This content might touch on topics that are sensitive or triggering for some readers. Trigger Warning for mentions of cannibalism, gore, disturbing thoughts/speech/actions, vampirism, overall violence, & general creep factor.

+40 Fabricate and use a second identity [thread 1 of 3; post 0 of 2]
+10 Study the plant life of a neutral territory [post 0 of 2]
+10 Gather poisonous plants [post 0 of 2]

it is night, as usual when the vampiress travels anywhere without the coverage of a thick canopy, and chloe is... restless. her scrape with alaric has left her with a few injuries to show for her prize, but she's wickedly content and almost blissful from the fight. her adrenaline had been flowing, as had her blood, and the soreness in her wounds is a delicious reminder of the event. his blood had been sweet and savory, and she licks shell-stained lips in memory, half-hoping to run into him again so that she can have another taste. he'd whet her appetite, but he had not satisfied it.

if she runs into him again, she will be sure to rectify that.

@Calypso

it is spring and she is keen to restock. her stores are pathetically low, and now that they have a permanent base the peach druid knows it is time to work. she has been busy (pulled between her permanent patient and those at the lagoon) and exhaustion still weighs heavy on her bones, but she does not let it slow her.

to the glade, first -- but it is not the healing plants she is seeking today. today she seeks crab's eye and horse chestnut, plants that she can use not only for medicinal reasons. to induce vomiting is the work of an assassin, true, but calypso has learned well the benefit of doing so to save as much as injure.

her gaze travels over the plant life, here, moving beneath the light of the moon if only because of the nature of her work. she notes a few helpful herbs, too (particularly some white weed and some nimbia, the later of which she will gather for hakon). the sky is dark but she does not mind, and nor is she oblivious when another appears. hello," a simple enough greeting, testing the waters.

@Chloe



**note: double exp active for all participants of thread**
+20 Create a poison and its antidote (in the same thread) 0/2
+10 Study the plant life of a neutral territory 1/2
+10 Gather poisonous plants 0/2

This content might touch on topics that are sensitive or triggering for some readers. Trigger Warning for mentions of cannibalism, gore, disturbing thoughts/speech/actions, vampirism, overall violence, & general creep factor.

+40 Fabricate and use a second identity [thread 1 of 3; post 0 of 2]
+10 Study the plant life of a neutral territory [post 1 of 2]
+10 Gather poisonous plants [post 0 of 2]

as she walks, pale eyes examine her surroundings for potentially useful plants. she ignores, for the most part, those herbs which she knows do not have a poisonous use. healing is of no interest to her beyond what is necessary to know in order to reverse the effects of poison - and that much, only so she can safeguard herself. she is no selfless creature built to sacrifice and give to others. she might consider reversing the effects of poison for a relative (so her father or uncle, considering they're the only ones she has left) but that would probably depend on how much they'd annoyed her that day.

crab's eye is the first plant to catch her attention, and chloe finds a wicked smile curling its way across shell-stained lips. it's right about then that @Calypso's greeting finds her ears and the tepes female turns to look at her newfound company. hello, she offers back, head tilting. this woman is a beauty, that's for sure, and chloe finds herself intrigued. it's not often she meets beautiful women in the middle of the night - a criminal fact, really - and she wants to know what brings the peach lady out here. perhaps the same thing that brings chloe here? they could always both have... less than strictly legal hobbies, after all.

even as she approaches she is studying her surroundings, noting various other plants and mentally marking their location. it was imperative that she gather as many as she could -- calypso did not want to have to return all of the time. the grove was across the whole of amaryllis from the cay, and she intended to fill her satchel to the brim before she made the trek back.

her gaze followed @Chloe's to the crab's eye, and she arched a brow as she looked back at the other woman. "catch yer eye, did it?" a gentle inquiry, curiosity brimming alongside some level of excitement -- she did not often get to converse with other assassins, after all.


+20 Create a poison and its antidote (in the same thread) 0/2
+10 Study the plant life of a neutral territory 2/2
+10 Gather poisonous plants 0/2

This content might touch on topics that are sensitive or triggering for some readers. Trigger Warning for mentions of cannibalism, gore, disturbing thoughts/speech/actions, vampirism, overall violence, & general creep factor.

+40 Fabricate and use a second identity [thread 1 of 3; post 0 of 2]
+10 Study the plant life of a neutral territory [post 2 of 2]
+10 Gather poisonous plants [post 1 of 2]

@Calypso's query is met with a sly grin, gaze glittering with sudden interest. so she is somewhat of a kindred spirit, then? fascinating. yes, chloe responds slowly, turning her head to examine the crab's eye again. it has... interesting uses. it's a plant that chloe would like to test on someone, eventually - just to see its effects for herself, rather than having only anecdotal evidence of its purpose. looking around the two of them for something else she can use, she spots the familiar white buds of horse chestnut, and her grin grows wider. good to know these grow here, she says idly, returning her gaze to the crab's eye and moving forward to harvest it. she wants to work on a garden, she thinks, although she's not sure where to keep it. still, gathering some crab's eye is a good start, surely?

calypso nodded, unbothered by the implication of poisoning. "aye, i was planning to mix d'e two," she fetched some of the crab's eye seeds and the horse chestnut. "d'e paralysis of d'e chestnut makes a nice addition, perhaps."

she peered in to the bag she carried, ever ready with a medic mind as much as an assassin -- "but perhaps an antidote, too..." her gaze lifted briefly to the other female, a half-smirk on her lips. "if only we had somebody to test it on.."

the female was a rogue, by what her senses were telling her, and calypso could not help but wonder what somebody like that needed poisons for. or, perhaps, she needed it even more than a pride lion did...

