened from the constant physical assault of her jobs, and she usually recovered from most hits with considerable ease. She was confident she was stronger than Noth! And if he took her challenge, she'd outlast him and prove it! Only to quickly cut that thought off as if it was poisonous. What in the name of the Serpents was she doing all of the sudden? Snapping out of what almost seemed like a momentary trace she realized that she'd just challenged Noth to a fight and had been thinking about all the ways she could possibly beat him. Which wasn't a good thing? What was she doing and why was she doing it? She wasn't entirely sure? Her expression quickly fell into a frown.

"Ah... Excuse me. I'm not exactly sure whose actions those were but I don't think they were mine..." She said quietly looking entirely confused by what had just come over her. The ferocity seemed to fade in little more than a trill as her shoulders sagged and she sighed heavily. "That's what I get for spending time with people like those," she muttered to herself as she thought about what terrible acquaintance of hers had rubbed off on her in such a way. Axel, it was likely Axel. It was always Axel.

"Common"

"Ith'ession"

[Noth]

It seemed likely that his fellow half-breed had caught on to his humor, and a grin split his deadpan features at her false exasperation. Of course, she provided the real reason for her training with a piece of foliage, making it known that she didn’t wish to abandon him in the midst of the woods whilst she went to train with someone in the confines of the city. The Avriel nodded gratefully for the thought, casting his crimson eyes briefly upon the tree, taking note of the slight battering of the bark where she had been slamming her fists against it. He couldn’t imagine that it was a very comfortable procedure, and was thankful that he had so many disposable soldiers with which to train himself on the regular as opposed to relying upon such crude methods.

She further spoke of how she was essentially just practicing the basic movements of battle, and the hybrid nodded his acceptance of that. She was wholly correct in stating that it was important to develop a muscle memory for battle, as it was oftentimes the only thing that would allow one to make the rapid movements and dodges necessary to save their skin in the midst of battle. The fact that a person could gradually begin to lose their muscle memory was an unfortunate reality of life, and so he could completely understand the necessity to promptly and regularly practice the movements of one’s combat routine to ensure that they were always ready for a fight. After all, it was not often that a person made the conscious decision to thrust themselves into mortal danger… well, in the case of Noth, it wasn’t as if though it was always a conscious decision.

She made a statement inquiring as to whether or not he was capable of unarmed combat, and the hybrid nodded along with a brief grin as she huffed in humor. At least, he hoped that it was humor and not some measure of genuine exasperation at the amount of physical violence he constantly drowned himself in on a daily basis. It was wholly correct to assume that he was fully capable of such unarmed violence, however, and whilst it was simultaneously true that his style typically relied upon the presence of a heavy suit of armor, he was still quite able to bruise and batter with his hands and talons.

Suddenly, her tone took on a far more challenging aura, and the hybrid briefly raised an eye at her request that he put his money where his… well, he didn’t quite have a beak, but he supposed the analogue for a mouth was acceptable given their shared physiology. The twilight hybrid was typically utterly irritated and frustrated whenever those around him decided to challenge his martial talents, because they were always attempting to overthrow his reign over the area by proving that he was weak, and it was a further irritation when he had to break them so thoroughly to exert his strength over them, because it effectively made them useless for seasons afterwards. Yet, when his beloved took on such a harsh and challenging notion with him, he couldn’t help but to grin at the idea. He hadn’t had an opportunity to spar with her in the past, and he was admittedly rather excited at the prospect of finally learning where their strengths fell in relation to one another.

What was simply amused grinning quickly turned into a cacophonous laughter as his beloved admitted that her thoughts had grown somewhat harsh, stating that they were not her own, and were instead a result of spending her time near vile sorts. The Avriel nodded briefly, considering excusing the challenge and allowing it to pass unnoticed between the two of them… but that wasn’t entirely in his nature, and now that he was aware that she at least somewhat desired some measure of combative act between them, he didn’t wish to allow it to slip away without a word of protest.

“Oh? Backing down from your challenge? Don’t tell me that you of all people are afraid of me too?” He cackled in evident humor, his talons raking delightedly across the grass outdoors, tearing away great clumps of it and thrusting them aside in mock imitation of all of the torn flesh which had found itself attached to his natural blades. “I thought if anything, last night would have been evidence enough of how fond I was for you… but I suppose if you still want to spar a bit, then we can… just so you can save a little face, of course.” His voice reeked of sarcasm and delight as he finished his own counter-proposition.

“I will admit that you’ve caught me in something of a poor position, though. I won’t lie to you in saying that I rely rather heavily upon my armor… and… I’m a little more lethal than you are on average.” He paused briefly after the final part of his admittance, knowing that it likely bothered her to hear of his violent tendencies, but it was the truth. He briefly stretched his false-hand underneath the metallic gauntlet which served as his right-hand, the only piece of equipment he had brought for such combative exercises.

“Any rules you want to go over? No biting? No eye-gouging? Things like that?”

[Nightshade Eld]

In the case of Nightshade, the decision to throw herself into a fight was all too conscious and one she made perhaps a little too much? Nightshade's own style was a form of brawling that mixed many different forms of unarmed combat which she'd managed to learn over the arcs. Whenever she heard about a new one she tried to learn it. That was the thing about the half-breed. She was very much a collector of styles and while her brawling did draw heavily on the Etzori martial arts it was a hodgepodge of anything she could find. She wasn't necessarily always good at each individual piece, but when she put them all together she'd found that it actually was a competent fighting style in addition to her own want for speed. Her wings offered mobility and speed far beyond most, so her fighting style had grown with that fact in mind. It relied on the ability to not get hit. Of course, that was harder when it came down to unarmed since while she was light on the wings she was a little heavy on the feet. Spawning the necessity behind learning so many fighting styles and building up her ability to take hits. In spite of the apparent fragility of the half-breed, she could take a hell of a beating and stand back up.

When she tried to dismiss the harshness of her tone, Noth came back at her with humor. So it was going to be this kind of challenge. "Absolutely not, I had no intention of dismissing the challenge. I just didn't want you to get embarrassed by my words. Of course, if you're so ready to get your ass kicked I'll happily take you on," she growled back, making her tone as mocking as she could possibly make it. Noth had evidently tripped something. It wasn't often that she took on a competitive edge, so surely it was a sign of trust. At the same time, she was completely ready to use everything at her disposal to kick her boyfriend's ass.

She weighed his next sentence very carefully, looking him dead in the eyes as he spoke before letting a sigh slip from her lips. "In some ways, yes. But in a lot of other ways? I'm sorry to tell you, but you really aren't," the jokes and mocking left her tone for a moment as she shook her head almost mournful. There was something dark and sorrowful to her voice as she spoke her words, eyes glazing for a moment as she continued to look Noth dead in the eyes. There were so many things to be said resting just behind her gaze, but she didn't speak any of the words into existence. She left very little room for challenge either. She paid no mind to her admission, she already knew it to be a very valid truth. She would keep her secrets as long as he kept his, so even if he tried to quiz her on what she'd said she'd just simply shake her head and move on with the goal ahead of the pair.

"Just try to fight honorably, if you even know what that means," she returned to his question about rules. Her tones had once again taken on a light and joking air. She took a couple steps back before motioning him to take the first hit. She'd resolved not to use her wings for the fight since that wouldn't really be all that honorable. She kept the large black appendages firmly held to her back.

"Common"

"Ith'ession"