She listened critically to reactions and ideas going back and forth, the little kernal of the idea she had had in the back of her mind for a small team popping up through others, but hearing it out loud didn't make the idea sound any better, after all. When Gabriel offered going down to scout, siting his adeptness at flight and his shield as reasons to send him in, she crossed her arms and almost offered to go with him. She didn't want the job, but in an away team they would need a healer, in case things... went wrong, but at the same time she remembered what he had hinted about the compass and the communicator and knew that if he went, she should stay, otherwise the team might lose both. That would mean Hex going, instead; and in all honesty Hex was better because she could provide that odd power-up ability of hers and boost the strength of the away team if something bad did unexpectedly happen.

Nyx brought up something else still to consider - the mind control attempts. If this new enemy could attempt to put them under its control, sending Gabriel in first, when he was, so far, the only one that could remove such an affliction, wasn't the best idea - she agreed. Nyx being a good flyer was a good enough reason to keep her as a viable option for the away team, and she supported the idea of at least a pair - Nyx and Hex then? But then she also supported landing and staying together, and if they all landed together, as they had mentioned before, they could try to find a settlement and get some information before they struck out to get the beast. Of both ideas, she preferred the latter - that they stuck together, they found out as much information about the Chaos beast as they could, figured out a plan to fight it, and then found it. 

As Hemera and Nyx spoke together about Hemera going, and Aldrin spoke or sang a lot in phrasing that she could understand but struggled with keeping up with at times - in the end she felt the gist was that she thought they should stay together, but should also tour the planet for culture? She bit her tongue and focused her attention on Elysande, trying not to get mad at what she understood to be Aldrin's attempt to turn this mission to save the planet into a tour for personal entertainment. 

Ari backed staying together, but offered to go with Gabriel to scout, if necessary, and Crysdal was starting a list of tallies of who-goes and who-stays in her head; Ari was a good candidate for her shield, Nyx had speed, they needed a healer, Gabriel would need to go in after if they were all brainwashed. Elysande spoke with insight on what the away team should do when they go, but didn't offer herself up for the team; Cosima voted for Gabriel, Nyx, and Bastet and warned of Sandstorms, something Crysdal had only read about in books, and the blonde reactively looked over her shoulder for any thick cloud activity and found none, but that was something else to keep an eye on. 

Gabriel spoke again, and she disagreed with what he was insinuating - that if he is turned it'd be fine because they're got power on their side, and she wasn't going to let that slide, but she let him finish; Sam's offer and notice that she had experience as a scout stayed her tongue, adding another player into the potential scouting team mix. She took a breath, but Hadley's soft words caught her as she repeated the old woman's advice. Crysdal smiled over at her encouragingly. 

"I agree with Hadley," she said calmly. "There's a lot to be gained with scouting now, but the risk of losing some of us is high because we just don't know what we're getting into. If we could find some of the planet's citizens and ask them what they know, they could give us a little more insight, and then we might send in a small team to investigate what the people don't know. Knowing whether this one could bend minds towards Chaos, for example, would be helpful in deciding whether Gabriel should go or if he should stay because if he gets brainwashed we don't know how to undo that effect, and the people of this planet might know it - the people of Cipriere did, and beyond that, if we learned what it was we could start planning different methods of engaging it."

"I suggest we stick together for now and find some sort of settlement;" she stated, "we could ask around and figure out what they know, if they know anything, and figure out a plan from there. Then if we were to send out a scouting party, I think Sam should lead it for her experience, with Nyx for her abilities and flight, Bastet for her shield, and Hex to heal or boost you guys if something bad happens. If we're sure it can't brainwash anyone, we could choose to substitute Gabriel for Nyx as the person who could fly back to us and tell us if we're needed for a rescue, and Nyx could stay to attempt to freeze or sleep enemies," she finished, annunciation her words carefully in an attempt to keep the nervousness out of them. She didn't like suggesting that they would need someone to fly back and get everyone - she would prefer it if they all stayed at a distance and Sam's scanner thing worked perfectly and nothing bad happened, but contingency plans were important.

She waited for reactions, hoping that those who suggested they wanted to stay together would back her, and wondering just what they would do if the decision wasn't a majority in either direction.

