• Graded • A New Friend

[Nightshade Eld]

Saun 20th, Arc 716

Nightshade wandered the streets humming to herself quietly. It was peaceful it was a better day out than it had been for a while. The last couple of days has mostly been spent either inside her tent hiding from a bad spurt of weather. It hadn't been very nice for going outside. But today was lovely with a soft breeze ruffling the hair and feathers of the half breed. She took a deep breath and sighed out. She wasn't meant with as many cold glares as she was the first day she walked into town. But she could still feel looks of poorly masked hate when the eyes of some passed over her wings. She pulled them in closer shifting her cloak to better cover them, but it was a rather poor attempt. Night was fool no one by simply pulling in her wings. They still bulged from her back like giant indicators that she wasn't normal. She shivered slightly at a couple of the colder gazes, but for the most part people had started to ignore her. "Um, excuse me sir-" she said walking up to street vendor only to get roughly cut off almost instantaneous.

"I'm sorry miss, we be closing here shortly. Not doin' no more bidness for the day," he said in a strange kind of accent that was a little harder for her to understand considering being raised by a noble of sorts had left the girl with a little more of a refined speech pattern. She sighed slightly. Like she didn't already know this was going to happen.

"Pretty please mister, I really need something form the stall," she said her voice taking on a pleading tone. She allowed her eyes to go wide and watery as she begged for the items she needed. Honestly she could get them any other day, but she was gonna need practice doing this if someone half Avriel was gonna go anywhere in this world. She had to one gain a bit of a more positive reputation and secondly learn how to talk with people a little better. Practice was practice and bargaining was something she always needed to work on. She felt guilty if she drove a deal to hard, something she honestly really needed to stop doing.

"I'm sorry miss, but really I gotta close up me shop," he said but the firm look of denial had turned into a softer look of guilt. "I'll tell ye what, if ya come back early in the morning and I'll give ye what ye need," he said still looking a little guilty after he puppy dog eyes.

Nightshade quickly turned to smile of joy over the fact it actually worked (slightly) into a look of pure happiness for the man. "Oh thank you kind sir," she said in a sweet and naive voice. She turned away with a happy smile on her face. Only to end up ramming right into someone else who was doing something with another shop keeper.

[Taarserilla]

Taarserilla had not been in town long, but he knew that one of his first priorities needed to be to sell the furs that he had obtained on his travel to the city. There wasn't much, as he was very firm on only taking what he needed, and thus much of what he trapped was only what he needed for food or other supplies. He honestly didn't really need the gold nel he got from selling the furs, not most of the time anyways. So it meant he often would save up a fair amount. Not much, considering how little he usually had to sell, but that added up eventually, not counting the cost of living expenses of course. Because not even he was free from needing things like a new waterskin after his old one sprung a leak, or taking his horse to get new horseshoes and so on. It meant that any money saved was usually close to nothing, a copper nel here or there really. He had a bit of gold left from the last city he had visited, but every new place he went to recently made him miss home and its beautiful forest gate, the people he grew up with and loved and cared about. But, as much as it made him homesick, it also excited him. There were many new things in the world than what he'd seen or experienced in his few short years in Desmind, and he could only hope that should he be fortunate enough to return as an elder, he would have many stories to share, and maybe even help out a youngling like how he'd been helped into finding his own talent. Carrying the furs he had obtained in the wild in one of his four rucksacks, he made his way to the marketplace with the help of a kindly old woman's directions, to sell what wares that he had today to whosever chose to buy from him.

