Camilla, as it were- was bubbly, positive, and sweet. "Oh I hope you remember too. Perhaps we'll run into each other again after you see her and you can tell me all about it." Or not, because a far more entertaining plot was in her mind. The berries- the deadly properties of them... she wouldn't feed her too many. Maybe.

"I have plenty. Try a few! They're so sweet, and I can always find more. Anything for a friend." She crooned- if the lioness wasn't blind, she may see the sinister look to her grin. She pushed some closer to her, three shiny bright berries.

"I do hope you enjoy the taste of them. I've always liked them, sweet, with a hint of spice."

@Hadiya

ART BY YUMPY, CODE BY LARS

"I hope so!" Of course, the girl thinks that she would be quite pleased to see the lovely and vivacious Camilla again, to share the stories of her aunt with her. In the moment, Hadiya even thinks that she would love to share these berries with Kismet, certain that the older woman would also delight in the sweetness. After the loss of their home, it was important to find simple enjoyment in the little things, right?

After that first taste, she almost doesn't even need the other woman's encouraging words to draw her back to take another, and another, until all three of Camilla's offered 'gifts' had disappeared down her maw, a hint of juice dripping down her muzzle to be swept up by her tongue. "You are very generous - thank you." She remarks a bit sheepishly, realizing that her politeness had kicked in a little later than was proper, perhaps.

But her new friend wouldn't mind, right?

It's only in the moments after the tempting snacks had been fully swallowed that Hadiya discovers that bit of...spice, as the other had called it. "Oh." She coughs a bit, a feeling like she was being poked with hot needles slowly building up to suffuse her throat and the roof of her mouth. "But maybe. They'd be better paired with some water?" She suggests, the refined lows of her voice made rough by a strange feeling of offness.

The truth has not quite hit her yet. But the vicious blow was soon approaching.

@Helah

ART BY IRISH / CODING BY SENTINEL

She feels a sense of wicked delight, as she pushes the berries closer, almost leaning in more and more- in eager anticipation- of seeing this female eat the berries. This @Hadiya , trusting of her dear friend Camilla.

"You are so very welcome." She breathed, eagerly kneading the earth- as the blind lioness began to eat the berries. Helah's grin was no longer soft, but something far more sinister, as the lioness spoke on the berries perhaps being paired better with water.

"Or perhaps, pretty dove, you should not trust strangers and what they offer you." She said darkly, before she stepped back- eager to return to a tree to watch the show, as the other lioness realized what was happening.

-exit helah via climbing a tree and watching-

ART BY YUMPY, CODE BY LARS

The girl cannot see the menacing edge that has come to sharpen Camilla's smile, nor the way those rose eyes might gleam like daggers carved from thorns. But she can hear it in the woman's voice, that exact moment when a sinister shadow swoops in to taint her 'sweet' words of advice, its very presence in the air turning the atmosphere heavy. It feels as if a stone has dropped in her stomach.

Or was that just the berries?

"W-what...?" She stutters out past the itchy heat building up in her throat, but it is to no avail. It's as if her so-called 'friend' had disappeared in thin air, and Hadiya is left turning in a circle, her nose chasing the lingering notes of that floral perfume but no longer able to make to sense of it. (Surely, lions are far too big to be able to sit in the trees?) "Wait! Where did you you-?"

But the seeress can no longer hope to search with any effectiveness, not when her throat feels like it's being constricted, a series of cough just barely managing to break free from the unseen pressure, oddly painful for how pathetic the sound was. It...was it always this hot here?

Water, right, she needs to get to some water, she thinks as she stumbles off, her mind still reeling from the whiplash of it all. Water, or sap, or cool mud, or something. Or the herbs, the other plants she'd been collecting! Was there gnetum or yarrow among them? They might make her sicker, but maybe an empty stomach would fix her, somehow.

The al-Najma seeress was not fated to die here this day, but being passed out in the ferns would not make for a particularly pleasant memory. Some things were best forgotten.

A rather cruel lesson had been learned, however. This, she would not forget.

@Helah

/exit Hadiya via (eventual) unconsciousness

ART BY IRISH / CODING BY SENTINEL