the wind howled in the cold desert night of vacuo, a guest of faunuses all came alike to the same location, invited by the same person, one of them rechecked the invitation, the only source of light was from the moon shining down on the gold ink on the black paper. the words were the usual cursive words, except beneath the letter there is the name 'Mareah Nera' written in gold ink alongside the Nera family emblem printed into the paper.
the guest remains silent, hearing and knowing this family name before, it was a small family, a less powerful one to be exact, but also one not too easily messed with, as they are rumored to pay insults with blood, but rumors are rumors, the guest took a deep breath, pressing the bell to the manor. the sounds rang for a bit, before they turned from simple rang to the voice of screeching in terror, a shocker to many, though the good news was, the black gates opened by themselves. most of them took a step in, some remained calm and whispered to one another, while others (bodyguards) kept their eyes peeled, feeling an eerie presence around them, let alone the mansion in front of them.
many steps were taken, and about a minute had passed, yet the walk felt like it took five long minutes to get to the door, many stopped when they approached the door, feeling a sense of relief as the lightbulb of the front gate calmed them down, though some (bodyguards) look around their surrounding for safety reasons as they waited, silents came from the other side of the door before it was pulled, a young woman early 20s with white hair, emerald green eyes, a pair of white wolf ears opens the door to the guest "well, if isn't the guest she had invited~" she said took a glance at the guest before the bodyguard
"oh, it's a pity, but sadly no bodyguards are allowed past the door~" she continues while teasing the bodyguard who has to stay outside in the cold, the guest looked back at their bodyguards who simply sighed and stood on the side of the gate while the girl simply smiled, though the smile simply came out more as creepy rather than encouraging, which she quickly step aside "follow me" before walking while doing a bit of skipping, swinging her hands while doing so. passing by the wine-red hall, bringing the guest to a room, one of them looks up noticing it had the word "Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch'intrate" the exact quote from the book called 'welfs comedy', the young girl looks back to the guest, while taking a few steps back, with a quick smile before bow down while one of her hand twist the door knob, opening the door for the guest to enter.
the guests felt a cold air beneath their feet before entering seeing the room was covered in all-black, from furniture to even the utensils and plates, while the moon shone into the room giving a better view of some places yet, some were still in the shadows, with the owner sitting there in the corner of this long black table, was another girl similar age to the girl in white hair, with her wolf ears twitch and her pair of orange eyes stared at the incoming guest, she see two people, a Faunus like her and... a human, she can't see much due to the moon did not shine far enough to show their faces, but this is enough for her as she stands up put her hands behind her back said "welcome, to the Nera family manor" as the other wolf girl receive the signal, she quickly got to her seat while Mareah continue "apologize for my subordinates rude request, but I think it is an order I gave her; plus I think it's safer to discuss without the need of bodyguards"
"your subordinates ?" the faunus guest wondered looking at the white-haired wolf faunus who was simply waving back with a closed-eyed smile on her face while Mareah simply said "Yes, Ginevra of the Lupinus family" before flicking her fingers with the fire on the candles lit the room, Ginevra simply rolled her eyes, seeing how to show off it looks, though for the guest it doesn't felt like a show at all, with the human guest noticing the seat looking weird
"Please, take your seat, simply find ones where there is your name on it," she said before sitting down, looking at her guests walking to their seats, the guest walked slowly with the two and began to see the seat in clearer detail, what they see are a seat made with granite, though what made it unsettling was the fact there are the names of the guest carved onto the seat and a picture above the words, the picture of the guest in grey color, this isn't a seat no more, this is a tombstone with legs beneath it
yet being unarmed it was no use in confronting Mareah over this, they quickly sat down on their seat, whatever it was they must not get on Mareah's bad side cause who knows what she had prepared here for them
Ginevra looked to Mareah who simply nodded, with a clear signal telling her 'It is time' as she quickly clapped her hand, the guest looked around them, from the shadow coming out were phantom figures, all dressed in black with a mask of 'comedy of profession' some having long noses, some have most of it faces revealed though beneath they painted their face in black make up and paint all for the reason to hid their looks from their guests, they all faced toward one direction before began their path, the black cloak they wore covered them from head to toe making them looks like they were hovering above the ground, walking toward the corner of the room, which was covered by shadows, all 11 of the phantom figure passing through this shadow leaving no traces behind
the guest looked to where those phantoms had gone in disbelief, yet considering that it was covered by shadows, it wouldn't be a surprise if there was simply a door there for them to pass through, as soon as they entered, all of them bring out a plate walking out of the void, some walk to the owner and its subordinates, putting plates of well-done beef with some black colored mashed potato onto Ginevra and Mareah table, while the other put the plates to the guest revealing it to be a plate of something squishy and jelly-like, yet the skin of the food surface was nothing like a jelly, the color only makes it seems like it is a dish filled with something...venomous.