He went patiently from one vendor to another, a few turned him down outright, but finally he found a merchant who was willing to do business with him. Setting down the rucksack, he opened it to carefully pull out his furs. Many were rabbits, but there was also a fox fur in it from one who had likely chased a rabbit through his trap that had been smart enough or quick enough to go around. He figured he wouldn't get much for the rabbit fur, but he did his best to negotiate nonetheless for a slightly better price. It was just one of many skills that he knew he'd have to improve if he expected to make it anywhere in the world. Especially if he wanted to cross the ocean again to ever go back home, which he did. He had been right in the middle of negotiating a better price on a particular set of the rabbit furs when he suddenly felt a force collide into his back. With a yelp, he tumbled forward, just barely keeping from plowing into the dirt thanks to his hand darting out to grab the edge of the stall to catch himself. He straightened and turned around to look at the woman with large eyes, mouth opening a little to form a small 'o' before his brows furrowed and his head cocked to the side. "Are you alright? You bumped me, but I didn't hit you flailing or anything, did I?" He realized then that he had forgotten the most basic of social etiquette and quickly thrust out a hand. "O-oh! Forgive my manners, I am Taarserilla Dragopsuem!" his hand moved to quickly cross over his chest as he dipped down in a quick bow, trying to be respectful but, as usual, flubbing it up as when he went down, he nearly smacked his head on the vendors stall and he stumbled again, trying to keep from tumbling over as he bobbed upright again with a grin.

[Nightshade Eld]

"Oh no, it's fine, I'm fine," Nightshade said tripping over her words with a small and sheepish grin. "Really I'm fine and it's my fault for bumping into you, are you okay okay?" She asked cautiously. She was taken a little off guard by his sudden introduction. She ducked slightly in embarrassment trying to hide the red tint of her cheeks from the whole endeavor. She smirked a little bit trying to gather that Avriel confidence and pride that usually came in an abundance. But it seemed to be fleeing her now with the mess the situation we turning into. "My name is Nightshade Eld," she said kindly with a smile that was almost like the sun. Without her normal cool demeanor showing on the outside the brightness that was her actual personality seemed to shine through. But she quickly covered that up and tried to recompose herself. Of course that didn't last long. "Oh my gosh!" she gasped when the man nearly knocked himself out on the vendors stall or feel face first into the ground. She reached out to help try and steady him but quickly retracted her hands into the cloak her blush turning an even brighter red. She'd managed to somehow forget the most basic thing of her daily routine for the last couple of days, that being to keep her nails trimmed. Among Avriel Night could be compared to something of a bird of prey. Despite her strong likeness to a human her bird like features still shown through, and those that did were fit for fighting. Sharp claws/talons adorning her hands and feet, powerful leg muscles for lands and shockingly enough good for running (despite the hazards of running with feet like hers) and a larger wing span which allowed her a little more control over her flying. Though she had yet to perfect all the little details of her body.

Often enough she would keep the nails on her hands shortly trimmed. When she reached out of her cloak and you saw massive talons it usually wasn't the best first impression. But she had been in her tent for the last couple of days and those claws helped when all you could do was hunt and eat rabbit until the weather was good enough to head into town and get a job. Sadly the crappy weather meant she had to stay close to home to make sure nothing bad happened to it (frankly the weather seldom bothered her). That meant hunting rabbits. Which wasn't really her forte. She was used to doing jobs and buying the foods she needed. Fortunately half Avriel made her quite accustom to surviving off of meat and she didn't really mind if it was a little charred (the girl was far form the best chef and the only thing she could do herself was stick a piece of meat over a campfire and pray to the immortals she didn't burn it... again). "Sooooo," she said trying to make conversation of any sort and hopefully draw attention away from what a freak she was. He was hopefully not gonna be the first person to sneer at her and walk away from here that day, and the charm he had put forth supported that idealized view. But Night was a cautious one. "What are you doing in town?"

[Taarserilla]

Taarserilla grinned brightly as the girl told him she was fine, glad that ultimately, neither party had been hurt by the event. As the girl spoke, his mind wandered back to when he first arrived in the town. He had thought at first that perhaps they were wary of another species entering the town, but he'd noticed that some of the other merchants had chosen not to trade with him, not because of his race, but because of something else. There was a certain gleam in their eyes, and they were looking around constantly as if fearing someone or something would come and attack them. He wondered on this now, as she spoke, not sure why the merchants would be behaving in such a way. He did not get much word of mouth in the tent he would set up beyond the city limits, and in fact had not been in the cities vicinity for very long at all. He had no idea of the events that had transpired the day before. In fact, if he had, it is likely that he would not have entered the city at all, and if he did, it would have been to help rather than to sell his things. He had more or less all that he needed in the way of food and supplies and only sold the furs because it was more than what he needed. When she asked if he was okay, he grinned and nodded, popping out of his thoughts. "I'm perfectly alright, don't worry. I'm sturdier than I look." he chuckled a little. He cocked his head to the side when she introduced herself, wondering why she hid her hands as he said, "It is nice to meet you, Miss Nightshade Eld.

