The Sixth Sense [Jared]

[Salen]

56th Ash, 4622

Bang Bang BANG...

The sound of intensive training could be heard from the other students that Andre had been taking on; some were obviously paid militant families who needed to them to learn the art of war if they were to verse themselves in the Candor, others were fellow Corvo who had disguised their appearances. He had just finished his class as Salen waited outside the training room of the house "That's all... Be sure you practice..." He heard him say as he witnessed the others leaving. Salen eventually made his way forward as he nodded towards Andre.

The room appeared to be laid out from the previous session as Andre moved the training dummies aside; it appeared that the room had been cleared from any obstructions as the exercise that he had planned required alot more space. Andre acknowledged Salen's presence as he was clearing the way for his lesson as his voice boomed assertively and loudly "On time I see this time..."

"Aren't I always?" Salen retorted.

"When you want to be... Here..." He threw him a black ribbon that looked like some form of blindfold. Salen was confused for a moment as he tilts his head, furrowing his eyebrows in abject confusion "Wha... What's this?"

"It's a blindfold... Today is about sensory deprivation, using the senses to detect danger and being prepared for anything like that." Andre placed his hands behind his back and maintained an almost authoritarian military position as he walked up to Salen; he was disciplined but his student had a lot to learn so it seemed "Some call this the sixth sense, but I call it discipline..."

"Sounds challenging..." Salen seemed worried at first, he had never done anything like this and his anxiety showed with his ever-present frown.

"Stop frowning... You'll break your face; it'll get easier the more you understand it, you might be a punching bag for a while but... You'll be able to defend against it..."

"That sounds reassuring, I... I brought Jared along if that's alright... He should be here."

"Already taking Rene's advice I see..." Andre smirked.

"Yeah..."

[Gloomcrest]

Taking a moment to listen to his surroundings; the amber-eyed thief couldn’t help but hear the sounds of padded armour being beaten as loud thuds & whacks. It still amazes the petty thief how a well-structured training ground can provide so much space & tools to learn & hone people’s skills when it comes to combat in all its shapes and sizes.

From the smallest & nimble quickly tumbling out away from a blunted arrow to the brawny brutes that swing a club with excessive force; Jared could immediately see the value of having a sparring partner since it was harder to make split-making decisions against a living being compared to a make-shift dummy made of hay, wood & rags that doesn’t even move or strike back.

“Lots of people… Wonder where they all come from….”

The citrine-eyed chef couldn’t help but ponder that question as it isn’t easy to find such proving grounds to work with, significantly since thieves don’t generally gain access to military-style training for the most part. Most thieves are self-taught for self-defence, but it could also be who is backing you up that affects how one can attain such resources.

It was only then that the thief realised that one of Salen’s buddies was here, instructing a bundle of students; Something did catch the thief’s prospecting eye as he noted that the gear that the majority of the folks. The quality was that of steel or even obsidian which was already something that could fetch a fair price, but for the most part, it seemed that it was mainly for show & that wooden weapons were being used for the actual training.

For a moment, Jared kept to himself as best as he could; blending in the shadows with his usual dark clothing that is laced with a thin sheen of umbralplasm, carefully altering the light in such a way that he could blend in the dark with his Obscura as he was in unfamiliar grounds. Jared noted that manifesting his Obscura was getting easier with each passing day, possibly due to his advancement in his abilities with Nightfall.

As Salen conversed with Andre about fighting while blind, the thief couldn’t help but ponder for a moment about his capabilities with Gloom, making the surrounding area darken. At the same time, not pitch black like the void itself; it was dark enough to cause visual perception be hindered.

For a moment, Jared heard his name being called out, which caused his citrine-coloured eyes to stare towards the two. From another’s perspective, a shadowy figure with striking eyes was keeping their distance & watching quietly.

[Salen]

Andre inspected them both as he was preparing the targets ready for a lesson, knowing he had changed their mind "Take your blindfolds off for a moment" He said as he prepared the two for another sport of ranged weaponry: Archery. Salen watched Andre at the moment as he crossed his arms, leaning on a target. He eventually placed a painting of Dahlia Senerite's head in the middle as he raised an eyebrow for a moment "The exercise today is a simple ranged weaponry exercise. Archery is one of the lethal and most useful weapons of utility in your arsenal, it can blend well with both of you magics; after all, you're both Nightfallen I don't see why not this wouldn't be a useful technique to show you." He said nodding as he handed Salen and Jared two recurve bows.

Salen looked at Andre for a moment as he pulled the bowstring back, tilting his head as he tested the strength. He glanced up at Andre as he listened intensely, before he was given a quiver of arrows to practice. Synthar enters the room and nods at Andre "I'm here just in case any accidents happen, but I will be out of the way of fire, I've seen arrows ricochet."

