Venturing this far from the lands she'd become more familiar with, the viper had come to disguise her scent in her new chosen way of rotting wood and fungi- so if anyone did scent her- she smelled of the decay of the forest, and not of any particular pride. It did little good to bring trouble to Wolfbron's borders at this point in time, and so she explored.

The jungle here was ripe with poisons- bright blistering plants that she could use to cripple, make ill, or even kill another with. She studied one in particular- something she drew from the recesses of her memory- though she wasn't exactly sure what it could do... at its most potent. Poison Devil's Pepper.

She grinned, when she found some- silently picking some of the berries, and collecting them at her paws, and she worked then in silence- collecting a large pile of them and then she picked a large leaf to wrap them in so that it wouldn't get in her mouth by accident, before she set off... heading to another plant to begin the process in silence once more.

@Hadiya

ART BY MOOGLE, CODE BY LARS

Though her steps are ever dogged by a distant sense of uncertainty that refuses to remain buried beneath the sands of her mind where she'd left it, there still exist simple little joys that Hadiya cannot hold herself back from.

The jungle houses many exotic-smelling wonders, many densely foliaged sections housing a near-intoxicating mess of sweet, flowery fragrances and earthy aromas. Though the rainforest has gradually grown more familiar to her senses, these scents fascinate her endlessly. A welcome distraction, perhaps, from her thoughts of all the seaside treasures that had been lost to her alongside the Cove. A pastime that allows her to feel the absence of her aunt, who was so knowledgeable about these things, a little less keenly.

It's not that irresponsible to put aside her perpetual searching and haunting visions for a few moments, is it? Amongst other things, Hadi understands that she is meant to heal, that this is one of the roles that had been set for her long before the day of her birth. She should maintain her studies as she can, so that she'll all that much more skilled when her kin finally return to her side.

The young seeress is nosing amongst a clump of branches that bear large, oval-like leaves (Crabwood, though she does not recall the name), snapping off a few stems with sharp clicks of her teeth when the scent the plant bears registers as faintly medicinal, and faintly familiar. Yet before she can ponder more upon the memory, the sightless girl is alerted by a faint rustle somewhere off to the side, prompting her to flare her nostrils wide - but she smells only the forest, its life and its decay. "Hello?" She tries, voice light and curious, temporarily leaving her little bundle of stems to the side as she moves to poke her head curiously through the dense foliage, ears swiveling in the direction of the light footsteps she's near certain she'd heard.

Never does it cross the girl's mind that perhaps she'd have been better off concealed.

@Helah

+5 Study the flora of a neutral territory
+5 Collect herbs

ART BY IRISH / CODING BY SENTINEL

Content in silence, she works with quick and deft paws- harvesting as much as she can into the leaf. Careful, so very careful with what she exposes herself to. Yet, there is a faint sound, as if a whisper in the natural world around her... she isn't alone, is she? Not anymore. Helah's nostrils flare, ever so slightly, as she takes in the world around her in a deep soft inhale, and there it is- a subtle scent that is almost overpowered by the poison before her. Her eyes narrowing, she raises her head, just as a voice calls out- 'Hello?'

Helah's rosy eyes track the area around her, until she finds the voice's owner, and her gaze narrows slightly. She takes her in, watching her silently. Warm grays and browns, not unattractive, but young-looking. Helah stares for a moment longer, and then shrugs slightly, before she speaks, her voice sickeningly sweet. "Hello dear."

Time to put her most innocent devious face forward.

@Hadiya

ART BY MOOGLE, CODE BY LARS

For a moment, there is little more to return her greeting besides the gentle rustling of the breeze through leaves. Hadiya steps forward a bit, head tilting in different directions, before a new voice sings through the chilled air to answer her. So sweet and drawling are @Helah's words, that perhaps Hadi might find her decadent cadence a bit unusual, if only the girl didn't find all those others who spoke the common tongue to sound a bit strange. It's always so different from her own accented tones, which hints of a distant, exotic land never seen by her own generation.

"I thought I heard something. Hello!" She repeats, though the word is far more confident and purposeful now that she knows the other woman indeed exists. The seeress stepped the rest of the way out from the undergrowth them, a gentle, friendly smile curving her lips as she took the other's apparent lack of any hostility to be an invitation to approach.

