When the group had wandered deeper into the village, the weight of people's gazes grew bigger, although not everyone paid attention to the travelers. Those who did, however, seemed very interested in what business they had in the village. Michiru began to wonder if they looked too foreign compared to other people, to the point where they couldn't pass as travelers from another part of the Earth, but it was clear they were not Earthlings.

While walking she saw two women approaching their group before they all stopped. At least they wouldn't need to open the discussion first now. Upon greeting the group, the two locals seemed nice, but not exactly trusting of the suddenly appeared foreigners, which was natural but made Michiru cautious regardless. Haruka took lead of the situation, being the first one to talk with the women.

The question they asked first wasn't one Michiru had expected to hear, but she didn't mind Haruka's answer. In the end, the story was believable which was what mattered. Michiru nodded to confirm Haruka's story and gave the women her greetings. "My name is Michiru. It's nice to meet you" Although the words were delivered with a hint of smile on her face, it was like she had to force them out since she felt tense. Well, you'd figure it takes longer than just a day or two for a person to get used to such a big change of atmosphere.

After Michiru's greetings the women turned their attention to the two remaining senshi of the group, and they introduced themselves respectively. The locals then asked few questions that could be passed as just pure curiosity, and proceeded to chat with the senshi group. When the small talk had been going on for a while, Michiru decided to interrupt the discussion with another topic. "Um, I am sorry this comes so suddenly, but would you happen to know the best way to get to the capital from here?" she asked the two now mildly surprised ladies, keeping her voice light.

"We have an arranged meeting there, but after getting lost on our way, I'm afraid we may arrive late" she continued her statement to inform they were sort of in a hurry, and not to make her question too transparent. Half of it was true, though, since they didn't want too much time to run out of their hands while they spent it in one place, far from the capital. Michiru supposed the lie of them having a meeting there couldn't be too bad if it avoided them seeming suspicious in the women's eyes and made the point across.

Mod reminder: In a few days it will be a month since the last post. If there isn't a post by the 19th this rp will be placed into the graveyard.

It was surprising to see how easily Michiru was able to charm the women with her soft voice and easy words. It was also surprising that Michiru was able to go with Haruka's made up story without a hint of hesitation.

The fact that Michiru's face never betrayed anything during the whole exchange was pretty impressive.

"The capital?" One of the women repeated. Her tone of voice suggested that she was confused, but regardless, she turned and pointed to a particular road. "Follow that road. It just goes and goes until you run straight into the capital. It's pretty easy to find."

Haruka smiled to them then. "Thank you for your help. It's very much appreciated." She gave a small and polite bow then. Haruka wasn't entirely certain if that was a general custom for Earth people, but she didn't know how else to end the conversation, and she couldn't bring herself to care too much about what Earthlings would think of it. "Good bye."

She began to walk once more, heading for the road that the women had pointed out to them. Haruka glanced back only once to see if the others were following her. At least now they had a clear idea as to how to reach the main target of their mission.

Haruka hoped it would be as smooth sailing as this had been.

OOC:

Upon hearing the woman's reply, a momentarily wave of relief washed over Michiru although she didn't let it show in her body language. The confused tone the woman answered in had made her worry for a moment. Another cause for relief was that the capital should be fairly easy to find, and that they were apparently close to it. A smile formed on her face as a sign of gratitude to the women for their help. It looked like Haruka was genuinely pleased with the answer, too.

Michiru followed in suit as Haruka thanked the ladies, giving them a polite "Thank you " accompanied with a quick bow. Admittedly she wasn't sure if Earthings had the same custom as them, but a sign of politeness was in place even if the custom itself was foreign on Earth.

When Haruka began to walk again, Michiru was ready to follow her a couple steps away. It only took a short while for the two to get the road into their view. It meandered through an open field for as far as one could see, indicating they still had a long way to go.

Their journey began silently, the sound of boot soles connecting with the road filling the air. After walking behind Haruka for some time, Michiru decided to move beside her. She deduced it would be good to start planning what they would do when reaching capital rather now than too late. Besides, they had time to kill on the way. "We could stick to the same story in the capital, too. What do you think?" she suggested, head turned subtly to one side as she looked at Haruka.

