[OOC: Her dress can be found HERE ]

She was too hungry now to not eat something. The Wasp woman sighed and she looked over the food that was available to her, since the start of the Ball until now she had avoided eating anything, she didn't trust easily. But her hunger was winning out and seeing as others had been eating without any visible consequences Sharifa decided that she may as well eat something and start getting used to the food in these lands.

Her red and black dress flowed around her as she examined the food available, deciding to try some of the meats first. She helped herself to a bite of some pork and it was good, but the venison she tried next was much better. It was nicely seasoned with a bit of heat in it which Sharifa liked in her food. Nibbling on some venison that she took with her Sharifa came to the sweets end of the food and eyed it.

It wasn't that she had a sweet tooth, she was now honey bee after all. She took some of the popcorn and tasted it, it was great! Sweet and salty, she knew this probably had some kind of proper name but couldn't think of it for the moment. Didn't matter, she added some more of the popcorn to her plate and then tried some of the chocolates and added a few of them to her plate as well.

With her small collection of food gathered Sharifa made her way past everyone again back to her place on the wall. She leaned back and used her bottom right arm to hold the plate while using her primary right arm to eat with, left arms folded at her side. She still didn't want to be here, but until Angela left, or Angela allowed her to leave, Sharifa was stuck here. Oh well, at least her appearance and mannerisms had kept anyone from asking her to dance.

For now anyway.

Against his whim, Xunatar once again found himself placed into a situation he didn’t wish to participate in. For some ungodly reason, all of the divine were gathered to this shindig along with the mortals. Heavens knew why; perhaps it a show of good faith even though they were on grounds where the general public wasn’t too fond of them. He especially felt a tad out of place for he was also a demon in a land of angels. It was already taboo for him to have set foot into the Cradle as it was, but to be god-touched as well?

It couldn’t be helped and he was sure that the miserable Voice wouldn’t let him leave if it was its whim. The only blessing was that for the most part, they were entirely invisible to the eyes of their guests unless they let their presence known. It was a rather easy decision for Xunatar- to remain as such until the ball was over. That didn’t mean that he didn’t dress his best. On the contrary, the God’s vanity showed in elegant ebony robes that fell from around his waist down to his bare feet. A translucent violet cloth flowed from his right side and somehow led to long sleeves on both sides, leaving the rest of his torso exposed.

Icy blue eyes watched the patrons dance and be merry as he watched from the corner of the room. Well, just about everyone as his eyes eventually landed onto a familiar sight. A slight scowl beckoned from his lips; the wasp that had scouted them from the eve of the war was here? She had made a fool of them when she escaped thanks to a useless pawn that was no longer breathing. Good riddance. He couldn’t help but wonder why her presence was accepted- had he had his way, their whole hive would have been consumed by fire and carnage.

As if he was slipping through the shadows, Xunatar made his presence known to her from behind. His face portrayed a friendly but all-knowing look at her. If anything, she was a fun toy back then for him to try and break. Not many lived through such methods, but one could wonder if the hive mindset had to do with her survival.

“Exploring the finer dishes this place has to offer?”, he asked abruptly with a tilted head. His hands were around his back, lightly strumming against the very air. The wasp was a good couple of inches taller, though it didn’t intimidate him or throw his smile off. “I suppose that bygones are bygones in regards to the past transgressions.”

She felt his presence before he started to speak, and it was all Sharifa could do to keep a shiver from running visibly down her spine. When he started to speak Sharifa turned to face him, despite the height difference she still felt smaller than he was. What was his name? She tried to think as she listened to his words, Xunatar, yes, that was it. His words somehow still rang hollow in her mind, but she tried not to let that show on her face. ”The war is over, yes. Oh, what was the saying… ah yes, time to build bridges rather than burn them.” Sharifa replied. ”As for the food, yes, it is rather tasty what I have tried so far. I'm pleased that the food here agrees with me, I was, to be honest, a little nervous at first it might not sit well.” She explained.

After a moment's hesitation Sharifa continued. ”Now that I have had a little more time in these lands to just look around they are beautiful. On that point, I'm betting you're wondering why I am here, unless Angela has spoken to you already?” Shar didn't know if Angela had told anyone about what had happened or not, the Goddess wasn't really that forth coming with information sometimes. She was nervous about Xunatar, she knew that he was cruel, or had the ability to be so when he chose to be. He had tore into her mind to glean information from her about her allies and their forces, and she had survived it, but it hadn't been by much. If it hadn't been for some hapless fool who had gotten a little too curious about her Sharifa probably would have never gotten out of that damn shed. She wanted to ask what had become of that young man for what he had done, but figured now was not the time to do so.