Gabriel crossed his arms over his chest, closing himself off. What would they even do if he died and they got brainwashed? His power was not important enough that one of the two shields should be left behind. Sending magical fighters would weaken them. Sure, Cosima and him were great fighters, but they needed those attacking from afar to actually make a difference (Hadley and her vines being a big part of their victory). Sending Nyx, certainly followed by the sister who wouldn't leave her side, would maybe hinder their team more than helping out.

The compass also shouldn't travel into too many hands.

But Crysdal line of thoughts wasn't bad.

And if he seemed closed off, his eyes weren't angry.

It only made him feel like this power was going to put him on a bench. His sword was the only good thing about his fighting skills, about him maybe. So to have to maybe stay behind because of a stupid power he wasn't even sure worked correctly...

"Let's land somewhere opposite to where the compass is pointing at. If we're to make it as safe as possible, let's start there. How big can you make that shield, Sailor Bastet? Can it protect us all while we descend?" He looked at both Ari and Crysdal. "Or do we get down as fast and subtle as possible without it?"

His words didn't keep him from summoning his shield.

When Crysdal suggested they all go down to investigate the possible civilizations on the planet, Ari stared at the desert planet, not really believing any humanoid beings could live on a planet like this. Sure, Bastet had its dry, desert like areas but nothing like...this.

"People can live there?" she mostly spoke it to herself as she thought about life on a desert planet. She wondered what the plants and animal life were like down there. On Bastet, there had been life in the desert, but it kept itself hidden and you had to search for it. Creatures that lived in the desert were tough and survivors. They had to be.

Gabriel's question brought her thoughts back to the group.

"The widest I can make it with my power is what you saw in the battle... the radius is about as long as I am tall, i would guess... It would be cramped but we could possibly get everyone in."

Hemera did not understand what was going on. Nyx seemed confused by the question, but then several different emotions seemed to play across her face at once.

And then she played it off as if it was nothing. Hemera might not be the best about reading people, but she knew her sister. And this didn’t seem like the usual Nyx. She’d also never laughed like that. Hemera narrowed her eyes suspiciously, but decided now was not the right time to press her about it. Not when the others were trying to decide what to do.

She finally looked back at the others. “I agree with finding a settlement together and getting as much information as we can.”

Okay, so she was mostly saying that out of the necessity to not get separated, but it was also true, right? Nyx always told her blindly jumping into things head on was not the best solution. No matter how much she wanted to do just that here.

Nyx was glad that her sister did not press on further at the time, possibly because they were in the middle of a strategy discussion, after all. She's definitely not good at lying, and she could tell that this did not go well. But hopefully, she would forget to ask again about it later.

Gabriel spoke, and of course, he didn't get it either. She didn't expect more from someone who thought swords and shields make fighters. Though the way he spoke... It was actually rather polite and respectful.

So he actually believes them to be stronger? And he acknowledged that she was mentally strong; good of him to notice. Maybe she had slightly misunderstood him...

...Wait a minute.

Is he just trying to charm her too?? Is that how he does it?

Hmph. Such flattery would not work on her. Her attention turned to Sam, who volunteered to go... alone...

Just when Nyx had said no one should go alone. She volunteered to go alone. Because, evidently, she could not see how that could go wrong.

Resisting the urge for a facepalm, she listened to Aegle. Finally, someone who gets it! Her plan seemed solid, and she was glad that apparently there were still people with a keen mind in the group. It seemed that she preferred going from a distance, and Nyx had honestly no issues with that.

Her plan was backed by her sister, to Nyx's surprise. She thought she'd much prefer to jump into action immediately. Then again, she did like to explore...? Or maybe she didn't like the possibility of being left behind in the action? She glanced at Hemera curiously for a moment.

Sailor Xtal-Diamante floated calmly near the others, gently aloft in their suspended position. Why was there so much not moving? There had been a lot of not moving on Cipriere. They had only just reached Destore, after traveling for a few hours, and now there was more not moving. She missed the reddish dusty surface of her home, and the rocks that needed to be moved from one location to the next. She missed the oil rivers that flowed across the surface, which sometimes required diverting, damming, or other attention. She missed having goals to accomplish; things she inherently knew she must do. She had felt so very little of that during her time far away. It was probably what she missed the most.

She wasn't sure if the current discussion, which seemed to imply future moving, would result in such a thing happening.

