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The first thing that caught Calintha's ears was the sound of a crowd in the distance. It was loud, but it didn't sound angry. Her brown eyes flicked around the square, trying to ascertain where the noises where coming from, but unfortunately the sounds echoed about the cobblestones in a confusing manner.

She had to admit that she was a bit disappointed that the cart driver had not recognized the baby, or the word 'help'. She actually wasn't sure which was more frustrating, but regardless, she was stuck in a village that could not speak to her or anyone else. Calintha nodded sympathetically at the man on the car, giving him an understanding smile. "England." It was just a statement. She didn't know what to make of the mans constant word use, but she wanted him to know that yes, she knew the word too.

Scuffling her feet a bit, she stood on tip-toe, trying to take a peek at what kind of cargo he was carrying. Calintha tried to be as non-threatening as possible towards him, but she was curious nonetheless.

It seemed like the sun was actually going to set over the city of Vetrel, which was scary for Calintha. At least she was still wide awake. Despite the unusual current circumstances, she'd already developed a tolerance to little or no sleep in a night. The blonde didn't trust falling asleep here anyways, and she wondered if she needed sleep while trapped in a nightmare.

It escaped her attention that someone was missing. Frankly, several strangers surrounded her, and the only ones Ares was remotely concerned with were Calintha, the other civilians, and the other senshi. More than those, she was concerned for her Queen, the Prince, the Nightmare Priestess, and their Kingdom. Vetrel was a nasty roadblock keeping her from reaching her desired endgame: get the ******** out of here and find her Court (emphasis on a certain indigo-haired girl). Ares had promised ice cream. If Selene wasn't on the inside, then was she still waiting for that ice cream? Was she disappointed in Ares's lack of follow-through? She paled at the thought.

The situation at hand was almost a relief then, a distraction. Ares had a nasty habit of taking things too seriously. When Damon approached with the baby, the cinnamon-haired senshi took an unconscious step to the side. Children repelled her. Calintha seemed interested with the cargo, but Ares had other things on her mind.

She fixed the wagon driver with a serious stare. "Castle," she said, pointing off into the distance where the strange black castle loomed. She had noticed it on their way here, but it was too far off to be a part of Vetrel. It looked impressive enough, and Ares responded well to impressive looks.

In light of the language barrier, Ares attempted a game of charades. She pointed in the direction of the castle, then at herself, then at the castle, then at herself. Then she made a show of marching in place and then pointed at the castle again. "The castle. We need to go to the castle. Do you know whose castle that is?" In spite of the breakdown in talking, Ares seemed determined to force him to learn the English language through sheer force of will.

As an afterthought, she said, "Nightmare Priestess Cassandra." Stare. "Queen Nehelenia." Stare. "Prince Alexandros." Stare. "The Black Moon." Stare. "Tartaros." Then, after a moment, she pointed to herself and said, "Sailor Ares?" Then she waited for a reaction, if any.

Moonstone glanced at the Pink eyed young man in the strange clothes as though to search his face for what he thought of the strangely cheerful voices approaching them, though her gaze did not linger long. She instead made her way with as much calm as she could manage though despite the cheer in the voices her shoulders were still ridged enough that they could have entered into a competition with the citys walls.
She moved back towards the fountain and watched the young man in the Toga fishing coins out of the fountain. Good idea she thought pondering the slightly cruddy coins that rested in his palm.
She looked to see if she could reach any coins that he had not. Even if it required the not so subtle use of the antler to try and pull them closer.

((If I should remove this please let me know?))

Moonstone sat on the edge of the fountain after she finished trying to see if there were any more coins that her antler would let her reach after the Toga's efforts. She watched him wander towards the Axe store and then tried to retrieve the dead frog while she contemplated the situation.

If they couldn't communicate in the language, perhaps they should try and learn a few words, or try. Haka, what did that -probably- mean. He shook his head with the world England, she wondered if he thought it was a person or a place, but he didn't seem to know it....

She stood again leaving the frog behind for the time being unless it seemed to have an interesting cause of death and walked back carefully towards the wagon driver

She took a deep breath and braced herself hopeful that she wasn't about to make a fool of herself and, pointing to herself asked "... Haka?" tilting her head trying to make sure it was clear she was asking a question, if she could learn a few words she thought they might be almost as valuable as coins.

The wagon driver ignored everyone but Moonstone, to which he repeated, "Haka?" He pointed at her, as if trying to communicate something, but when he received no response he looked over one shoulder, and then the other, and then down the path in the direction of the approaching voices, and then pointed to the other side of the town -- no, above the other side of the town.

The town lay at the foot of a mountain range, and what he was indicating was the closest mountain, a looming, craggy peak silhouetted against the sunset sky. From the other side of the town, a road wound through the trees up the side of the mountain. "Haka," he said again, and shook his head furiously.

The cargo of the wagon consisted of a number of crates, somewhat haphazardly packed together. As the voices approached the wagon driver narrowed his eyes, switched the very well-fed red ox on one haunch, and with a snort it tore its eyes away from inspecting Marx and pulled the wagon forward. The cargo shifted momentarily and one of the boxes fell against another -- the sound made was of something soft hitting the wall of the crate, like sand or powder. Wagon, ox, and driver exited stage left in the opposite direction from the approaching voices, disappearing into the rest of the town.