The stranger really does smell much like the jungle itself, Hadi notes with flared nostrils, the most defining notes of the woman's scent all but buried beneath the exotic perfumes. "Oh! Are you interested in the rainforest's plants too?" There is a specific aroma that is particularly heavy, unfamiliar and yet fairly prevalent within this the space. Curiosity draws Hadi's reaching nose away from the direction of the woman's unseen pelt and towards the wrapped bundles at her feet, where the unknown scent had been concentrated most heavily.

ART BY IRISH / CODING BY SENTINEL

The silence in the air is heavy, and yet it is as familiar to her as her own shadow. She studies the earthen hued lioness shrewedly, noting that as her head turns towards her... there is something... off in the way she seems to look at her. Yet, for the moment, Helah hasn't quite determined what it is. She returns the greeting with the same false cheerfulness- not of Rosette this time but of a new alias she is crafting... Camilla. A name she remembers from her childhood- and surely not one used in this land? And if it was... what a unique sort of concicdence.

"Hi!" Helah offered brightly, hoping her tone conveyed false cheer and warmth. "My name is Camilla. What's yours?" She asks. What better way to get information than with honey instead of something sour? She beams with her words, hoping to convey that she is indeed serious... but it isn't until the other looks down but not... at least from Helah's viewpoint directly at her poisions...

She is blind?

Well, that made the whole faking thing easier, didn't it?

Helah's gaze traveled down to the plants at her paws, and she sees a sinister thought forming in her mind, and yet- she merely smiles as she speaks. "I am indeed. Are you?" A question that she hopes is taken as genuine, because this is not a lie.

Truth and lies, weave them together like a spider weaves her web.

@Hadiya

ART BY MOOGLE, CODE BY LARS

Camilla. It's a very pretty name, Hadiya thinks. Was there a kind of flower too, that was called something similar? She doesn't quite recall. But the flowery syllables are certainly a good match for the other woman's cheeriness, her tones bright and sweet. "I'm Hadiya. It's good to meet you, Camilla." There, that was pretty polite and smooth as far as introductions went. Her noble mother would be proud, if only because Hadiya's ever-curious nose wasn't currently buried in the other's exotic-smelling coat.

Not yet at least.

For now, the girl's senses are still captivated by the jungle's many perfumes, and she holds little reservation about coming closer to the woman and the collection of herbs Hadi suspects lies at her feet. Camilla's presence seems quite welcoming, after all, her words exuding a friendly warmth. (Perhaps she's a bit overly warm, in fact, but Hadiya doesn't think much of it.)

For the moment, the seeress is caught up in a low buzz of excitement, pleased to have found someone new that seemed to share some of her own interests. She is quick to nod affirmatively when her question is turned back on her. "Yes. I've been learning about them since I was small. My aunt taught me." A flicker of a shadow passes over her features, though it is quickly swept away in a blink. "She's not around right now though." But soon, she's certain of it.

In the meantime - maybe Camilla knew some things that could help her, since she couldn't ask her aunt? An inquisitive glance is given towards the other's general direction as she wonders. "Do you know much about the herbs here, in the jungle? There are so many...and a lot of them smell new to me." Camilla's gathered collection included.

@Helah

ART BY IRISH / CODING BY SENTINEL

Camilla

The lie had rolled off her tongue effortlessly, and rather smugly she is proud of the newest alias she has planned up. Camila from a far away land- who is nothing more than a timid medic, an herbalist who just wants to know more. She just wants a friend. She just wants to meet someone new. Camilla- not Helah will lead this conversation.

"Hadiya is a pretty name, but unusual. What does it mean?" She asks sweetly, curiously. At least, the curious part isn't a lie- it's a type of name she hasn't heard before. Hadiya says that she has been learning from the herbs, from her aunt. "Oh no, did something happen to your aunt? That is horrible." That's what people said, right?

"I have studied some on my travels. This plant is similar to something my mother told me about, and I was about to try some. It is supposed to taste sweet, like the nectar of a flower... but it is edible, like a snack." She explains. "I... It's a bright colored berry, and my mom said they were sweet to the taste- enjoyable, like a midsummer snack. I'm excited to find some here." Believe me, her words urge, believe me.

@Hadiya

ART BY MOOGLE, CODE BY LARS

To the young Hadiya, Camilla is vibrant personality who carries a sweetly floral perfume upon her pelt and even sweeter words upon her tongue. Someone who is certainly no less worthy of the once-princess's friendship than those who had once lived alongside her on the beach. Would the seeress be able to spot the subtle shifting of the gilded mask even if she possessed a mortal's sight? To one as earnestly committed to feeling out the world with her whole self as Hadiya is, the concept of a mask seems a strange and foreign thing.

