Vendetta's rarely left Solterra's, even on matters of business. She had people for that. But when the invitations had arrived even she had been intrigued about what the new Night Court regime was planning, and then she thought it would give her a chance to learn more about their blackmarket for herself.

When she heard about the masquerade, it only got better.

The pintaloosa was adorned in her usual finery, roses the color of fresh blood mixed with gilded pearls and a skirt so delicate it seemed to float across the floor. This night, however, there was one addition: an obsidian velvet mask of scrolling, intricate patterns that wove together. From beyond it we're her eyes, looking on, shining as brightly as polished rubies.

As Vendetta weaved through each room of Denocte's keep, every inch of her screamed look at me, from the confident tilt of her head to the sway of her red clad hips, to the click of her cloven hooves. There was nothing subtle about her--she was as much an attraction as any of the decorations or performers and heads turned when she walked by. None of them interested her.

She ended up in the room of black and white, the color scheme befitting as the unicorn appeared black as night in most light rather than the true deep red brown that she was. Like blood spilled on soil.

There Vendetta lingered, gaze tracing over the curves and edges of all those gathered. Somewhere Azrail stood nearby, she could feel him, though he was most likely keeping to the shadows, ever watchful. Though he was silent, she could sense his protectiveness. Tonight, however, Vendetta was the predator. It was others who would need protecting.

Trouble has arrived...

"Crows should be wary of a hawk, no matter how pretty its feathers might be," Vendetta answered coolly, ruby red eyes settling on the adorned woman who joined her. Dressed in gold and red and bone, carrying the unmistakable smell of sun and sand on her skin, the woman was clearly of Solterra though Vendetta could not say if she knew her. The unicorn rarely bothered to learn the names and faces of those who didn't have a direct effect on her work.

Her gaze slid off the woman's dark skin and back to the crowd. This wasn't exactly the excitement she had been hoping for, unless her newfound company had some other motive. "And you? Why should the crows fear you? Surely you don't wear that mask to come off as welcoming." What she really wanted to ask was: how can you be useful to me, then?

Sensing the turning of the wheels in her head, Azrail suggested, "Perhaps we should not dishonor our hosts by causing a scene?" A part of Vendetta signed with exasperation. She trusted her bonded dearly but he was so much more reserved that she. The other part of her spoke, "It's all dear and lovely, but it's quite... tame, is it not?" A shadow of a smirk passed over her lips. What she had really been hoping for was someone she could glean a little information from, but what had she ended up with? Maybe a fellow Solterran could help?

@Avdotya

Vendetta knew of cery few who called the desert home without residing within the capital itself, and they all came with one name attached to them: Davke. Now, the unicorn had never seen the desert warrior's queen as she was, so she could not speak to whether or not this was her or one of her followers. Still, one fine brow quirked behind the velvet cover of her mask.

Neither did Vendetta truly care if that was who stood beside her. Zolin had been a pig and a bastard, and she might have killed him herself if the Davke woman hadn't done it first. She, perhaps, should feel protective of her court considering past events involving the two groups, but her loyalty did not fall to her court. She had no real attachment to them.

Vendetta didn't call what she suspected was a bluff, though she had a more keen interest in the woman who dared to wear death to a party. "I do as I please. If my goals happen to align with Solis' desires of his people then it is mere coincidence and a benefit to him." It was not that Vendetta disliked the sun god or refused him as her deity but she did not and would never follow. At least he'd managed to get rid of the elk and return some sense of normalcy to Solterra.

All she knew of the regime, past and present, of Denocte was politics and business. She had not met Reichenbach and had et to meet their new queen, but she wondered how the loss of its gypsy king and his command of the crows would affect the Night Court's blackmarket. It would only benefit her, of course, if it happened to be negative.

"I will say that she is adept at creating strangely alluring worlds," Vendetta spoke at last, her blood red eyes traveling around the room of black and white they stood in. "It makes me wonder what sort of reality she lives in, and if it is this one then she is looking through rose stained lashes."

@Avdotya

Vendetta could not help the laugh that escaped her at the other woman’s words. How dare she suggest that the unicorn was somehow less than anyone. Whether Vendetta’s suspicions about this woman were correct or not, it seemed they had a very poor grasp of who she was, and what she did. “I suppose you mean...you, then?” And if the corner of her lip curled in amusement it was only for a moment, like an illusion. Let Solis go groveling for attention from the so-called pious. His wants mattered not to her, for he had absolutely no hand in her success.

Where had Solis been, then, when she’d been born into slavery, had her mother sold and then her child? Sitting happily up in his seat in the sky, looking down on them, bothering only with the devout and righteous. A fire burned in her ruby eyes at the thought. Oh yes, the nobles were no doubt very pious—worshiping Solis for his coat of gold, wishing they could have it for themselves, for all that mattered to them was their riches.

She might have scoffed if it weren’t for Azrail, his steady presence. She might have continued out loud, letting this so called disciple hear just what she thought of Solis, if he hadn’t spoken. ’Composure,’ is all he spoke to her and she knew he was right. Begrudgingly. So, the unicorn set her shoulders and narrowed her eyes and kept the rest of her opinions to herself.

“No, one certainly does not,” that much she could agree with this bone-bearing woman on. Her climb to power had taken cunning, intellect and mettle. Every step she’d been forced back, she’d taken 3 more for herself out from under the ones who stood in her way. Whoever this Isra was, she’d done something or been someone to catch the demi-goddesses attention. In time they would see if she was truly worth it. All truths were exposed in time.

Vendetta looked out at the room as the mare continued, catching on everything that adorned it. The decor on the walls, the tables, hanging from the ceiling all the way to the costumes worn by various staff members were black and white. Half one, half the other, swirling and mixing and contrasting each other. If this had all somehow been a magical creation of Denocte’s new Queen’s, it would stand then, to reason, that she could transform almost anything. Vendetta wondered what she really could create, that was not meant for idle enjoyment. “They could, if used properly,” was all she said.

@Avdotya *grimacing emoji*

Please, Vendetta thought, holding the other woman’s gaze unwaveringly as she turned to look at the unicorn with a challenge in her eyes. She would remember it, oh how she would. One day, when she wore no skirts or finery, she would remember this challenge and show this woman just how she had clawed, fought and won her way to the place she stood now. She did not need Solis or his blessing to get her success, she had done it all on her own. Could her company say the same?

'All pretty things eventually lose their sweetness,' and again, Vendetta found she agreed. She, perhaps, had been sweet once. As a child, a girl who knew and understood nothing of the real world, who had nothing but idyllic hopes and dreams. How quickly she had lost it, how swiftly it had been stripped from her, stolen away along with her innocence. Vendetta would never return to those days. Sweetness had long left her and she was better off for it.

“I believe I just saw one of your informants pass through the crowd,” came Azrail’s voice in her head. Vendetta’s keen ruby eyes drifted toward him, where he lingered in the shadows a few feet away. “It seems our little tete-a-tete is at an end, I have some business I must attend to,” she said, giving her attention one last time to the woman at her side. “It’s been a pleasure, I'm sure” and then the unicorn is all but gone, moving through a crowd that, though it tried, could not quite swallow her up. She met Azrail by the door, and together the pair left the black and white room, and the skull masked woman inside it, behind.

@Avdotya Ven out <3