The quickly approaching evening began to color the sky with layers of pale orange and vermillion, the two colors clashing in a perfect harmony, connected to each other with lighter hues. The sun shone bright gold, its light catching Michiru's attention. The evening sun's warmth was welcome on her skin after the temperature started dropping down slowly. It made her feel more energetic, the weight of the day's events slipping away from her shoulders.

"The sky looks beautiful here" she breathed. Their task would surely get harder from this point on, but for now, Michiru was content.

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The walk was strangely comfortable. Haruka knew nothing about Michiru, but it was a relief to find that she didn't prattle on needlessly. Haruka preferred meaningful conversation over unnecessary chatter. Maybe this whole partnering thing wouldn't be so bad after all.

After their first conversation with the Earthling women, it appeared that she and Michiru worked rather well together, taking cues from one another without confusion.

It was kind of refreshing in a way.

At Michiru's suggestion, Haruka pondered over it before nodding. "That sounds like a good plan to me." She paused for a moment, suddenly wanting to keep the conversation but unsure how best to do that. "It's as good a story as any."

Now who was going on with unnecessary chatter?

Haruka glanced over to her new partner. It was difficult to think of anyone being her partner, but the fact remained that the two of them were expected to work together for the greater good of the Queen and the Princess. Never had Haruka thought that something like this would happen.

When Michiru spoke of the sky, Haruka found herself staring at Michiru instead. The gold hues of the sky were indeed pretty, but the colors only made Michiru's hair stand out even more, capturing Haruka's attention. Michiru truly was beautiful, anyone could see that. But Haruka wasn't going to let herself get distracted in such a way. She was a senshi first, above everything else.

She looked away from Michiru and focused her gaze back onto the sky again. "It is," Haruka agreed. "I don't think I've seen such a display of colors in the sky before. I never thought I would find myself thinking that anything about Earth was beautiful."

A moment of silence passed after that, before Haruka continued on with a different topic. "I am thinking that perhaps we can try to get a job as guards, or maids, once we reach the castle. I suppose we'll have to come up with a concrete plan once we get there. I am not sure how strict Earthlings protect their castle."

Haruka chanced a glance back to Michiru for just a second, but looked away before she started staring again. "Are you nervous at all about our mission?"

When Haruka commented back about the sky, Michiru's attention fell on her. She had only met a handful of people before, so she tended to rely on reading people's reactions from a small distance at first. She wanted to give them time, in the same sense as she needed it to get to know someone.

Haruka's hair looked golden in the red sunset, which highlighted her features. As someone who greatly appreciated art, which was the only reason as Michiru kept telling herself, she wished she could somehow capture the moment. But she refocused her thoughts, listening carefully what Haruka had to say while gazing upwards to the sky.

Michiru acknowledged Haruka's comment with a short hum. "It's such a foreign thought to us. I would have never imagined that someday we would be trusted with a mission on Earth, so far from our planets." She caught herself getting sidetracked when talking, and blinked to clear her thoughts.

The silence was broken by Haruka when she brought up the topic of trying to get jobs in the castle. "That sounds like a good idea. I too have very little knowledge of Earthlings' ways to protect their castles." Starting things from the scratch when they got to the capital would take time, however, Michiru was relieved she and Haruka had been able to work together well in the village.

Haruka's next question was met by Michiru gazing upwards in thought. She wasn't used to sharing much of her thoughts with anyone, but if Haruka asked her a question, she would do her best to give an answer.

The idea of them being partners and working together still felt unusual, but not as distant as back in the moon castle. Although there was still obviously a long way to go, and the silence between the two women wasn't comfortable, walking aside the other soldier felt strangely relaxing.

"I am. What worries me the most is how far this threat has spread, and what measures must be taken to stop it." Michiru answered Haruka's question, her eyebrows knit together by the end of the sentence. She knew she shouldn't let herself focus on these questions right now, it was far more important to have solid plans for the beginning of their task.

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