(OOC: Thread for investigation of the pond at Old Man McGee's place.)
Tiger-Lily followed by Soot head out to the yard. In the moonlight they can see the pool of darkness that is the pond where the spirit originated.
Soot would fade slightly to the side where she can back up and support Tiger-Lily as needed. Her nose and other sense are working trying to pick up information on what might be here that doesn't fit.
Earlier she'd smelled the salt of the water.
Tiger-Lily
She heads for the water, wanting to take a closer look to see if there is anything to be learned there. She keeps her eyes and ears attuned for any noises that might indicate prey. A blood sacrifice would help the warding.
The first thing both cats notice the mix of sea air and something foul. The pond is the origin of the putrid odor. The sea smell starts at the house and fades towards the pond.
Tiger spots a small mouse watching them from a leaf. It clearly thinks it is hidden.
Tiger-Lily
She thinks the salty tang is associated with the spirit and moves with her. The foul odour though belongs to the pond. Not good.
Something catches her eye. Immediately she stills, looking now like a statue, a pose that all cats will recognise. Her eyes are fixed on the mouse. She takes a slow step forward, her legs looking like they are moving in slow motion and not affecting the rest of her body which only moves because it is attached to her legs. Then her body bunches, coiling her energy and she pounches, claws and mouth targeting the mouse, all instinct and hunter.
Soot
Seeing the motion her own tail stills. Though it wakes in her the (only on the surface level - otherwise it's always there) dormant desire to hunt, the cat keeps her senses tuned to seeing if anything might be wanting to hunt them.
Tiger snags her prey with a deft leap and pounce. The poor helpless rodent is alive in her clutches.
Soot can't detect anything hunting them but yet she can't shake the feeling that they are being watched.
Soot
She would use all her skills to try to find who might be watching them. Her fur ruffs up a bit, but she tries to continue acting the way she had been.
Tiger-Lily
She moves towards the pond, carrying the mouse gently in her mouth. It is more powerful to create the ward using the blood at the point of death, so she hopes it will continue to live for just a little longer.
Soot prowls and searches knowing that she is being watched. As she does so Tiger-Lily moves to the edge of the noxious pond with her live prey. She has done what a masterful hunter does in keeping her sacrifice in a perfect state for the working she wishes to create.
[OOC: Assume Tiger can do what she wishes... what is it she wishes? Soot needs more time than this initial interchange to find out more, but she is in process.]
Tiger-Lily
She looks over the pond thinking about what she wants to achieve here. She thinks she will need to ward the outer edge of the pond with a protective circle. The focal point of that circle should be where she is now, so that when the spirits returns it will have the biggest impact.
She gathers her magic, quite still now, almost in a meditative state, then when she feels the power grow within her, she bites down on the mouse, letting the first blood hit the ground and then carefully circling the pond, making the right mewing noises in the back of her throat to infuse the drops of blood with the magic.
When she reaches where she had started, she places the mouse down reverently, completing the circle and then murmurs a further invocation to seal the spell.
Then she bows her head and thanks the mouse for its sacrifice.
Tiger-Lily feels the circle close. She knows that unless disturbed the magic will last a few days. It could last till the corpse of the mouse is no longer in evidence but experience has taught her that much longer than a couple of days is unlikely. Too many different things could go wrong, which is of course why Warders renew their protections regularly.
Soot continues to hunt trying vainly to spot whatever it is that is watching them. Sometime during Tiger's working Soot notices her feeling has changed. She no longer is sure that something or someone was watching them. In fact if there was someone, they seem to have moved on. The pair are all alone as far as she can tell.
The warding in place the water in the pond looks even more sinister and dark.
Soot
She sat and gave her face and whiskers a thorough washing. Soot pondered if it felt like what she'd felt in the circle at the park, or if it felt like a different kind of watching.
Tiger-Lily
She takes a deep breath then stretches as only a cat can, one front leg followed by the other, arching through the body and out through rear legs and tail, the process making her seem about twice as long as before. Then she gathers herself in, resumes her normal shape and trots over to Soot.
"Done, should hold for a couple of days. We can either hide around here and watch to see if the spirit comes back and watch what happens.. or we can head back and see what the others have found?"
Soot
She mrwoawed softly, unhappily. "One watched, but let. I do not know the hows and whys. They moved on though, but I wonder if that circle had anything to do with it."
Tiger-Lily
"We were being watched?"
She had been so engrossed in warding the pool before the spirit returned she hadn't noticed anything.
"The circle might have warned them off.."
Another more disturbing though occurs to her.
