#musing;

Weapons, techniques etc. 

You could say Nora's first experiences with fighting were fistfights. She learned to use her fists to express her anger and frustration already at a young age abd they are still her prefered way of fighting. Later she learned kick-boxing and self-defence techniques that are taught at the LEA academy. Her biggest advantage in a fight against a superior opponent is her agility and speed of action as well as her talent of improvisation to change tack. She used to learn to fight against Elementalists in the manner of getting out of the way of their attacks (like fireballs and so on) and force them into a close-combat fight. A strongarm can be difficult since she needs to be careful not to take serious hits that would knock her out right away. When it comes to opponents with magic like mental manipulation etc. she has no chance and tries ro stay away from species with that kind of magic as much as possible.

When it comes to weapons she mostly uses knives, bow and arrows. She learned to use all kinds if weapons during her time at the LEA academy, but her father already noticed, when she was still a child, that Nora has great aptitude for archery. By now she is a great archer, who never miss the target. Knives are used by her in close-combat fights. A verbal sparring with Nora will end up quickly in a fight, since Nora will always uses her fists as response due to her lack of self-control because of her agression problem. Her endurance during a fight is trained and high. She knows her personal limit very well and paces herself correspondingly. She can endure a lot of pain - she is used to it- and it is also am impulse for her from within that makes her feel the most lively during a fight, bevause of the rush of adrenaline and so on. Her success rate is high - she needs to win- failure can be deadly in her profession and way of living. Does not mean she never lose a fight. It happens at times, of course, but you better don't meet her on the streets after a lost fight...

Shifting abilities

In her youth Nora had only little relation to her shifter side. Her parents tried to help her, but they weren't well informed about it either. So she didn't choose an animal till her early twenties - a black cat. She noticed the elegance and agility, with which cats are moving on, especially while climbing, and thought that cat like reflexes and agility would be a great addition to her own abilities. Also because of her doing free running (parkour) and due to cats inbuilt balancing system they always land on their feet. On top of that cat eyes can see better in the dark than human eyes and thinking of Nora's later development of profession it is really helpful.

                                                                        so tightly in our fists

                             and refuse to ever let it go

we don't even bat an eye when our palms start bleeding