But she will learn, in time. She was born into the game of politics.

As far as she can recall, no one has ever complimented her name so directly before, and her lips curl into a pleased smile. "Thanks. It means 'gift,' in my family's tongue." And Hadiya herself thinks it a rather fitting moniker. Chosen because she was born gifted. It's easier to see it that way than to focus upon what she was born without. "I like yours too! Is it a flower name?"

Camilla's question about her aunt gives her another brief pause, the hint of a frown tugging upon her lips before she sweeps it away. "There was a big storm that pushed us all away from our home. I've...not heard her since. But it'll be alright - I'll find them again." She simply has to.

The other woman seems knowledgeable about herbs indeed. Or perhaps, it would be more accurate to say her mother had been? Regardless, Hadiya listens with rapt attention, her dark-rimmed ears slanted forwards. They might not be speakiing of medicine, but the sound of this tasty treat has certainly captured the girl's interest. Camilla sells it well. "I didn't realize that lions often ate berries." Well, besides her, of course. She's been guilty of nibbling on a berry here and there, just to see what it did. "If prey were scarce, could someone eat them instead?" She wonders aloud, her thoughts beginning to wander, until she forcibly drags her focus back to the other. "Oh, I'd love to try it too! If you find extra." She tries to mend her enthusiastic words into something more polite, though her nostrils flare to try to pick out the sweet scent from everything else.

@Helah

ART BY IRISH / CODING BY SENTINEL

When a prize wanders so unwittingly into Helah's paws, she is not foolish enough to let it easily slip through her grasp. She allows the persona of Camilla to flow over her, to become her, just a friendly soul with a love of plants and flowers and surely no ulterior motives. She smiles broadly, kindly, though she has come to realize from the slightly offness of how Hadiya looks at her... that she is blind. Easy pickings.

She could be the better female, but where would be the fun in that? Oh Camilla would not take advantage of such a gem but... Helah will.

"It's just a darling name!" She gushes, inwardly wincing at the bubbly persona she's chosen. "I really do love it." Half truth, it is a pretty name she supposes. "My mother loved flowers, so I think it could be? I dunno though." She adds cheerfully- mocking the tones of the dull idiotic young lionesses of her home pride. Ah, invoking her dear mother... what a treat to top her lie.

"That sounds horrible." She says, her eyes widening in despair at the idea of the lioness losing her family- as she inwardly wants to roll them.

The idea... the small spark... "In my homeland far from here, we all used to eat berries and prey! They were sweet and summery tasting." She said happily. Now, that was a truth- the other lions did indeed eat the ripe berries of the earth, while Helah often found herself watching them... The outcast. "I have a bunch here, do you want to try some? They're a bit bitter at first... but as you chew the taste sweetens!" She says, her tone light- happy.

@Hadiya

ART BY MOOGLE, CODE BY LARS

Has Hadiya ever been complimented quite as lavishly as this? It's nice, if a little bit unexpected, but the faint surprise is easily brushed away beneath a gentle wave of pride. There weren't many lions around here that are familiar with her parents' tongue. It's a good that the beauty of it is so easily recognized. "I'm glad you do, thank you."

Camilla doesn't seem any surer about whether or not a camilla flower was actually a thing, a curiosity that the girl responds to with an easy shrug. "Oh. Well, I'll ask my aunt about it when I see her again! I'm sure she'll know." Provided, of course, that Hadi still remembered the question by then. Memory is such a fickle thing. "If it is a flower, maybe I can bring you one." She imagines an unparalleled bloom with the loveliest scent and the softest petals...

What else could she imagine, considering how 'much' she knows about Camilla now?

It seems so exotic, the brief story that the other tells. A whole group of lions that freely snacked on berries? Such a simple description, and yet it sparks the young seeress's imagination nevertheless. What does summer taste like, she wonders?

"Yes! Ah, I mean, if you're sure you don't mind sharing?" Though she tried to school her enthusiastic acceptance into something more 'appropriate,' it's far too obvious to be disguised. If Camilla encouraged it, the girl would soon snake her head towards the proffered berries and snag a few between her teeth. Sharp fangs would quickly pierce through delicate skin, releasing a flood of precious juice to spill across her tongue and down her throat.

She's so curious to see if all of what Camilla had said was true, and yet she hasn't thought much about what the consequences might be if those sweet words were proven false.

@Helah

ART BY IRISH / CODING BY SENTINEL