It was starting to occur to them that being in plain sight when a group of strangers arrived might not be the best idea. However, only Calintha and Moonstone had the time to make it in to the axe building before the group came down the trail --

Inside the Blacksmith's Shop, Ground Floor - Sailor Thuban, Calintha Johnson and Lieutenant Moonstone

The building was dark and seemed to have three rooms, or rather, one room separated somewhat into three sections -- a storefront separated by a doorway from a shop, and a ladder that led up to a loft presumably used as a bedroom. It was deserted. The purpose of the building was immediately clear -- it was a blacksmith's workshop, arrayed with various metal tools. Among these in the shop front were an axe, a rusty bear trap and a crowbar. None of these were small enough to conceal in any way, but all rested on the shelves of the storefront.

In the workshop were the usual accoutrements of blacksmithing -- hammers, anvils, an unlit glass lantern, furnace with coals, as well as a red cloth bundled up sitting on a ledge and a metal flask on a stool.

The shop was empty and silent.

Outside the shuttered windows, they could barely see and hear a group of people, accompanied by men's voices, arrive in the town square and stop. They hadn't been noticed inside the blacksmith's shop, and it didn't seem they would be.

The Town Square -- Sailor Ares, Damon Amary, Sailor Arsinoe and Marx Banesfield

As the dust of the wagon disappeared, the group of people came round the corner of the road, talking.

It was clearly a hunting party. That much was apparent. It was a group of men and boys, about fifteen people, between the ages of thirteen and forty-five -- the adult men walking at the front and back, the boys intermingled between them. They were armed with an array of weapons -- a few guns, several clubs, several bows and arrows -- and dressed in dusty, plain Victorian clothing, not at all shabby for hunters in a remote town.

They all had the same eyes as the wagon driver, all save one of the men at the front. At the front were two men -- a middle-aged, well-dressed man with a rifle slung over his shoulder and a handful of metal medallions in one hand, and a young, unarmed, handsome hazel-eyed man with midnight-black hair and an unusual amount of jewellry -- ear piercings, a stud in his nose and bracelets on his wrists.

They all stopped and stared.

Eventually the well-dressed man, with a glance to the others, stepped forward, and said in accented but grammatical English: "Are you travelers?"

[Players in this area can feel free to interact with the people and things in the hunting party in any way they choose -- whether it be by asking, telling, looking, or pointing with regards to various things.]

Moonstone reached and pulled another rose from Calintha's shoulder quietly and then cast a look to the young man in the toga and put her finger to her lips in what she hoped was a universal gesture to keep quiet.

She pursed her lips and glanced around at the contents of the shop. She suspected that they could use the coals to light the lantern if they used the black smith tongs, they had to be here somewhere correct? They could use that to illuminate the loft if they needed to take a look around.
The red cloth caught her attention, but the bear trap gave her pause about reaching it, still she didn't want to just use the cloth to pull it in case it landed with something heavy and loud so she took a risk, resting her antler close by so she could grab it again quickly should the need arise and used both hands to try and carefully lift it down if she could reach it. If it were just cloth no problem but since it was bundled she wondered.

If no one else looked, she would certainly check the flask next.

Sailor Thuban watched as Moonstone took the red cloth off the ledge, curious to see its purpose. He wasn't thrilled about the idea of working with a Negaverser, but so long as he was trapped in the building with her (for certain definitions of "trapped"), trying to kill her stood a chance of him being discovered and killed, too. A temporary truce. For now.

"Can I see that cloth?" he said in a low voice, holding out his hand. Moonstone nodded, handing the red cloth to him. "Let's get some light in here. If there's any alcohol left in that flask, we could soak the rag, stuff if down the lamp with one end trailing, and then light it using the furnace."

Thuban picked up the flask, intending to do just that. He eyed the stool beneath it briefly, but continued with what he was doing.

He'd have to keep an eye on Moonstone while he did -- the last thing Thuban wanted was to be shoved to his fiery death by a Negaverser.

[OOC: Red cloth transferred to Thuban from Moonstone with permission from endejester.]

As the crowd drew nearer, Ares had thrown her a look. The girl wasn't sure why Ares had taken such a shining to her, but regardless, she was happy for the explanation and feeling of having someone watching your back. But when Calintha had seen Moonstone and the caped senshi disembark to the shop underneath the axe sign, she'd slipped away with them. "I'm Calintha." It was a whisper, she wasn't sure if she should be loud. Judging by Moonstones shushing finger, it probably wasn't a good idea.

"We had these old glass lanterns at the house I grew up in." Calintha leaned in to check the lamp, looking for a wick and oil in the basin. "Unless there is oil or kerosene in it, the alcohol wont burn for very long." She continued to keep her voice down, taking stock in what they had.

She peered around the shelves, trying to see something else useful. "Though..." She paused, looking at the foggy windows of the shop. They looked like they hadn't been washed since they had been installed. "We may want to keep the lantern low and mostly covered, if we are trying to avoid suspicion." If there was one thing (other than gardening) that Calintha knew how to do, it was avoiding being caught. She'd done it enough as a child when she had to sneak out to garden.