"And end up straight in my chest like last time... A mentalist tried to use her weave to control it, although she was a very unstable woman..." He uttered the situation before glancing back at Salen. He grabbed himself a bow and stood at the central target "Posture is key, front foot forward, other foot behind, arm out in front, arrow slotted between the key of the bowstring, then pull up front arm show be extended. Pull back the string with your elbow extending upwards and then... Release" He explained in consecutive steps as he followed own instructions, pulling back the strength with his elbow high and then releasing the string, watching the arrow hitting the middle of Dahlia's nose.

"Oww... My beautiful face..." Synthar spoke in a feminine way as if he was mocking the Black Dahlia herself "Looks like I need another facial to cover up all the mess I have made..."

Andre turned to Synthar with a serious look as the room appeared to be quiet and tense "Your turn, Salen..." He said as he stepped forward on the central panel, nervous as it was his first time engaging in some kind of sport, he took his bow, connecting the arrow to the key before aiming it at the shot. Andre watched as he appeared to not be in the correct posture, before he fired, watching the arrow go to the side of his. The larger male sighed as he walked up to Salen, beginning to micromanage his position "Right foot forward, left foot at the back..."

"I'm left handed, isn't it the opposite?"

"Oh, you're left handed? I apologise... Left foot forward, right foot behind, like so... raise your elbow a bit higher when you fire again."

Salen nodded, this time holding the shot and taking his time to readjust his positioning; the half Sil'Norai took a deep breath and stared at the target, positioning himself for a while as he let go of the shot, watching the arrow tear through Andre's and hitting straight on top of his.

"Well done, next, is Jared..." He said as Salen stepped off the central platform.

[Gloomcrest]

Taking a moment to lean his back against a nearby wall, making sure that he was at an angle that he could observe the training grounds with a broad enough view to react & conduct his survey. Listening carefully to what Andre had to say, the thief merely nodded as he understood that while yes, Nightfall allows a wide variety of tools to work with & enhancing the capacity of whatever the user’s weapon of choice is. The amber-eyed thief could not help but furrow his brows at Andre as he talked about needing to train in archery.

“Well… This is going to be a grand time….”

The alistian vagabond mutters to himself as he is handed a recurve bow. While the rogue didn’t mind using an array of weapons, never in his life had he ever used a bow; In fact, most of Jared’s weapon choices tended to be close-quarter & mid-range style combat, such as clubs & daggers.

Taking a moment to examine the bow, Jared took the time to understand how the weapon worked as he tried his best to approach it with his short stature. Testing the tension of the bowstring, it becomes clear that a sufficient amount of force would be required to maintain pulling the string back while needing to aim the bow.

His concentration was broken as another voice echoed in the training grounds; taking a moment to look around the room, Jared’s citrine gaze landed upon Synthar, who had just entered the room explaining how injuries with flying arrows do occur and that someone attempted to use a Weave to control it. Something about this so-called Weave confuses the thief, but he could only chalk it up to something related to a technique or arcane ability in another branch of magic.

Conjuring up a spinning top made of Umbralplasm, Jared takes the tip of the makeshift toy, squatting close to the ground before twisting the crown before the toy begins to spin rapidly. Despite playing around, the thief was listening to Andre’s instructions about how to position one’s body to determine the accuracy of one’s shot & that there was a proper way to load & notch an arrow in a bow.

The slight mockery in the room does lift the tension by a small amount. Still, Jared knew that despite everyone in the room's tense nature, the thief was already conducting additional plans to further his training by any means necessary. In this case, Jared had been quietly training his mastery over Umbralplasm when he believed he was alone to try.

As Salen was getting up onto the centre stage and preparing his shots with the arrow in hand with the aid of Andre assisting him with proper positioning & technique, Jared was kind of surprised to learn that Salen was left-handed but then again, who is he to judge as the amber-eyed thief was ambidextrous through gruelling amounts of training since being flexible with both hands proves to be helpful time and time again.

With his attention being drawn back to the spinning top that continues to rotate; the nightfallen scoundrel takes a moment to focus his gaze on the rotating top, listening carefully to what his soul & mark of control was telling him to do; An image of a veil that covers an item out of view was the first thought as if the umbralplasm shutters for a moment.

Within the blink of an eye, Jared subconsciously used Enshroud on the spinning top vanished, but the sounds of its tip dancing across the ground still could be heard. Blinking for a bit as his eyes attempted to register what just happened, Jared’s concentration was broken once again as Andre called out for him to get his ass over to the stage and in that brief moment; the spinning top appeared back where it casually spins about but flickering between being physically visible & vanishing, leaving a minor gravitational warping effect when someone tries to look at.

“Alright… Let's see me fail terribly at this… Never really used a bow in my life, so this is going to be a fun & dangerous moment in history….”

The masked thief chuckles as he positions himself as instructed, relatively unstable as he was not used to using a bow in the first place & attempting to pull the bowstring proves to be quite tricky as his stamina has been considerably drained from his recovery process over his Mageblight.