Kaili Hart

"Come on! Don't be shy! It's only a hundred-foot drop if you miss!"

- Kaili, giving what she sees as encouragement

Kaili Hart is a 2nd year student at Beacon as the fourth member of Team NTHK, her partner being Tsubaki Silvius. She is also the cousin of Zircona Hart and longtime friend of Ember Maerts. Despite her relationship to Zircona, Kaili is not a Faunus. Her weapons are a pair of sai, while her symbol is a skull and crossbones with four dark green leaves around it, which have silver bands on the side facing the skull.

Appearance
Kaili, overall, has quite the rebellious look - which doesn't start with her clothes. Rather, it starts with her stance - and her often intimidating gold eyes. A lot of people think it seems like she's watching their every move - adding in her angled features makes some think that Kaili believes she's the queen of the world. Her long, black hair is worn down, with two braids on either side that go around and connect in the back, coming together into one braid, along with another, smaller braid on the left, and long bangs that cover her right eye. She also has an olive complexion.

Kaili's rebellious looks don't stop there. When out of Beacon uniform, she wears a dark green cape over a silver camisole, pinned on her left shoulder with a silver pin. Over her camisole, but under her cape, Kaili wears a brown belt/sash with a lot of pockets. On her head she wears a triangular, dark green tricorne pirate hat trimmed with silver. On her wrists are silver bands, two dark green leaves sprouting from each, facing upwards. To complete her outfit, Kaili wears fitting black jean capris, and gold, inch-high heeled sandals. Kaili also wears silver skull and crossbones stud earrings.

As Silver Shadow, Kaili wears a dark green camisole that stops a bit above her belly button and a shiny, gold mini-skirt. Around her waist is a brown belt, slightly slanted, with sheaths for Yín and Jīn on either side. Over all of it she wears a silver cape with black trim, pinned right above her collarbone with a gold pin, inlaid with dark green emeralds on either side. On her feet are a pair of black boots with inch-high heels going up to her mid-thighs, while on her head she wears a silver, black-trimmed tricorne pirate hat. She also pulls up her hair into a ponytail, leaving the braid and her bangs, and keeps her stud earrings and bracelets.

Personality
Kaili's confidence in herself definitely doesn't take away the image of a royal snob - in fact, it often comes across as arrogance because people already have that image of her in their mind. Add the fact that Kaili couldn't give a crap about what others think of her, and the image just sours more.

Also quite reckless, Kaili has no thought for her own personal safety, jumping into any fray without a second thought. It won't matter what others say or do - nothing stops her from getting into a good brawl. Beware, though - Kaili loves a challenge, and will often complain if the fight was too easy. Loudly.

Often sarcastic and blunt, Kaili can come across as very mean. Others see her sarcasm as wit, and her bluntness as honesty. Also expect her speech to be peppered with lots of bad words.

Kaili loves to play practical jokes (or any kind of joke, really) and pranks, and make people annoyed or startled. If you see anything in her hands that looks weird or strange, or doesn't seem to fit together in any way, get away as fast as possible - especially if she's walking straight toward you with a grin on her face. You DO NOT want to be around for her pranks.

That said, Kaili is also one of those people who loves to use things in ways their inventors never intended. You can give her almost anything, and she'll find a completely different/bizarre/weird purpose for it. This, combined with her imagination, gives birth to some very bizarre pranks.

Speaking of her imagination, Kaili is often imagining things. If she's not starting a fight, playing a prank, or up to one of her other activities, you can bet she'll be lounging around somewhere, staring off into space as she imagines scenarios. Her imagination, though, can be quite... disturbing, to say the least. Also, don't interrupt her while she's doing so - she'll be quite pissed.

However, Kaili hides quite a few secrets deep in her heart, and has cried herself to sleep more than once over her biggest - her brother, whom she's vowed keep searching for till her last breath. She refuses to let anyone see her cry, though; she manages to keep a straight face even in the face of things that remind her of her brother or her parents. That said, Kaili has not told a soul other than Ember and Isolde about her full past - Ozpin doesn't count, since he always seems to know everything.