Despite any lingering animosity, he did very Sharifa’s kind on one aspect. Individuals were often sacrificed for the sake of the hive, something that he could be liked minded in. Such was put on display for those present right after the wasp had escaped and the guard that had been the instrument for it had been dealt with right there on the spot by his own hand. It was clean and quick- the god had no time to waste on someone so insignificant especially during a way. And now fate had chosen to cruelly remind him of lowering his guard for even a moment in the form of the wasp enjoying the festivities. All and all, he supposed that there was much less of hatred as an influence to the fighting but rather that of survival versus thriving. Xunatar hadn’t really been known for forgiveness but never was it said that he didn’t play the role at times if needed. He kept the smile on his face, not giving away any innermost thoughts other than appearing to take to the bash himself.

“It is as if you can read my mind.” His head tilted slightly and his eyes closed to let out a light chuckle when Angela was mentioned. Of course, of all the deities that had a right to annihilate the hive, she was on the top of the list. She hadn’t taken kindly to Dalanesca's death when it happened and yet she was playing peacekeeper once more. Pity, he had heard such wonderful stories of back when Death was her mantle and then she grew soft. It only made him realize not to fall into a similar fate.

“No, she hadn’t really. I only know that she had talked with the leaders of our world not too long ago. I suppose for peaceful terms, no doubt.” He waved it off, “Not much for politics and such, I prefer the way nature had intended for us. Do anything you can to survive or simply perish. That much I don’t hold accountable against you or your hive. Have you taken the time to see as many sights and customs as possible since?”

The lively music was starting up again and he could spot several figures already dancing before his blue orbs fell back to Sharifa. “How about dancing? Have you tried it yet? Or do you need a demonstration?”

The wasp woman eyed the God carefully, she was kind of under Angela’s protection, but that probably only meant from mortals. Shar had no idea if that protection extended to other Deities like Xunatar or the others. So she would tread carefully, being no longer a part of the Hive, well, Sharifa didn’t have that many options. Away from Angela on her own Sharifa would have no idea what to do with her life, not that she had many clues at the moment from Angela anyway.

”I’m not one for politics either, that much we seem to have in common I suppose. And I also agree with you on the nature part. We Wasps, and the Ants to a greater degree than even us, produces quickly and expand rapidly. The invasion was meant to us new lands to expand to, we have cornered in Onnen for too long in the same locations. We found your lands first, before others in Onnen did, so the insect clans decided to try and take them for ourselves.” Sharifa explained, no point in hiding any of that now. ”With the failure of the invasion the others in Onnen have no cornered the insects even further, not allowing us any new territory. An expected outcome in this case.” She paused a moment. ”As for myself, well, you may as well know now, since I’d imagine Angela will eventually tell you in time anyway as to why I am here. Who knows? You might like this.”

She sipped a drink first, no booze, just something very sweet. ”After I arrived back at the Hive after our failure I was taken into custody by the Hive and my Queen. I was put on trial, accused of treason against the Hive, the blame for the failure of the invasion was placed on my shoulders. I was the only surviving scout that came before the invasion, so I stood trial alone before my Queen, but I knew my fate was already decided. They said that my intelligence wasn’t correct, that I had knowingly provided false information about the enemy, more so, you and your brethren Deities.” She sipped her drink again. ”In fact it was that time you had me captured that was my undoing in all of this. That time away from my kin stopped me from getting the information to them that I needed to, that at that time you were vulnerable. If I had managed to get to them right away perhaps the outcome would have been different? Who knows now?” She shrugged. ”Doesn’t matter now, does it? I was sentenced to death.” She reached up with her two lower arms, top arms still holding her food and drink. She showed him her wrists were her stingers should have been ready to come out, heavy scarring, however, was all that was there. ”My stingers, all four of them, were torn out, not cut out, torn out by their roots. I have come to figure out that, for someone such as yourself, it would be like having your finger nails ripped out all at the same time, four times. The pain, I won’t ever forget that pain. It was right after that that Angela showed up, before I could be crucified, and said that was taking custody of me. My Queen had little choice in the matter, so here I am. Away from my Queen, my… sister, my Hive.” She explained and left it at that, leaving hanging in the air for now that she was, in fact, the sister to the current Wasp Queen.

Afterwards she was asked about dancing, and she put on a bit of a surprised look. ”Dancing? No, I never have danced before, it’s not something that Wasps do.” She turned to watch the dancers that were starting with the new music that was being played, it looked graceful the way they moved. What did she have to lose? She looked back to Xunatar and set her refreshments down. ”A demonstration would be appreciated.” She managed a smile.