When she inquired what he was doing in town, he glanced at the merchant and said, "Oh, nothing too fancy, just selling some furs I obtained on the way here. Well....I'm wondering now as well if something happened here. People seem rather skittish....do you know anything about what happened?" he reached up to brush his hair out of his face as he faced her more fully, a hand coming out to rest on the rucksack that had carried the furs that he intended to sell. After she answered, he would finish up his business with the merchant, and perhaps he could walk and talk with Nightshade and see if they could find out what happened. He could only guess that if they were all on edge and nervous, glancing around and anxious, that perhaps an attack of some kind occurred. What kind of attack, he wasn't sure of, though. There were still a great many secrets that this world withheld from him. Which meant there were all kinds of things for him to still discover, which made him excited as his curiosity always pushed him to learn new things and have new experiences.

[Nightshade Eld]

"Ahh," she said with a small nod. She knew the answer to the question a little too well. Stranger races usually get part of the blame when something bad happens. Of course she was no exception. She knew of what had happened the moment she walked into the city and was met by the vicious accusations of one such racist man. "Apparently there was some kind of explosion the other day? I'm not exactly sure how or what happened. All I remember is some kind of race was taking place and there was an attack, though I'm not actually sure an attack of what," she said forgetting to hide her hands as she tapped a claw against her cheek trying to recall what had happened. She quickly upon realizing her flub retracted her hand into her cloak with an embarrassed look. "I don't know the full details because I've been hidden in my tent outside of town for the last couple of days. Though I'm curious too. For one because if I can help then I'd love too, and for another because not all people in this town are the kindest to... my kind," she said glancing downwards noticing her pointed claws coming out the very bottom of her cloak and the starts of her very bird like feet. A harpy with arms would be the best comparison one could make of Nightshade's appearance. "Oh, and if you want you can just call me Night. I honestly prefer it," she said. She made sure not to bring up she liked Night better than Nightshade because the strange looks she got from botanists. Some people jumped conclusions about her when they found out her name is one of the deadliest known flowers in the world.

"You should finish up whatever you're trying to do here and then we can scout around to try and figure out what's happened, okay?" She asked with a warm smile and a curious tilt of her head, and old habit that made her look even more like a bird. She continued to watch Taar trying to assess him. The way he talked, moved, acted, it was good practice to try and figure out a person through their actions. So far her assessment of Taar was pretty positive, and he seemed to have a positive view of her. Maybe she had finally found a companion? Even if only temporary.

[Taarserilla]

Taarserilla cocked his head to the side curiously as she nodded, wondering what she knew that he did not with only the simplest of curiosity reflected in his gaze. At her mention of an explosion, his eyes widened, jaw dropping as he stared at her, then quickly looked around. "An explosion? But how?" he wondered aloud, unable to fathom what could cause an explosion large enough to put people so on edge, and if it was that large, how any part of the city was still standing. He didn't know anything about any kind of race, but the thought of people hurt or suffering because of this explosion made him want to find out more about what happened and help in any way he could, though he wasn't sure if there was much that he could do. He noted with interest and curiosity when he saw a claw instead of regular fingers. Now that was new, and as was the usual for Taarserilla, new meant immense curiosity and wanting to ask many questions. But he also had respect for others, and from the way she was hiding herself beneath her cloak, he realized she probably wouldn’t appreciate him bombarding her with questions about her species and decided to keep quiet in that regard. At least for now, perhaps if they became friends she would feel more comfortable, but that remained to be seen. When she mentioned her kind, he got curious all over again, and had to bite his lip to keep quiet on the questions bubbling in him, glancing at his familiar and watching her frolic around his legs for a moment before looking up at her once more. He smiled when she said to call her Night and he said, “Well, if I can call you Night, then you can call me Taar for short. Taarserilla is a bit of a mouthful, I know.” he chuckled a little, then flushed as he realized he got entirely sidetracked from his own sale on his wares.