History
Kaili was born to Bardon Hart and his wife, Selena Idahnou-Hart (Idahnou was her maiden name), on the island of Hammerhead Cove. She later became an older sister when her brother, Wolfram, was born. The family of four lived a happy life, for a while.

When Kaili was six, a house fire burnt their house to the ground, with her parents and younger brother inside. Though her parents' bodies were found, her brother's never was. Officials assumed his body had been burnt to ashes in the fire, but Kaili refused to believe that. She wouldn't believe he was dead until she saw his body for herself.

(Note: Rest to be revised)

As such, Kaili took to a life of living on the streets, refusing to be put in an orphanage. Eventually, she gained enough credence to have several mercenary/criminal groups offer her a place in their organizations, to which Kaili "politely" declined. Soon enough, word of her got around, and the names "Silver Shadow" and "Silverstar" could be heard spoken by many a person hailing from Hammerhead Cove.

At 14, Kaili managed to purchase a ship of her own, after calling in some favors and other activities that would be illegal if she were anywhere other than the Cove. She named it Wolf Raven, and soon set sail for Vale, a place she had only heard about from other residents of Hammerhead. Since she'd had no luck finding her brother in the Cove, Kaili decided he must have gone somewhere else. How, she didn't know, but she knew she wasn't going to find him at the Cove.

Once in Vale, Kaili's routine as Silver Shadow/Silverstar began again. What she didn't anticipate, though, were the authorities. For the Cove didn't really have any laws against anything, meaning anyone could do whatever they really wanted there. In Vale, though, it was a completely different story, and she got caught quite a few times during her first few months. Somehow, though, Kaili always managed to give them the slip. Realizing she'd have to come up with a fake real name, she started passing herself off as Jade Sterling whenever the authorities pushed her on who she was.

After staying in Vale for a little while, Kaili traveled to Patch. There, she met a girl named Ember Maerts, who soon became her best friend. She learned the tomboy went to Signal, a combat school for those who wanted to become Huntsmen and Huntresses. Interested in the prospect, Kaili asked Ember about it. She also helped the tomboy build her weapons, Hot Havoc and Hot Secrets.

Having learned much about Huntsmen, Huntresses, Grimm, and the schools that trained the former two, Kaili decided she wanted to experience it for herself. Plus, she figured it would give her free-reign to search for her brother around Vale - without having to deal with the law. Ember recommended Beacon to her, and Kaili agreed. Soon after, Ember began teaching Kaili what she knew.

A year later, Kaili met a black panther Faunus, who introduced herself as Zircona Hart. Kaili was surprised, but soon learned that they were related through their grandparents. Happy to have found a living relative, Kaili revealed most of her history to the young girl. They became quite close quickly.

When it came time to go to Beacon, though, Ember came to Kaili, saying she was going to go to Haven instead, so as to search for her father there. Kaili, understanding, gave her support, though also told the tomboy to keep an eye out for Kaili's younger brother. Ember promised to do both, and they parted ways.

Kaili then went through the initiation test for Beacon, getting accepted to the school and becoming part of Team NTHK, leaving her ship in the care of her first-mate. A year went by, with Kaili keeping in touch with Ember and her crew. She hasn't made much progress in her search, but won't give up.

After the Fall of Beacon, Kaili took her team back to Hammerhead Cove.