As she waited for the decision, the thought of taking the lead never crossed Sailor Xtal-Diamante's mind. She didn't feel the pull to do an action, and lacking her typical and familiar impetus, the concept of acting without of it was too foreign for her to yet consider and implement. The crystal eyes scanned the area around the group, not currently needing to observe those among her party. The desert below was not something she had seen, although it bore similarities to her home. It was not the only feature, however—there were areas similar to Cipriere and those entirely foreign. As her eyes glanced west... something else unusual stood out.

Xtal-Diamante stared at it, unblinking, unsure of how to process what she saw. A line of... something? Going into the sky?

"That is... what?" she asked, to no one in particular, but actually remembering to channel vibrations outward to speak to the others. This time, at least.

"Yo, your plans be lit, fam," Sailor Aldrin would have said if she was a bumbling teenager in present day Earth. Instead, she said...

"I have analyzed the arguments presented and say that I, Sailor Aldrin of Planet Aldrin, find the plan to stay together and, as Sailor Hemera of Planet What-Might-Be-Called-Hemera proposed, find a settlement to gain data and be culturally enriched to be the best."

She was still on the cultural enrichment track it seemed. Would she be interested in learning about the culture of every place they visited? Being the extreme listener that she was, she picked up Sailor Xtal-Diamante mentioning something about a new discovery.

"Lo, the one who calls herself Sailor Xtal-Diamante has discovered smoke!" she announced as though the sailor soldier was royalty.

Cosima couldn't understand why they were delaying the inevitable. They were going to have to fight whatever the chaos force on this planet was and it was best if they did it while they were at full strength. There was also a chance of running into that mysterious man the old crone had warned them as well as the natives not being as friendly as the others were assuming they were going to be.

She was about to counter Aegle when Aldrin spoke interrupted causing Cosima to shoot her a very annoyed glare but her expression changed at the mention of fire. She turned her attention towards the west were a thin line of smoking was trailing into the sky before finally fading into nothing. Had that always been there?

Her immediate thoughts screamed only, "Don't go to it." yet Cosima remained silent, opting not to voice her suspicions so quickly. She could already see the naive ones such as Bastet and Valdis wanting to inspect the area to see who it belonged to but Cosima was already ready to reject the idea. "It could be a trap." She finally said, her voice dropping low as if she was afraid someone was listening to their conversation. "We were tricked by that old hermit and now someone could be trying to lure us away to distract us from our mission." She purposely emphasized the last word to remind the others why exactly they were here, why they were taken from their homes and why they were being forced to fight. They were not here for sightseeing or for any other nonsense except to save this place and then leave.

SAM was actually relieved that they hadn't immediately gone with the straightest approach, not because she couldn't go scouting, but because it'd be less of a risk of immediately dying. She had only volunteered in an attempt to satisfy the party, but as long as they were moving now...

She was such a coward. 

Sailor Aldrin caught her attention with her mention of Xtal-Diamante, and SAM also saw the rising smoke. 

"It looks like a fire...but you're right, that could be a trap..." SAM said, agreeing with Cosima. There must be a middle ground that incorporates both strategies in a way.


"What if we just land somewhat close to where the compass is pointing, and then work our way forward? That would give us time to prepare and gather some information without sacrificing as much time. If-if that makes sense, I mean..." SAM looked away from the group. "That's just a suggestion."

She was thinking over Gabriel's question, but it seemed to answer itself in Ari sharing she could only make the shield as big as herself, and she was a tiny thing to start with; they'd have to descend as quickly as was safe. She appreciated that others seemed to think the plan of landing and getting information first by word of mouth was a good way to go. She heard Hex say something but lost it on the wind, and then Aldrin spoke and she had to pay more attention than she liked to in order to understand what the blue-girl was saying, her lips forming a pout and her shoulders hunching as Aldrin accredited the notion of getting information from the people to Hemera instead of her, and did not appreciate the added insinuation that they would hang around there long enough to become culturally enriched, but as she made a show of announcing that Hex had seen smoke, Crysdal dropped her arms and turned immediately to follow the line, her pulse racing. 

They were in a desert. Were fires common in deserts? With the sparse vegetation it shouldn't be common - no fuel to burn meant no fire, but that line of smoke... it wasn't near a tree line, so it couldn't be trees; it had to be... She moved closer instinctively, wishing her eyes could see farther, her heart beating hard in her chest. 