Ginevra had her eyes look on the human faunus, the more she looked at her the more it intrigued her, considering her eyes and hair reminded her of a figure who went unknown after the fall of atlas, though she sensed Mareah's pair of cold eyes stared at her, judging her every move, Ginevra simply leaned back, put her two feet on the table, find it bored and unamused before grabbing onto a glass of black red wine and get out of her seats.
Mareah saw Ginevra coming close to her ears which she whispers "too bored, fresh air." before leaving a smirk as she slowly walked away from the dinner table with her hand shaking the glass of wine before she passed through the table, she quickly put the wine down on the corner of the table before leaving Mareah and the rest of the guest behind
"so, Mrs. Nera, I assume you didn't invite us for something as simple as a dinner, correct ?" the faunus guest spoke Considering the position he and the human guest are in, it's pretty obvious there is more to this dinner with the human guest had speculated the same thing as both parties are now focus on Mareah and her explanation for such dinner
"of course, Mr. Shawdee, I think you as one of the big families know our family slowly lost to power over the years, especially since... the massacre committed by the previous head of the Nera family" Mareah explained while having her dinner eaten slowly, focusing on engaging the conversation "indeed, Mrs. Nera, I am sure glad that old fool was now dead, and I can assume you are trying to rebuild the family name once again ?" the faunus guest assumed with Mareah quickly chewed her steaks before replied, "No, in fact, I was wondering how do you end it ?"
meanwhile
Ginevra walked out of the room, she took a glance around the room before remembering the two bodyguards waiting at the front door, with a smile on her face, meanwhile outside the door, the two bodyguards shivered from the cold air of the desert; though they can't do much but the two sensed something, the two smell a scent of sorts before they quickly check out the source, just as the door quickly pulled for Ginevra to see no one "where'd they go ?" she thought to herself before she heard gunshots, with a quick hop she began to ran to the source of the shot, pull out her two swords, Balan Balin be ready for the worst.
at full speed she ran to the garden, passing by many flower gates, before reaching the main garden, as she saw the bodyguards one had a gun in her hands while the other was using a knife all trying to hold off a Grimm named Puma, Ginevra quickly ran forward swing her sword out unleashing two boomerangs all heading towards the Grimm, though to her luck the boomerang stuck to the creature's body though to her what's worst was that there are more coming behind the puma "shoot!" she cursed as she ran forward
the creature raised its claws preparing to strike down the approaching Ginevra, she sees it had its claws prepare to strike down, she had no choice but to keep running, with every foot she stepped the claw approached closer to her, before she quickly went down sliding the concrete ground, only seconds from avoiding the claws of this monsters, with a quick slash she quickly unleashed two more boomerangs all aiming towards the legs while doing more slicing on the monsters stomach before finishing it off with slicing the back legs, luckily this time the boomerang manage to cut through the front legs, as it began to spin toward ginevra.
with the help of some dust, the boomerang quickly spun back to her hilt, with the Grimm dissipated behind her, leaving only two boomerangs on the ground, she quickly pointed her sword to the two boomerangs, and as the dust on effect, the boomerangs flew toward Ginevra, returning to her sword hilt, she sigh a bit before a huge shadow pass by above her, with a glance she sees a giant desert monitor Grimm jumping pass her, landing in front of Ginevra and the bodyguards, who they had their weapons ready
the creature stood there, its head looking around from left to right like a chicken, while its neck was inflating like a frog, with its snake-like tongue slithering in and out as if it was searching for something, Ginevra saw some of its black saliva drip out of its mouth, causing the grass beneath it to wither in seconds, while the bodyguards notice the hook like claws of this creature, the two bodyguards look at one another thinking to one another a plan to stop this thing, only to see Ginevra suddenly rush to the creature, the two tried to stop her only to felt that they can't move nor speak, as if they're body were stunned or frozen solid
as soon as Ginevra managed to get close, the creature lost its ability to move while the bodyguard could move again, Ginevra jumped high with her sword unleashing four boomerangs all heading toward the grim, so it was the worst time, it didn't puncture deep enough, leaving Ginevra no choice to use her sword, with a quick slash the sword stuck, but the creature didn't dissipate "uh oh" she said before the Grimm began to shake around its body causing Ginevra to lose its balance and fell to the ground, the creature shrieks that even Mareah can hear the voice within the banquet, but she simply sigh before saying "continue" to her guest
Ginevra see the creature begin to crawl away, as it began to head somewhere else, though Ginevra quickly see, it was heading toward the banquet, with only a glass window preventing the creature from heading inside, "oh sh*t!" she cursed before she quickly got up and began to run towards the creature hoping to get a distance where she can use her semblance, while the bodyguard quickly try to shot down the thing, using their dust to block or stop its foot on its track, anything to stop it from approaching the banquet
the creature sees the glass that is in front of it, and with a clear view of what is within it, its crawl begins to go faster and faster, with its head covered in white armor, in a matter of seconds it crashed its head toward the thin glass, glass shattered and spread on the floor, and in front of the creature was a chair, its back facing him, the growl is enough to fill the silence of the entire room, Ginevra simply sat there, looking at the two guests, who remained in their seat but their face has shown they wanted to ran out of the place.
