Noctisardor Bypass wont' stop till you can't see straight

the first step to gaining control of a situation was to introduce chaos to it. like snakes, the seeds of suspicion and fear and doubt were able to worm their way into the heart of any individual. thus she had been active, recently, seeking to spread those very seeds. just earlier that night, she had covered herself thoroughly in the putrid odour of rotting vegetation, thoroughly disguising her scent. then she had slipped to the nearest cache, and down the throat of every catch slipped a dose of Jimson weed. hardly enough to be fatal, yet just enough to introduce interesting hallucinations and perhaps the odd seizure. 

she had completed the deed quickly and methodically, and afterwards thoroughly washed the scents from her fur. she was back, now, when darkness had lifted and light filled the land, and was enjoying her own kill a short distance from the cache, untainted, (even though Jimson Weed, in moderate doses, could be rather fun sometimes) she waited to see just which, of any, of her packmates would show up to perhaps score a meal. 

Illecebra had been out walking that night due to the uncomfortable feeling in her belly, due to the pups growing within her. She had walked a good bit of the territory when she smelled something god-awful travelling to her on the wind. Something must have died around the territory, but for now she chose to avoid it since the stench itself was already making her feel sick. She walked for a while longer before returning to her den and falling into a fitful sleep.



Waking back up after the sun was up, she made her way to the Cache smelling and Spotting Circe a short distance away eating her own prey. The sight of Circe eating a catch relieved her somewhat, but she knew how easily Circe could have caught it by herself. Moving into the Cache without so much as a gesture to show she was aware of Circe's presence she sniffed around the Cache. Dragging out a hare she sat down far enough away from the foul smelling den so that she could sniff the prey properly. Now able to smell the Hare's scent properly she noted that there was a foul smelling edge to the rabbit, around it's mouth and throat. She tore the throat open and spit out the flesh pawing at it until she found something that shocked her and made her quite angry "fuck. Someone tried to poison us!" she hissed. Lifting her head she called for @Gwen before turning to look at Circe "Was there anything odd tasting in that?" she asked nodding toward the Woman's catch.

Gwen had not really taken much notice of Circe during her stay at the Bypass so far - but maybe she should have. Despite this, the newcomer seemed to be getting along fine with the others so she did not think there was much of a problem. If she could work hard for the group, she could rank up in the future perhaps.

When the call came up, Gwen's head tilted in curiousity. She noted a hint of anger in Cebra's voice so she made sure to make her way over with considerable speed. It took a while regardless, but when she arrived the Empress voiced her concerns. "Cebra?" The words that left the Medio came as a shock to the white wolfess, and a frown came across her face. "What? You can't be serious..." She leaned down and sniffed the carcass of the hare, picking up the same smell. Her expression twisted into a mixture of anger, fear, and disgust. Gwen stared at what the other woman had pawed out of it, and her tail twitched uncomfortably. "There must be a traitor among us..." But who?

Of course, her first guesses would go toward Circe, but that was only because she was new and not entirely trusted. Perhaps that was not really fair to judge the woman like that, but she found it hard to imagine that any of the others would do it. But then again, Circe had been very nice and pretty simple the first day they had met. "We must find who they are immediately - the only way someone would have been able to do this was if they came into the densite area, and I have not picked up any intruder scents." It must have been one of the pack members. "Crap! We'll have to empty the caches - I don't want to take any chances. Luckily our caches aren't too full at the moment. I planned to organise a pack hunt soon to refill." She sighed, flicking her tail again before glancing at Circe as Illecebra asked her a question.

She had been keeping a close watch on Cebra ever since her throw-up fit, and followed her when she went to the cache in the morning. Staying behind enough as not to bother her, but close enough that she would know Semira was there, she padded after the woman. Not taking notice to the obsidian fae, she watched curiously as Cebra frowned at the cache. Semira herself could not smell the putrid stench, for she was upwind. She did not see what it was that Cebra was doing before she stepped away from the cache, a hare in her maw, with a disgusted look on her face.

With the trachea of the rabbit torn out, Cebra lifted her head in a panicked call to Gwen. That was when Semira trotted over, a frown marring her creamy face. She did not speak, as she could now smell and see the abhoreing sight. Someone wanted to hurt us. She simply sat beside Cebra, and waited for the Empress. There was no way she was going to leave a mother-to-be alone, not while they had a traitor in their midst.