Cosima's warning raised her defenses immediately; she looked over her shoulder back at them, her expression dismayed; Sam's seconding of the notion that the fire could be a trap worrying her further; she turned around to fully face them, her voice tense. "But what's on fire?! This is a desert - it's not like trees caught fire in a lightning storm - for us to be able to see it can't make it so small as a campfire, either - something big is burning! What else can that be but a settlement?!" Not thinking she'd find an ally in Cosima or Sam, but not wanting to necessarily bring Hadley or Ari into thinking about this, she turned instead to Gabriel, Nyx, and Hemera, her eyes pausing on Elysande in a way to check her own logic - if Elysande was following, she had a leg to stand on. "We're here to save the planet - if that's a city burning how could we stand by?! People could be dying down there! Trap or no, don't we owe it to them to check it out and stop it if we can?!" She flew backwards a little, feeling terrible for not having rushed in already, wanting nothing more than to turn and help. Fires were terrible things when out of control, they were frightening, they were deadly.

When Hex spoke and Aldrin confirmed there was smoke on the horizon...Ari felt her heart tighten. Her first thoughts were people in danger if there were even people down there. But how could there not? They were supposed to be saving people from the onslaught of Chaos so...they must have some sort of civilization on the desert planet.

Cosima immediately warned of it being a trap and with Sam confirming, she furrowed her eyebrows in thought and concern. It's highly possible this entire planet was a trap for all they knew. Constantly sitting here and worrying about that would get them no where but...heading straight in to investigate could lead straight to the groups demise.

But....for all they could see....this whole planet was a desert. What could possibly have caught on fire on its own in the dessert? Ari knew that plant life was sparse and spread thin in desert terrains. There was no way it was the fauna burning, not with a smoke plume that large....

Crysdal spoke up and hit the nail on the head. Ari was relieved someone was thinking exactly what she was...

"Crysdal is right. We should at least check it out...even if its just from a distance. Weren't we going to go down anyway to check things out? Why not there as our starting point?"

Ari looked around nervously between all in the group. It wasn't like her to speak up so much but she was beginning to feel comfortable enough around them. However, something nagged at her within and constantly made her doubt her words and if they held any merit with those in the group. She didn't want to get berated like she had been by Sailor Jin again.

SAM was not expecting Crysdal's response to a fire to be head straight towards it, but then she mentioned the lack of trees to burn and the possibility of a settlement being in danger. It took her a few seconds to connect the dots, and then remembered that not all settlements were made of metal and protected by domes. Just like the village on the last planet, this planet could construct things with flammable materials. 

And if they were in a true desert, water would be hard to come by. She shrunk a bit into her suit as Crysdal looked away to try and rouse the others into action, the light on her chest-plate flashing a few times before dimming again.


They had to go save any innocents in danger, if there were any at all. If they were here to save this planet, the people were also important.

"R-right, that makes sense...Of course..." she mumbled, before Sailor Bastet joined in with her own opinion. This entire conversation was beginning to become exhausting on multiple levels. Whatever everyone decided on, SAM would fall in with it. That was a easier choice to make.

As their attention was drawn toward the smoke on the western horizon, Hemera’s brow furrowed. There were mentions of traps, but… were they just supposed to let it burn, then? That didn’t sound logical either. At the very least, she agreed with Aegle that they needed to see what was burning.

As the healer seemed ready to go already, and, judging from previous conversations, even if everyone had agreed, it normally took a thousand years for them to actually get moving, after talking everything to death, Hemera ran out of patience. She needed to do something, and they were wasting time.

“If you guys think it’s a trap, stay here. But you’re right, we need to check it out,” she directed the last bit at Aegle and flapped her wings to fly toward the smoke, intending to get only close enough to see what was burning rather than actually land anywhere near it, but the point was she was moving.

The discussion shifted towards a trail of smoke the rocky senshi noticed on the horizon, and while everyone were talking about what they should do, Nyx also weighed their options in her head.

There could be innocents in danger, down there. Isn't it their responsibility to save innocents? But at the same time, they're not firefighters -- what can they do to help? They were lucky enough that last time they were caught in a fiery incident, there was a water source nearby, but would they be as lucky in the desert?

Not to mention that this fire could be caused by the chaotic influence in the first place. The time they waste on this one, ten more fires could light up on different parts on the planet. Perhaps keeping their focus on eliminating the source of evil here would be more beneficial.