“Ah….right….” he gave a sheepish glance towards the merchant, who was starting to look rather disgruntled. This would make negotiating a decent price a little harder. But, Taarserilla was good at one thing, and that was being rather friendly. Instead of jumping right into the deal, he chatted the merchant up first, asking after his family, wishing the town the best, and so on. Just small talk to smooth things over. After a few minutes, he broached the subject of his furs and the merchant buying them. He pulled out the furs to put them on display for the merchant to look over, talking up his product, showing how clean the kill was and how the fur was relatively undamaged thanks to the traps he used. The original price of the furs the merchant was going to give him was only 3cn, but after talking up his furs and showing the good quality that came from young animals in their prime (not in mating season of course, he never hunted during the mating season of animals). With some coaxing and careful words, he managed to raise the price to 5 copper nel and took it at that, receiving a total of 15 copper nels for all three of his furs. Pocketing the money, he thanked the merchant and grabbed his rucksack, slinging it over his shoulder and turning to face Night once more. With a grin adorning his face at the idea of making a new friend, he said, “Shall we begin?"

[Nightshade Eld]

A smile crept across her face. Obviously Taar had never met an Avriel before, or if he had not a half breed. After all her wings were a pretty dead give away. She had noticed a spark of curiosity in his eyes but she brushed it off. Explaining would take far too much time. "Now then, you should really know the full brunt of the situation. From what I've figured out from the actions of various guards there was some kind of event yesterday, a big one. The event somehow one way or another turned into an attack of some sort, though I'm not sure of the specific details on what the attack was. All I know is that yesterday I avoided town and stayed in the air to watch for the most part. I did try to get in between a couple of, stick situations. But for the most part I tried to stay out of the way. It was absolutely pandemonium from what I could see. Looting, slaughter, panic. As you can tell it's more or less put everyone on edge. So I say we go around town trying to figure out what happened and helping everyone that we can," she said with a chipper grin her eyes glittering. She wasn't really thinking about a reward for helping, she was more or less thinking about making herself a commonly noticeable power for good within the city. She had been doing her best beforehand to try and earn herself some positive fame and make herself a good name for helping out. Of course her race meant she was starting with a negative name already, so she had to try and balance thing out before things actually got positive.

The entire time she was talking she had been leading Taar through the city. Only to come to a place she didn't quite recognize. "Oh, crap," she said cringing slightly. "Aaaaaaaaaaaaaand we're lost," she said with a roll of her eyes and blunt tone. "I'm sorry," she said turning towards Taar. The part of town they were in looked kind of doggy. Building a little too close together and those that were apart had very dark ally's. The people who walked down the streets looked like the kind of people who would drag you down an ally to mug you. "Stay... close to me," she said glancing around and meeting a couple pair of eyes. She straightened her back walked a little more elegance and strength to her stride. She walked with her head up and made sure that her stance spoke of one who knew how to fight and protect herself. She kept a hand under her cloak rested upon her blade. A couple looked away but some eyes still followed her.

[Taarserilla]

Taar had not met many other species while he was on the road, or at least, not many who didn't look like normal humans. He was starting to realize now that the bulges that were on her back were not humps but rather something else entirely, though what it was he was not sure since they were hidden beneath her cloak. The talons she had were some kind of clue, but his knowledge of the other races was not as large as other people's could be. He'd spent his entire life in Desnind until recently, after all. And it was not often that he heard stories of the other races. His mind returning to the current issue, he listened to what she was saying and understood even more why everyone was on edge. He'd felt the rumblings himself a trial or two away from the town, but he hadn't known it originated in Etzos. "I agree, we should go around and see if we can do anything to help the citizens in the town. I'm sure they would appreciate a helping hand versus looters." he said, following her as they spoke.