"what's your name?"

+20 Create a poison and its antidote (in the same thread) 0/2
+10 Study the plant life of a neutral territory 2/2
+10 Gather poisonous plants 1/2

This content might touch on topics that are sensitive or triggering for some readers. Trigger Warning for mentions of cannibalism, gore, disturbing thoughts/speech/actions, vampirism, overall violence, & general creep factor.

+40 Fabricate and use a second identity [thread 1 of 3; post 1 of 2]
+10 Gather poisonous plants [post 2 of 2]

i think that would be useful indeed, chloe says, a dark smile curling shell lips. she moves to the horse chestnut, then, and uproots one of those plants to take with her in addition to the crab's eye she'd uprooted. if only we had someone to test it on, @Calypso says, and chloe laughs softly. it wouldn't be hard to find someone, she murmurs, teeth flashing in the moonlight - half amusement, half wistful threat. what's your name? the peachy woman asks, and the lilac dracul sighs in contemplation.

i'm thinking of choosing a new one to give to strangers, she admits, teal gaze glazing a bit as she considers. ruxandra, perhaps? it had been the name of her niece by her half-brother mihnea. the girl had died a long time ago now, and chloe had never particularly cared for her, but perhaps her name could serve a new master. my given one is cloelia, she continues, tilting her head, but i should like to have an alternative for individuals i don't care to tell the truth about myself. it should be useful, yes?

as she listened to @Chloe she rummaged through her bag, pulling out a few choice herbs. grabbing some of the horse chesnut to go with the crab's eye seeds, she begins to mix the two together, using a touch less of the crab's eye than the horse chesnut. perhaps if she used less of the former it wouldn't cause death, but would only cause enough paralysis to get away safely, should the need arise. "perhaps," she mused at the female's other implication, though she had no intention of testing something so possibly deadly on anybody who wasn't deserving. "a prey animal, even... to see how it goes." despite her less than savoury practices she didn't intend to murder freely. her attention is snagged by the shift in conversation, though, and she nods. "i have one myself. for those i do not trust..." she grinned, it seemed a necessary thing when you dabbled in poisons, to have a level of protection from some. "ruxandra is nice, an' unique enough they will no' likely think yer lying." +20 Create a poison and its antidote (in the same thread) 1/2 +10 Study the plant life of a neutral territory 2/2 +10 Gather poisonous plants 2/2

image by shan, code by koi

This content might touch on topics that are sensitive or triggering for some readers. Trigger Warning for mentions of cannibalism, gore, disturbing thoughts/speech/actions, vampirism, overall violence, & general creep factor.

+40 Fabricate and use a second identity [thread 1 of 3; post 2 of 2]

poisoning a prey animal would likely ruin its meat, but... chloe can't be bothered to care about the waste. it's not like she generally eats prey animals anyways, preferring the flesh of her own kind to any other sustenance. perhaps we could find one to test it on, she murmurs, tilting her head. @Calypso's assessment of her chosen name has a small grin curling her shell lips. ruxandra... cel rău, i think. cel rău had been her half-brother's moniker - he had been dracul, of course, but people had given him the moniker cel rău early on.

he'd idolized their shared father, and had wanted to be a tepes - so he'd gone about pillaging and rampaging through the countryside in the hopes of earning their father's favor. even still... when the enemy had come, he'd fallen like all the rest. cel rău - the evil one. not strong enough to survive, not strong enough to earn the name he'd so desperately wanted. how he must be rolling in his grave, to know the younger half-sister he'd so despised bears the name he'd never earned. it gives her a cruel sort of delight to think of him raging over it in the afterlife.

i'll have to consider it further, but i think it makes a convincing alias. she could even adopt some of her niece's simpering mannerisms, her idiotic fawning over attractive men. of course, she's not sure how successful that will be - she's not sure she can hide the truth of her nature for an extended period. still, perhaps for a short run-in with a stranger she can manage? hmm. suppose the only way to know is to try it, much as it might chafe to act in such a manner. eugh. she'd only been six months old when most of her family had died, but she remembers.

she remembers.

satisfied with the blend of herbs -- though she could not be entirely sure of her success until she found some hapless creature to test it on -- she directed her attention to forming an antidote. it seemed cruel to put some oblivious animal through such testing, but it was a necessary evil that she was willing to undertake if it meant keeping her loved ones protected. since calypso would never be an overly skilled fighter this was the next best thing.

a mix of oil palm, which she knew was a natural antidote for many poisons, and some senna for its purgative effects. taking quickly enough it could feasibly stop the poison before its effects could worsen. finally a touch of a pale purple flower -- chaff flower -- to ease any muscle pains that might rise from her poison.

as she worked she listened to what @Chloe had to say and nodded, though was clearly pre-occupied by what she was doing. "i t'ink so," she said, though, as the other woman examined her alias. "de more ye t'ink of it de more comfortable it will be too, aye?"

with a flourish she is done, two neat piles of mixtures set on two broad leaves before her. "d'ere, done."


+20 Create a poison and its antidote (in the same thread) 2/2