Aegle suggested that they investigate the fire -- that did not surprise Nyx. There was just something about that girl and fires, can't seem to stay away from them. She was inclined to agree as well, since it looked like most agreed to land from a distance either way. But of course, her sister would not spend that much time thinking. Quite like with the assassin incident, she decided to fly away on her own to investigate. "W- wait!" she yelled at her as she made to follow her.

Although she had no opinions about the fire—in fact, it was only from listening to the others that she began to make the connection between what she saw (the smoke) and whatever was causing it (the probable fire others spoke of)—she instinctively turned to follow Sailor Hemera when the radiant one moved to investigate. This was finally action, and not only could she not keep herself from joining in, she couldn't quite understand why hesitating would be useful in this scenario. "Caution" was still not entirely something she comprehended, although it was gently making its usefulness known.

She remained slightly back from Hemera (technically moving to the position behind Nyx as the other approached her sister), but headed in that general direction. Unless her attention was otherwise directed or an order was given, she was going to follow whichever decision appeared significant at the time.

As she waited for the decision, Crysdal continued moving backwards, inching towards the sight of the smoke, ready to go off alone if she needed to, but with Ari and Sam agreeing - she was glad the latter agreed, she didn't want to antagonize anyone - it looked like she wouldn't have to go alone, and as Hemera flew off towards the fire, Crysdal shot off after her, grateful and relieved. The other was faster than she, but she managed to keep up; glancing behind she saw Nyx and Hex following, too, and was glad of both their companies - Nyx for her ice, Hex for her healing, and Hemera for her strength - this could be  okay. If people were stuck in there, they could do something, even if they couldn't completley control the flames. 

When Hemera paused in sight of the conflagration, Aegle pulled up next to her, her hand embracing the other's arm in a sign of support and gratefulness. "Thank you," Crysdal impressed upon the other for her swift choice, and then turned her blue-grey eyes to the smoke that choked the view, and steeled herself despite the constricting feeling within her chest.

Quote :

Smoke billowed out of the collection of buildings, black and thick and acrid. A village burned, the crackling of fire as it ate through the innards of the mud-brick homes the only sound snapping through the air. There was no screaming, there were no cries for help, but the sharpest of sight could see dark red stains in arcs along the sun-bleached walls.

Why was it so quiet? 

Had they all gotten away? 

She couldn't see much from her vantage point - the inner streets and passageways of the city were completely engulfed in smoke, but from the 180° view around the village from where she flew, she did not see anyone. 

Her heart thumping painfully, she flew closer, aiming to land just outside the buildings, rightening herself to the ground and dismissing her wings when she was feet from the surface, falling the gracefully the rest of the way, rolling on impact, and took off at a quick jog, her eyes catching the blood on the walls and her stomach churning in response. She followed the streets, the pathway large enough that she did not have to duck beneath the smoke, and put both hands to her mouth to call out. "Hello?! Anybody here?!"

Sailor Hemera was already moving towards the supposed fire, with or without the group, to SAM's panic. She had done the exact same thing in the swamp too, now that she thought about it. Before she could even protest the sudden movement, Sailor Nyx, Xtal-Diamante and Crysdal followed her.

"Wait, stop! We can't just"- They were too far off to hear now, and after a nervous glance back at the others left behind, she made an uncomfortable sound and followed as well. If it was a trap, they would need help.

By the time she caught up, all that was left to see was the still burning husk of a settlement. It was silent, and her sensors picked up on the red liquid spattered around the leftover architecture. Fire did not cause bodily fluids to do that...

She watched as Crysdal dropped out the sky and moved into the ruins, and did her best to make her own landing. SAM hit the dirt heavily, but her knees absorbed the impact well, and she continued to trail after the healer. It was so smoky from the burning houses that it was becoming difficult to filter out...


"Shhhh!" SAM hissed at her through the helmet, finally catching up. Did she have a death wish, walking around in the open and making noise? 


"Don't yell, you don't know what you'll attract..." She sounded tense, and she turned on her Energy Scanner to check for any life signatures.

The first talk of fire brought Hadley out of thoughts of keeping the group together, and more towards worry. Fire scared her - it was the one element she disliked the most. Even when used by one of her allies, it brought her slight pause. It consumed and destroyed, and she worried now that perhaps fire had ruined more innocent things in the distance.

She agreed with Crysdal when she said that they, as a group, should try to help if anyone was caught in the fire. But before much else could be said, Hemera was already off, heading straight for it. Others were quick to follow, and Hadley wasn't going to wait around. She wasn't sure what she'd be able to offer, but she couldn't stay back if there were potential people who needed help.

