When a new demon queen is created, their first act is to consume every scrap of food immediately available, both to replace energy lost in the transformation and to fuel their first clutch of eggs. Those eggs are typically given to close friends and family members; a new queen rarely wants to risk going out in public in the best of times. With any luck, enough hosts will be created to keep the queen fed while the new hive figures out how to safely operate in society. These first few weeks are crucial, and many queens meet an unfortunate fate when they are unable to keep their new desires in check, taking shortcuts or foolish risks for short-term gains.

Even after this point, the queen often finds she spends more time eating the food brought to her than anything else. The hunger will never cease, and as a queen grows, their reach will need to increase accordingly. Balina Rodovoy went through these trials the same as any other queen; the box containing her gloves was in her possession at the time of infection, but was promptly forgotten due to the inedibility of the box. Like most queens, she immediately made contact with everyone she felt she could trust, then everyone she felt she would keep quiet, and was likely to get to the stage of grabbing anyone she felt she could intimidate had fate not remembered it was in the middle of intervening.

With the blessing of the Zorja, she is somewhat freed from the primary drawbacks of being a queen. Her hunger can be described as merely 'ravenous' instead of 'all-consuming', and her secondary body can interact with society almost as easily as a succubat. Writing a blank check of her loyalty to an unknown entity was an excellent exchange for the ability to actually relax and enjoy herself once in a while.

Art: Ficus (original)