"Or maybe they were watching from in the pool. The pool was certainly foul. And my ward would have trapped it..."
She is thinking out loud.
"Which seems more likely to you?"
ooc Sorry for the pause, but waiting for GM information in this
(OOC What sort of information? )
ooc from previous post: Soot pondered if it felt like what she'd felt in the circle at the park, or if it felt like a different kind of watching.
She watched from it - would she be able to compare how it would feel?
[OOC: She knows one side of the circle from the park, not the receiving end. Though she might suspect that there would be nothing to notice if one were under scrutiny.
She thinks whomever was watching her, was close at hand. Just better at hiding than she was at spotting. ]
ooc thank you
IC
Soot
"Somewhere close. But I could not see them."
Tiger-Lily
"We could take a look around?"
If something had been watching them there may be signs: scents, footprints, fur, a discarded whisker.
Soot
Her tail lashes thrice in agreement.
The pair make a circuit of the pond. Indeed they find small cat prints off near a dark shadow under an old dead tree. In fact they see signs of something odd about the ground in the area as well... Though what it is that is odd, isn't immediately obvious.
Soot
She peers more closely at the ground. Perhaps there had been a warding placed there or something?
She slanted a glance to Tiger-Lily - in a silent request for her thoughts.
Tiger-Lily
Small cat print? Kitten? Perhaps there is a trail or scent markers to follow?
She regards the area, something she is missing about the ground. She investigates further. Is the ground wet perhaps? Does it have a smell? Does it look different to the area surrounding it? Has it been dug? All these possibilities go through her mind.
She shares them with Soot in case she thinks of anything else.
The tracks are from a smaller cat, not as small as a kitten, but certainly not a full grown cat, or so it would seem. The ground is indeed wet and has the same smell as that of the spirit, salt air.
The ground doesn't look disturbed, though certainly something went on there. Whatever it was, the signs of it, have been obscured. Tiger's keen nose catches a whiff of blood mixed in with the wet earth. Something died here.
Soot tilted her whiskers forward and sneezes. "The size of the prints is bigger than prints of that skeleton found in the circle a few sleeps ago on the hike my Burden and I walked. So not a kitten. Small though."
She wrinkled her nose and swiped at it. "More sea smell. Why would one like us want to bring the spirit? Maybe the cat who died before would know who this cat is."
Tiger-Lily
"I smell blood. Maybe a sacrifice? The prints suggest a living cat, surely?"
Her tail is waving from side to side, clearing she is concerned about this situation.
"Maybe we can follow the tracks?"
Soot
A wise thought - the cat who made them is small," said the petite cat, "near small as a kitten. Certainly a living cat, I wondered though if this would be a cat who would have been known by the one who lived here before."
The tracks of the little cat disappear not far from the pool. The pair look about and as they wander, they discover a pounce or two away the paw prints of a larger cat. It is Soot's keen eyes that spot a small mark on one of the pads in the print. The larger cat is the same cat as the smaller one. They are able to follow its tracks as far as the road and then they loose its trail.
Soot
She points this out to Tiger-Lily and her tail lashes a few more times.
Tiger-Lily
She looks at the marks that Soot pointed out.
"Well spotted."
She says softly.
"My mother told me that some cats can change shape and size, maybe that is what happened here? Do you.. or maybe the others.. know a cat with that ability?"
She considers.
"Perhaps it is someone from the Parliament seeing how well we are doing?"
Soot
She leaned closer and inhaled deeply. Her mouth was slightly open to let the air flow roll over her tongue as well. That way she might have a better chance of recognizing the scent now or in the future.
"Mmmmaybe," she said thoughtfully, rolling the word over. "Some, like Sable can do such changes."
Tiger-Lily
"I think we should ask around later to find out if it was one of ours.. otherwise this could have more serious implications."
She looks around just checking they are still alone.
"Let's head back, check my ward and then go meet up with the others.. unless there is something else you have in mind? And Soot, I do appreciate you coming along."
Her whiskers twitch as she smiles.
Soot
She filed away any scent for later reference and tilts an ear forward in agreement with Tiger-Lily's suggestion.
"It is a strong ward," she says. "Better then many I've seen."
The pair head back towards the dwelling. As they enter the food preparation room they note their brethern has wandered off. In point of fact they can just make out me-rowwing going on upstairs.
[OOC: Wander back into the other thread when you wish...]
ooc surely - did Soot can any scent from the tracks for filing away for later?
[OOC: Yes, she found some. Though like DNA she will have to have something to compare it to.
]
ooc Great - so it's no one she already knows. (since no comparison yet)