Hadley's flight towards the billowing smoke was unsteady at best, and she arrived slower than the others who had already started moving. But she wasn't too far behind, even as she failed the intended soft landing on her feet, and instead fell smartly on her bottom.

At least she was on ground once more.

But that kind of relief was short lived as she took in the surroundings. The fire still burned its way through the village, smoke thick and making it hard to breath. It was so quiet though. It was a comfort to think that everyone from the village had gotten away in time. Despite this thought, Hadley frowned, and tried to cover her mouth and nose to filter out the smoke as best she could, but it was a pointless endeavor.

As the fire snapped beside her, Hadley jumped away, before looking to her allies. "What do we do?"

As far as she could remember, no one on their team had any water powers. Were they really going to have to just let the fire continue to rage on?

Once Hemera flew off, most of the others did too. Ari hesitated for a moment looking to see if the rest of the group would follow...she hoped they would, not wanting them the group to get separated. Giving them an apologetic look, she then darted off after Hemera, Nyx, Aegle, Hex, Sam and Hadley.

Ari caught up with Hadley and landed next to her. Surrounding them was a village burning to the ground except all she could hear was the sounds of the fire. Discussion already had started on what to do, except something about all this felt off. Where were the villagers?

Closing her eyes, Ari concentrated listening with her ears and using her nose to try to pick up anything asides the smoke. Though that was difficult to do, the smoke was rough on her senses and the heat was oppressive, even with being a distance from the actual fire. As she concentrated on her physical senses, Ari reached out for any magical auras as well.

She hoped that maybe she could feel out whatever caused this and if it was even still around...

Crysdal jumped at the hissing sound, turning around with hope, only to find Sam behind her. She released her breath and hurried on, glancing into buildings but unable to see anything beyond the smoke pouring out; she heard the tension in Sam's tone, but she could't just not call out! She glanced down a side-street, seeing no one, and put her hand to her mouth again to call, ready with an apology to Sam to follow. "Hello! Anybody here?! Do you need help?!" she yelled, coughing as she choked down the acrid mess hanging in the air. She looked back to Sam and Hadley, her eyes red and watering from the exposure, "If they're trapped they need to know we're here! We'll figure out what to do with the fire if or when we find people - we just have to find them!"

She hurried forward, once again moving to look into open doorways and windows, "Hello?!"

Xtal-Diamante landed among the others, and her eyes looked around at the flames. This heat... it was so strange...! It reminded her vaguely of some of the oil rivers from her home, warmed by the core of her planet. It was almost soothing in its tangential familiarity. She noted, however, that the sailor soldiers from her group did not seem to be enjoying this as much as she was. The smoke didn't particularly bother her "breathing," because she was mostly crystalline structure and lacked important elements like "lungs" to process air, but it did obscure a clear view of this area. Rather bothersome of it, honestly...

As she scanned, Aegle yelled out again and darted off into another row of doorways, and SAM grit her teeth in frustration. Did she not understand the proper method of navigating a flaming area?


"We can't just expose ourselves like this, we need to be cautious!" She jogged to catch up to Crystal and then picked her up and off the ground with both arms. It wasn't very difficult physically, but SAM felt incredibly awkward deliberately touching anyone without a layer of armor over them. The only thing that stopped her from shivering at the contact was how worked up she was about safety.


"You're going to make yourself sick running aimlessly through this smoke with no protection! Pleas wait!"

"Something's in the center of this town..." SAM said, interpreting the contents of her visor. "They look like heat signatures, but I'm not sure if they're people." She had no idea what those could be if they weren't alive. Maybe bonfires? 

"There are definitely a few living things heading away from here, beyond them. I can barely sense them. I'm not picking up anything else though." She coughed as the smoke smell finally got beyond her helmet's filtering system. Her throat was going to be so sore in a few minutes if this kept up. "We shouldn't stay here for long if we can help it, but we don't have to blindly search for survivors."

Though Alshain was indeed listening to the conversation around, she began looking around at the planet surface below them, seeing the desert stretch on for miles.  She could just imagine the heat that the sand would radiate back, releasing the energy it had borrowed from the sun.  A commotion brought her attention back to the atmosphere around and she turned to notice the smoke trail herself.  She caught the look Aegle threw her way as she made the call for investigation, and she agreed, they were indeed here to save people.  Besides, they might be able to get information from any survivors, friendly or otherwise.  The group began to break off and she followed, not as quick as the others though so that she could break off and avoid a trap if necessary.  