As Gwen arrived, she merely listened, nodding and frowning along with her worried notions. She spoke, inn order to help, "We can help question the others, although I'm sure it wasn't Horosk." She wanted to make sure that Hor was spoken for, as he was still quite new to the pack and she knew that he would not have poisoned anyone. "I'm sure the pack can handle losing the caches, esspecially in spring where the prey is flourishing...but the fact that someone did this is...disgusting" A low rumble ran through her chest as she spoke.

she knew not how on earth the woman had scented the herb, hidden carefully within the creatures, nor how she had recognised it as it was- should she have not done the deed herself, she would have suspected the woman. though she was upset that her original plan had failed such, she could adapt, shift her plans in the slightest. at Illcebra's words, she jumped away from her mostly-eaten catch, watching it as it might be an adder. she let out a shriek as she did so, the perfect moment of hysteria. 

at Illcebra's question, her maw fell open a moment. she stuttered a moment, then hurriedly spoke in frantic tones. " No! I- maybe! I didn't know what it wa- I thought the rabbit had- what- am I going to die?" came her words, rushed, concerned, twisting around to watch the others with panic in her gaze. it was so easy to manufacture hysteria, panic- perhaps even a little bit fun. she looked to Gwen, then to Semira, then to Illcebra, the woman who had destroyed her fun- but still would she amuse herself. As if suddenly blessed with an idea, she blurted quickly, "Y-yarrow! I'll need some! Who- where-"  her sentence trailed off, and she looked to Gwen with pure panic in her eyes. Emotions were easy to manufacture, should they stem from truth- and even if she knew that poison had not lain in her catch, she would loath to be thrown out, fear to be set upon by the pack. and these emotions she twisted and strengthened into panic, and set it to consume her entire visage.

The reaction portrayed by Circe were quite believable if not for the fact that she had really couldn't bring herself to trust anything about Circe. Turning to Gwen she met the woman's eyes and gave the briefest shake of her head and narrowed her eyes in the slightest, hoping her meaning was clear She didn't trust Circe. Of course she had no real reason to not trust the woman, except that this was the second time she had been found near Poisonous substances. First with the Castor beans, and now near the cache that had been actually poisoned. "This is the second time I have seen you near something dangerous. First the poisonous  Castor beans, which you claimed to be moving for the safety of the pack. Now near an actually poisoned Cache, that anyone could have eaten and died from." she stated loudly, not making any moves to find the yarrow the obsidian woman had called for.

You guys are more than welcome to continue without me, Gwen's left the scene now!

Gwen clearly got the message from Cebra, and she gave the woman a short nod of understanding. Of course, she could not accuse Circe, not without enough evidence, so she refrained from making any sort of assumption else she might wrongly punish someone. But even so, she had to find the culprit, and fast. She did not want anyone hurt, especially not now that there were pups on the way.

Before she could say anything, Illecebra turned on Circe. Not physically, but she did start suggesting that the dark woman had indeed been the one to try and poison them all. While Gwen could easily have asked Cebra to stop making an assumption, she did not. In fact, she was rather intent to listen to what the pregnant wolfess had to say. After all, there could be some vital information and clues to who the culprit was.

"It better not be you, Circe." She stated with a blank expression, followed with a sigh, staring at the raven before turning and flicking her tail. "Rhona might have some Yarrow - go find her. I will let the others know what has happened." They all needed to be on guard now. The Empress would have to keep a close eye on everyone to see if she could catch them doing anything suspicious. The icy wolfess began to pad away, pausing once more to glance at the others before finally leaving to patrol the borders. It would be good to take a small break so that she could think.

My bad for not replying! Didn't see this. Wish I would've seen it sooner :(

She wished she could give the obsidian female a fighting chance, but it was hard to do with her packmates getting to riled up. She would support Cebra because she trusted the woman's opinion on the matter. If she felt that something was wrong, than so did Semira.

She took a step forwards. "I'm sorry Circe, but it is only fair that we suspect you. You are our newest member." She winced at her own words, but held steadfast anyways. "If we find you near anything else like this-" she looked to the Empress, "we will not be so kind." Satisfied with her words, she started pulling the contaminated meat from the cache. So much food...Gone. Her thoughts muted the other wolves's words. She would have to spend more time away from the borders in order to refill the cache, which she did not appreciate. Soon it would be hard for Cebra and Noor to hunt, leaving the pack in more of a rut.