Having only just arrived in town himself, when she said they were lost, he grinned and said, "Sorry, that was probably my fault." Knowing that would make no sense, since she was the one leading the way, he added, "I have this bad luck of always getting lost when I first enter a city, I think it rubbed off on you while we were talking, or maybe I have a bubble of bad luck or something." he laughed a little and ran a hand through his long hair. He didn't seem to notice that they had moved to a bad side of town, as he looked at her, wondering if they could retrace their steps. When she said to stay close to her, he looked around and realized that a few people were eyeing them as though they wanted to take their things. He was glad his coin purse was hidden out of sight, though now he wished that he had stowed it down his trousers. It was a place that he hoped most wouldn't think to stick their hands down, hence why he did it.

[Nightshade Eld]

Night had a similar way of hiding her coin. Woman had it easier than men when it came to hiding coin in such places. Chests were so much more convenient. "Do you know how to fight? It's fine if you don't. I should be able to handle things for both of us as long as nothing too horrible happens," she said quietly keeping her stature strong. She wasn't the most intimidating person in the world. In fact she wasn't intimidating what so ever. But she knew how to act like it at a distance. She pulled her wings a little closer as a man approached the pair. "Hey there, where you two off to?" He said in a rough sounding voice. A dirty and long decayed smile parting his lips in more of a viper like sneer. A poorly disguised look of malice and greed was on his features, people wore it around these parts like a badge of honor. And those who didn't wear one were free game. Night sneered trying to look frightening, but she didn't pull it off all too well. The look was half baked. It would of been so much easier and far less hassle to skip this little game of intimidation and get right to the part where she knocked his lights out. But at least she knew enough tact to understand the importance of it and see how this little game could decrease the amount of conflict and bloodshed. At least on the part of the victims of these attacks. Unfortunately Night had never been one to back down from this kind of thing. A stubborn nature combined with highly valued morals led to this kind of thing. "None of your business," she snapped at him baring her teeth in an almost animal like style. A flash of a more feral nature to the girl danced in her eyes and the man actually had a spark of doubt in his eyes to how the situation would pan out. None the less he persisted quickly pushing the feeling down to Night's anger.

"Oh, but it's more my business than you might think. In fact my business focuses all around people, what their doing... their wealth and beauty," he said sizing Night up a little more. Letting his eyes linger a little too long on the outlines of her feminine figure against the cloak. Night wasn't one of the most beautiful people in the world, but she was certainly above average. She had an hour glass figure and the colors of her hair, eyes, and skin all matched rather well. It wouldn't be too extravagant a jump to call her beautiful if you ignored her legs and wings, which was in all true honesty the only reason she didn't get flirted with more. "Well my business is keeping people like you where you belong. And I don't think you belong in my business," she snapped a little louder than she intended. Which unfortunately drew a couple more pairs of eyes. Damn it, there goes my big mouth making things worse she thought to herself cringing slightly. "Taar, be ready to either run away or get out of the way," she whispered quietly to her companion. Her wings began to brace for quick release. Her most powerful ally and dangerous weapon in most battles. She herself moved her sword arm into close range of the weapon bracing the rest of her body for some kind of attack. A couple more men meandered over with the same kind of greedy lusty look plastered across their disgusting mugs. They all made Night sick. She was almost glad she was gonna get a chance to wail on them.

[Niv]

Nightshade

Knowledge:

N/A

Loot: 

N/A

Injuries: 

N/A

Fame:

N/A

Magic:

These points can NOT be used for Domain Magic

Devotion:

N/A

Skill Points: 

15

Notes: 

Its a shame this couldn’t get finished I think it had potential. I also know it can be nearly impossible to wrap up some threads without your partner, so i’m glad you can get some points from it at least.


Art credit to Yoshitaka Amano