There was a ball--which she had learned was just a fancy word for party--going on in the noble district, and parties generally meant free alcohol and revelry. Tanith had heard the news earlier that day, for it was rather the talk of the town, and it had piqued her interest, so she asked about it and was...told someone like her couldn't attend? That it was apparently only for a special group of people?
Bullshit.
That only made her want to go more. What was so special about these people, anyway? She was a motherfucking dragon! These Adelans were supposed to worship her kind!
And so she'd tracked the place down and marched up to the gates where a group of guards were checking parchments the guests presented them. She certainly stood out among the other guests; they were all in fancy, expensive clothes while she wore her usual breeches and tunic, with an ankle-length coat pulled on to keep warm in the snowy weather, the hood covering her horns. As she approached the guards, pushing past the other guests (with much protesting from them!) and straight to the front, they looked up in bewilderment and she saw several hands settle on the pommels of their swords.
"Is this the ball?"
"Do you...have an invitation?" one guard asked, while the guests standing around her spoke amongst themselves, complaining of her rudeness.
"The paper thing? No."
"Then I can't let you in. Be off with you, now."
"What do you mean you can't let me in?"
"No invitation, no access. Be gone before we throw you out. Next!"
"Do you have any idea of who I am?" And Tanith, who had been slouching with boredom, drew herself up to her full height then, squaring her shoulders and flexing her fingers, her lip curled in a derisive, fang-baring snarl. Her hood fell back.
And the man paled as his eyes followed her, taking in her sheer height. It wasn't really her size alone that startled him, though--it was her curling ram's horns, the way her fangs flashed when she spoke.
In seconds, he and the other guards had their weapons drawn from their scabbards. "No, we don't, now be off with you before we throw you in a cell!"
"What?" she growled, bristling. "But I'm a dragon! You're supposed to fucking love me. Or something. This is...this is gross misconduct, I'm sure!"
She could make a scene. She could. She could take those squishy human guards and show them what for, each and every one of them, in this form alone! But there were a lot of people around, a lot of unarmed people staring at her in horror, and though she wanted nothing more than to throw down with these bastards--she did always make a conscious effort to avoid collateral. There were too many squishy, unarmed humans around to take the risk.
She let out a huff.
"Fucking whatever. I didn't wanna go to your stupid ball anyway. The name's dumb."
And so, turning on her heel, she marched with a huff away from the stupid guards and their stupid ball, chose a random road to start down--
And as she whipped around a corner too fast, like an angry bull on a mission, she went crashing right into another body.
With a jolt of surprise, she reacted automatically, hands shooting out to stabilize them both as she scooped the other woman up before she could knock her to the ground, catching her in a sort of clumsy dip and staring down at her, blinking as she took in her pale features, dark hair--
And the unmistakeable scent of dragon.