Smoke curled around the lady's fingers as she exhaled, squinting through the darkness at the other woman beside her. Duchess Vianola Beniot's lips curled into a little smirk, as she sized up the tavern she was inside of.
There were card games and some dancing going on – and she almost stuck out like a sore thumb underneath the darklight, with her asymmetrical bob-cut red hair and her crimson suit with a white flower in the pocket.
The front of her button-down was open enough to show the tattoo she had in the middle of her chest, a black viper curled around a red ace of spades.
Her skin was light brown, and her eyes were golden with a blue ring around the iris. Her ears came to a point as well, like most of the other patrons at the bar.
Vinalola took a sip of her ale and stood up, nodding to the girl she was with.
As much as she liked to linger in dimly lit taverns, the noblewoman had business to attend to. Duchess Vianola took to the streets of Icegrowth, hailing a nearby carriage and climbing in. "The Everglade apartments," she instructed the driver, "and quickly."
The cityscape passed by in a blur as Vianola cracked open one of the carriage windows, feeling the icy weather hit her face.
The carriage parked on the cobblestone street below the complex and she tipped the driver generously, heading indoors, tugging her jacket around herself a little more.
As she slipped the keycard over the reader and entered her apartment, she noticed that the fireplace was already lit. This meant, to her, that one of two things was happening. Either the help came in and lit it for her before she arrived, or …
Her mother snapped the book she was reading shut with a loud smack.
Vianola held back her groan.
"You didn't come to dinner," she began without so much as a hello or a "how are you."
"Why is that?"
Vianola buttoned her shirt up as she talked, to save her mother from doing it herself.
"Hello to you too, mother."
"What pressing matters were you busy with this time?" Eveline Benoit was a short woman with straight red hair and darker skin, strict brown eyes with a blue ring around the outer iris, and at the moment she was crossing her arms.
"Does it matter what excuse I give you? You're not going to believe me either way." Vianola poured herself a drink and offered one to her mother, which she refused.
Instead, she got her some water and then sat beside her on the couch.
"You must have come all this way for something, mother."
"Can't I just have the excuse of wanting to see my only child?"
Vianola smirked at her and answered, "You never just want to see me. You always have something else to say."
As if she was caught red-handed, Eveline scowled.
"Alright, alright. I came to tell you that your friend, Madalina, just got out of the infirmary."
Vianola's brows raised on her face. Madalina Chantilly was a name she hadn't thought about for a very long time. She knew about the tragedy involving the fire, but she had her suspicions that the young lady had done it herself.
Hearing that she was out of the care of the hospital made something twist in her guts. Vinola's expression became neutral again.
"Is that right?"
"What do you make of the fire, Vianola?" asked Eveline, helping herself to some of her daughter's wine in the cabinet by the kitchen.
"I think she wanted the inheritance money."
"Why so?"
"It's just suspicious. She hasn't been married yet, despite all her suitors. And now, after another one goes wrong, the house conveniently burns down and kills her parents?"
Eveline made a hmm noise, as she sat back on the couch and chilled her wine glass with a bit of magic that crept up the glass as frost.
"It is pretty suspicious. I'll tell you if there's any further updates."
"Thank you, mother."
Vianola and her mother talked back and forth for a little while longer, but by the time the older woman was gathering her things to leave, Vianola grabbed her coat to leave as well. She had only intended to stop home to check the mail, but she would have been a fool to keep Eveline waiting.
She held the door open for her mother and then they went their separate ways, with night falling over the city of Icegrowth like a thick blanket. Fog came with the darkness, and Vianola unbuttoned the first three buttons to show her tattoo off once more.
She was heading back to the various pubs in her usual nightly routine, winking at any cute women that she passed. Her hands were jammed into her pockets to keep them warm, and a cigarette was between her teeth.
Long plumes of smoke filled the night air as she walked, and by the time she came to the first bar, she ground the now small bud underneath her heel before strutting inside.
It would be a long night of bar hopping ahead, and Vianola would gladly go from place to place and do what she did best. But what she didn't know was that someone was watching her from afar and that they were noting her every move.
The night became dawn soon enough and as Vianola stumbled into the elevator and into her apartment, she fell into a dreamless sleep. Outside, the carriage with the white pegasus attached to it began its trek home.
The morning came and Vianola slept through it, placated by another night of debauchery. And meanwhile, across the city, another woman began her day. The opposite sides of the coin flipped, and Madalina Chantilly gazed up into the orange sky.
It was time to get to work. The fire's origins were still unknown, and her time was dwindling. She had to get to the bottom of this, no matter what. And the first place she was going to go was back to the remains of the manor.
Even if it was all ash now, it would be the only place she could possibly visit after her life had been turned upside down.