Relationships

 * Zircona is Kaili's younger cousin, and her only known living relative. She's confessed many things to the panther-tailed Faunus, but not as much as she has to her best friend. Kaili loves Zircona, and is paranoid about losing her only relative. She's been trying to work up the courage to talk to Zircona about her brother, but hasn't been able to yet.
 * Kaili sees her first-mate, Isolde, as the younger sister she never had. (More TBA)
 * Ember is her best friend. They keep in touch, but Kaili doesn't really communicate much of the more personal stuff anymore, preferring to do that face-to-face. Ember is someone she can confide in - in fact, Ember knows more of Kaili's deepest secrets than Zircona. She even knows about Wolf, something Kaili hasn't told anyone else, making Ember the only one Kaili can talk to about her full past. They also tease each other a lot, Kaili usually starting it.
 * Kaili respects her leader, Nile, but usually finds his plans to be too complicated, often making remarks about them. In fact, she rarely follows them, not only because she doesn't want to, but because she likes seeing Nile annoyed. In fact, she makes a point of trying to rile him up.
 * Tsubaki is Kaili's partner, and is still a mystery to her even after having been with the calm girl for a year. Kaili has tried numerous times to startle the girl, but Tsubaki seems to have a sixth sense, alerting her to the rebellious girl's attempts and often stopping them right in their tracks with a elegant, if sometimes blunt, comment. Tsubaki sometimes even stops Kaili's attempts to startle Hirsch and make Nile angry, which annoys Kaili in turn, and often still startles Hirsch or makes Nile annoyed anyway.
 * Kaili finds Hirsch to be quite boring, as he always has his nose in a book. She's always teasing him about the fact he's a Huntsman-in-training yet doesn't like adventure. She also enjoys startling him, though finds it to be WAY too easy to do, which she dislikes, often telling him to toughen up.

Weapon
Kaili's weapons are named Yín (银) and Jīn (金), or Silver and Gold. They're a pair of sai - one silver, the other gold. Both of their hilts are wrapped in a dark green leather.

Unlike most weapons in the RWBYVerse, Yín and Jīn don't have any special features - nor can they transform. There is no Dust in their hilts, nor is their space for Dust there. They are simply sai.

Sai, for those who don't know, are a variety of sword. But instead of crosspieces, they have curved prongs that can be used to catch an opponent's weapon or block an attack. Though, true to form, Kaili uses them in other ways as well.

Semblance
Kaili has not found her Semblance yet, which isn't much of a surprise if you consider the fact she never went to a combat school before Beacon.

Abilities
Kaili relies on acrobatics and speed to jump around the battlefield and avoid enemies. These two abilities also make Kaili a skilled practitioner of parkour. Some have even declared her to be part cat, which is completely untrue. Rather, her skill comes from practice - practice she had on the streets of Hammerhead Cove and Vale.

Kaili, like many from Hammerhead Cove, knows how to work a ship - all parts of a ship, though she's most content at the helm. She's an excellent navigator, having memorized constellation positions and whatnot. And of course, she carries her own compass as well.

To Kaili, Yín and Jīn are extensions of herself, and she uses them with practiced ease. And true to her nature, she also uses them in ways never intended. For example, she's been known to throw them at her opponents, and use the space between the blade and the curved prongs to catch things like someone's wrist. Her fighting style, naturally, revolves around offsetting her opponents and catching them off-guard.

Kaili has a natural tolerance for pain, as well as a lot of willpower. This means she has quite a bit of endurance in a fight. In fact, she's stated herself that she doesn't care if her Aura breaks - she'll keep fighting till she can't anymore.

Trivia/Author's Notes

 * Kaili comes from Kaila/Kelila, meaning "crown of laurel" in Hebrew. Laurel refers to shrubs or plants with dark green leaves.
 * Her theme (not song theme) is Pirate/Islander, with a little Okinawan mixed in.
 * Sai are weapons used in Okinawan martial arts.


 * Surprisingly, despite her theme, she isn't alluded to an islander or a pirate at all. In fact, she alludes to one of my previous OCs, not for RWBY, named Jade Sterling.
 * This is shown in her identity of Silver Shadow/Silverstar, for those are also Jade's alias. It's also shown in the first part of Kaili's history, which is quite similar to Jade's. Part of Kaili's personality also comes from this basis.


 * Kaili is pronounced kai-lee. In other words, like Kylee.
 * Bardon is my twist of Brandon, meaning "hill covered with broom", while Selena is a variant of Selene, which means "moon".
 * Wolf Raven, Kaili's ship, is named after the meaning of her brother's name, as Wolfram literally means "wolf raven".