Science was fascinating to Arvid. That much would be obvious to whoever met him, as soon as they allowed him to ramble on for a little bit. However, what a lot of people didn't know was what the dire wolf intended to do with his scientific prowess. While he had started off not that long ago with silly and casual science experiments meant to entertain, he was moving on rather fast. He had something else in mind that he wanted to do, and he wanted to get a jump on the process sooner rather than later, so that he could fine-tune things as needed. That particular process? Making poisons. It was a delicate and intricate silence, but when used effectively? It could make a mere cut an absolutely devastating and even deadly attack. That certainly seemed appealing to him, and it also gave him an opportunity to help out his fellow wanderers without directly fighting. It really sounded like a win-win, at least to him.

Gathering the supplies for his first batch of poison had been interesting, but also not particularly difficult. All kinds of different flora grew all over the Coalition's territory, and it wasn't long before Arvid managed to find what he was looking for. Yew berries, nightshade, and water hemlock. All were extremely dangerous, and he was careful while handling them, even if they weren't truly a major threat unless swallowed, or somehow got into the bloodstream in some other way – such as through a wound. As soon as his supplies were gathered, the canine sat comfortably outside of his house, and got to work. The yew berry poison was the easiest, merely needing to mash the berries up and mix it with a bit of water inside one of his vials. The water hemlock and nightshade, meanwhile, would be a bit more complicated. It wasn't as if he could just deposit the whole plant into a vial. So instead, he carefully took the leaves of both, tearing them up and mashing them down into their individual vials. He then added a bit of water, taking the vials and placing them over a fire that had been set up nearby. It wasn't long before the water was boiling, the mixture breaking down perfectly.

Once he had all three vials full of homemade poison, he needed to do one more thing. Test them. Of course, he wasn't about to test them on himself. So, he had gone and caught several mice for the purposes of experimentation. They were still alive at the moment, just so that he could fully see the effects of the poisons on them. Still sitting out in front of his house, Arvid carefully lifted one of the mice in his claws, forcing its mouth open and dribbling a bit of the hemlock poison into its mouth. He barely had a chance to put the mouse back down before it began to take effect. The mouse immediately stiffened up, frantic and pained squeaking leaving it before it went completely rigid – paralysis from the water hemlock. It was only a couple of minutes before Arvid reached out once more, prodding at the mouse's side once more. The body merely toppled over, completely paralyzed from the outside in, organs having shut down before long. Slowly a grin spread over the dire wolf's muzzle, and he found himself muttering, "Perfect... this will definitely work well." He then glanced back at the other two vials, wondering which one to try next. Nightshade, or yew berry?

Joy. It spread through Arvid in a wave as he stared down at the small rodent, glad that his experiment had worked. The poison had worked just as he thought, and he was glad for that. But then, others had to come along and ruin it. Well, mainly Astraea. Although... he had to worry about Anthemtalon first. Looking towards the komodo monitor, the dire wolf quickly shook his head from side to side, voice firm, "No, not a snack. I'm not exactly sure what effect it would have on you, but... I don't especially want to see." He didn't seriously think that the poisoned rat would have too much of an effect on Anthem, considering the other's steel digestive system, but he still didn't want to take that chance. The lizard might have been lazy as hell, but he was still another wanderer of the Coalition.

As for Astraea... well, Arvid couldn't help the way his gaze narrowed over at her, displeased that she was questioning his hard work. Still, he didn't snap at her, for now. Mainly due to the presence of Devraj, along with that of Sojourn. Instead of shouting at her, like he found himself wanting to do, he just spoke sternly, "Poison isn't bad, especially if it's in our hands. With poison, we can kill our enemies quickly and silently, and make weapon strikes all the more deadly. The rat was merely a vehicle for me to make sure that my poison worked. Would you rather I have chosen something else to test my poison on? One of our fellow wanderers? Maybe you?" His voice grew a bit sharp at the end, his large canine form looming somewhat over the girl. However, he then pulled himself back, his next mutter focused at Devraj, instead of Astraea, "...I will keep your offer of help in mind." His attention was then directed towards Sojourn, the one he was really interested in – she seemed intrigued, and that was certainly a way to encourage him.

