Desert

Vivienne was never the sort to enjoy sharing the spotlight, especially when sharing it would mean giving up an advantage of some sort. It was... irritating to know that her own sister had immediately placed her on the same tier of usefulness as this random arrival, and she could feel herself bristling at the implication. Neither of them knew this starry-eyed wannabe, and while Vivienne would be the first to admit that she wasn't useless (even idiots could be useful in the right hands), it did not mean that she considered herself Kara's equal. In truth, right up until this moment, she had considered herself a single step down from Nyimara; a general to a King.

Instead, it was now obvious that Nyimara viewed her as nothing more than a Commoner. A tool to be used as she saw fit in a war that she was waging for her own vengeance. The eagerness to do and be something more to Nyimara was snuffed out in that singular moment, and Vivi tucked her personality behind the mask her mother had taught her to wield and resolved to bide her time.

Unlike the rest of Rougaru's children, Vivi had been raised almost as a wild thing. Severed from any sense of family or belonging with only a reluctant mother for company, the pretty young mare had never learned the sort of fanatical loyalty that her siblings ascribed to. Choosing to accompany and help Nyimara had far more to do with wanting a change of scenery and a chance to make a name for herself than it did any sort of familial duty, and now that it was clear that she wasn't about to receive any sort of preferential treatment here, she lacked any sort of true desire to stay.

If she was going to be a peon, could she at least be a peon someone was grateful to have?

Masking her snarl with a smile, Vivi listened silently as Nyimara listed off all of the tasks she wanted the girls to fulfill while fighting off the urge to roll her eyes. In summary, she wanted them to do all of the dirty work while she paraded around the desert and flirted with the neighbors. How... shocking.

Still, Vanya's daughter kept her face neutral and her mouth closed, even when the too-eager filly at her side almost tripped over herself to swear her loyalty and... celibacy?? to Nyimara. Masking the laugh she couldn't stop with a cough, Vivi ducked her head to itch at a forelimb while she raced to gather her thoughts. What the hell had she walked into? She'd known Nyimara was focused on vengeance and had come to offer her passive help (like a beautiful gem that could be used to lure men to her cause), but clearly that was not what Nyimara had in mind.

She wanted Vivi to work herself to the bone, gathering men she couldn't have and putting scars on her coat in the name of a cause she didn't believe in. On the other hand, leaving now or expressing any sort of unhappiness would certainly sever the tenuous connection she had with her sister... and you never knew when a connection would come to be useful.

Fixing a smile to her pale lips, Vivienne raised her head back up and dipped it in Nyimara's direction before offering the sort of flippant goodbye that would be expected of a young filly like herself. "Aye, aye, captain."

Sucking in a sigh, she departed from the group without further word to stew in her own frustrations. She needed to be alone to plot a course out of the mess she'd tripped right into.