the creature unleashed a shriek that shattered the glass on the dinner table, as the wine flowed to the ground, the creature began to charge toward Ginevra's seat, with its claw ready to strike, and its mouth ready to gulp her whole, then a sword suddenly fell from above pinning the creature hand to the ground, before another pinning the other, as more and more began to fell pinning the legs and tail, while some are stuck to the creature's armor, but most had hit to the creatures back, yet after many stabs, the creature still didn't dissipates
Ginevra quickly arrived, with her sword in hand she quickly unleashed a stab to the creature's head, finally, it had dissipated into nothing, and with it was the sword that fell from above, leaving only Ginevra's sword and some boomerangs, Ginevra quickly grabbed her weapons, while Mareah simply got up looking back at Ginevra who is in the process of picking her weapons before back to her guest with a polite bow she said "I apologize for the sudden interruption, Mr. shawdee and Mrs selju as it seems tonight's dinner will have to end sooner than I have originally planned, but I do thank you for visiting the Nera family manor and provide me some advice to my goal"
as soon as Mareah finished her words, behind her and Ginevra the two bodyguards rush toward Mr. Shawdee and Mrs. Selju to ensure their safety "Mr. Shawdee, Mrs. Selju, you're alright ?" one of them asked worriedly, the other however looks like she is going to hiss or even bite at Mareah if Mrs selju was harmed as Mareah can simply stood there knowing if she even took a step she can receive a gun pointed to her face.
with that she saw the two bodyguards escorting their masters out of the banquet, leaving Mareah and Ginevra in the room, Mareah simply sighed, while Ginevra quickly used the dust within her weapon to get the boomerang returned to her sword before she sheathed them back, though she can tell Ginevra sigh weren't simple, as she heard her footstep coming towards her, with a deep breath she faced toward Mareah who gave her a look of relief, she sees mareah had her hands on her as if checking something before she said: "are you hurt ?"
"no, it's nothing to worry about," Ginevra said before continuing "So, did it go well ?" Mareah looked at the dinner table "Well, you could call it a fail, but we got what we needed" Ginevra loosened up a bit "Well, that's good to hear, so..." she said looking to the shattered glass on the floor though Mareah calmly said "we'll let the servants do the work on this, other than that though, we should get to bed, it's late" before stretching her aching muscles only to look at Ginevra "let's go" who quickly catch up to her as the two walk out of the banquet.
a while later in the bedroom
smokes fumed the cold blue bedroom, as clothes were scattered around the wine red floor, the navy blue curtain showing two silhouettes on the same bed, one was currently eating on a pocky while the other was lying on the bed though she could see that the other (Mareah) was looking up on something as she sat on the bed look up to Mareah's phone seeing it seems to be...a cargo train from the SDC north of vale in forever fall "what's the plan ?" she whispered to Mareah ears
"Red has managed to gather info as to where the tracks will lead, infiltrate it, if you can, and try to get some of the dust on the cargo, tomorrow you will be sent to Vale, and Red will meet you there when you arrive, is that clear ?" Mareah look to Ginevra who simply sighs "well, I guess I can, but before that though~," she said as she began to whispered "mind giving me some more fun times before I go ?" with Mareah simply put the pocky and her phone on the bedside table before she turned around to look at Ginevra in the eyes said "you bet" before leaning down to give her a deep passionate kiss before they began their pleasure throughout the night