Lifting up the nightshade and yew berry poisons, the canine answered enthusiastically, "Well, these are poisons made of yew berry and nightshade, respectively. Nightshade is similar to the hemlock poison, but it works a bit more slowly, with more steps. Usually, the poison starts off with making the victim feel giddy and disoriented, often causing them to stagger around and struggle to speak. Then, the victim begins to suffocate, and slowly paralysis sets in. And then? Death. Yew berries are much more subtle. They take a few hours to set in, usually, depending on the size of the animal. The victim feels generally weak, staggering around and feeling nauseous, disoriented, and extremely cold. Then, they lose the ability to breathe, collapse, and then... death. Here, I can show you. It'll work much faster on my little test subjects, considering their size." He grabbed one of the other mice in his claws, tilting a lot of the yew berry poison into its mouth. He then placed the rodent back down, watching as it began to tremble, glancing around and twitching in terror. It took a couple of minutes before the tiny creature began to wheeze, falling against the ground and dying before long.

"they flip the siren, hit the lights" ✭ ── The interest in Angelembrace's gaze practically radiated when he heard the word "poison" and stumbled upon the second experiment that Arvid had presented publicly. Quite a jump from making little snacks, this was certainly the opposite of edible and fun, no? However, following behind the others, minus poor Astraea, Angel was also fascinated by the concept of the rodents' executions. He knew that some plants were fatal if ingested, but even he had no thoughts about using them to create poison that could potentially be used later against, what? Enemies. Oh, that was simply just diabolical.

The jaguar cub paced slowly around the gathered group, as if he was almost leisurely observing, before eventually coming to a smooth stop by the first dead mouse. Hemlock, if his ears had not failed him, despite arriving to watch later. Pale yellow eyes trailed over the stiffened, paralyzed bodies, jumping through every known hoop of death right into rigor mortis. "Arvid?" Angel began, tail twitching in earnest interest, lifting the first victim in a small paw. "If you won't have any further use for these, would you be so kind as to maybe...donate one to me? Or, all of them? It's for science."

Arvid didn't feel much regret over his words as Astraea fled the scene – at least, not initially. He didn't think that he had any reason to be remorseful – he was just being truthful. The poison would be useful for all of them, and testing it on mice was far preferable to risking the life of another wanderer. Of course, he probably could've given her a bit less of a death glare, but even he had his moments of being driven solely by emotion. He'd make a mental note to apologize later... maybe. Someday.

With his mind off of Astraea, Arvid's gaze was soon drawn over to Angelembrace, the other seemingly fascinated by what he was doing. A slow grin came over the dire wolf's muzzle at this realization, glad that someone else also seemed to see the benefits of his work. As the other lifted one of the mice in his paw, the canine blinked before nodding, his head tilted to one side, "Sure, I don't see why not. As long as you're not eating them, I don't care what you do with them – although I will admit, I'm curious to see what science you'll do with them." He then glanced down at the last remaining mouse, attention trailing between the rodent and his last little vial of poison. He lifted the last mouse up in his paws, tipping the nightshade poison into its mouth before he placed it back onto the ground.

He then watched as it began to bolt around, running in circles and chattering with a new sense of urgency. It was only a minute or so before it staggered to a halt, slowing and dropping to the ground as paralysis set in fully. Once he was sure the tiny creature had passed, he pushed it towards Angel, a pleased hum leaving him, "...All yours. It looks like I've chosen the right ingredients for these." The poisons would, of course, act more slowly on a larger subject, but that was fine. That was actually advantageous, since it meant that the poisons could take a while before they were detected, and by then? It could easily be too late.