As she landed, she made to move towards Aegle, taking in the eerie quiet over the flames.  There was no screaming, no rustling, and as she took in the red stained walls, she began to wonder if anyone had survived what had happened before the fire started.  She moved to be in position near her planetary partner, keeping an eye on the blonde's movements, ready to lend a hand.  "Be careful," She murmured just loud enough for the other to hear in between her calls for help.  She could take these flames better than the other but she still recognized caution.  Fire was powerful, this she knew, and was learning more about all the time.  At this moment, the dark haired senshi lamented her own control over the flames, almost wishing she could choke them out or even turn them against whoever had caused this level of destruction.  

Even though she could feel the heat of the flames, she wouldn't allow herself to feel comforted by the familiar warmth, these flames had taken lives or at least destroyed what had remained.  She felt disgusted by the blatant misuse of something so pure and powerful.  At Chalybs announcement of other beings in the area, Alshain allowed readied herself, to either fight or help, she wasn't sure which would be needed.

Before Cosima could argue her point, one of the sisters took off towards the fire and her heart almost flat-lined. It only got worse as more of them proceeded to leave the group and fly away to go 'help' the supposed victims in need of there dire aid. She gritted her teeth before huffing as she flapped her wings angrily and took off.

"What are you doing?!" Cosima hissed in both annoyance and panic as she attempted to catch up with them, desperately hoping they didn't manage to do anything stupid. Two of them had nearly blown themselves up during the last mission so there was no telling what could do next. As they got closer to the rising smoke it became clear that it was actually village yet their was nothing but silence. Not shouts or cries for help. There were no people running to escape the growing flames. Just silence.

Cosima lowered herself to the ground and her eyes narrowed as she gripped the hilt of her sword. Something wasn't right. There was something...unnatural about this place. As she Aegle continued to run around screaming mindlessly, Cosima scanned the area - at least what she could see through the thick smoke - before her eyes caught something splattered against the walls of the houses. It was red...and by the looks of it was blood.

Cosima closed her eyes, silently lamenting what had happened here. Villages being raided and destroyed wasn't a foreign concept to her but she wonder how much the others were exposed towards it. The world was a dark place even before this Chaos war started. 'And it always will be.' She thought bitterly before turning to face the others.

"There's no one here." Cosima stated stoically. "They're dead." She pointed a finger towards the red stains on the wall as her eyes met Aegle's directly. "Someone...or something most likely killed them."

Hadley agreed with Crysdal, though she worried about all of them standing here in this smoke. But she understood where Crysdal was coming from, and felt that same urge to do something.

She was about to go from place to place, calling out for someone - anyone - to respond. But before she could get the first word out, SAM spoke, and she was further distracted by Cosima as well. Hadley frowned - caution and danger... she never thought of these things like the others did, even though she did fully understand the dangers of fire and smoke.

Hadley looked to Crysdal again, wondering if the blonde was okay. She seemed frazzled, almost frantic. Hadley felt the same kind of worry and need to help, but it seemed not nearly at the same level as Crysdal. She wanted to ask, but kept silent instead. It didn't seem appropriate to ask right now.

When Cosima pointed out red stains splattered on a nearby wall, Hadley winced and turned away. She couldn't begin to guess what had happened here, but those kinds of marks didn't come from burning.

She didn't know what to do, didn't know what to say. Breathing was difficult, and she felt so uncomfortable being surrounded by all of this soot and flame. She instead put her attention onto Crsydal. "We'll make this right," she said. It was the only thing she could think of saying.

Because it was true. This was the sort of thing they had come here to stop, wasn't it? She hoped that, if nothing else, they could all take some kind of comfort in that.

He agreed with Cosima, but soon enough they were all flying toward the smoke and Amarachius not exactly panicked, but he worried enough to soar behind them, following to the town and landing behind them, shield solidly gripped in his hand. As soon as he was able to join them and saw what Cosima showed them, he coasted his sword, jogging quickly toward Crysdal and Sailor Chalybs.

he didn't need to speak. All the others had worded what he thought already. This was most probably a trap. He opened his wings again, flapping them slowly behind him, trying to push the smoke away, but not aiming too much toward the flames as to not nurture them either.

if only someone here controlled water.

After Sailor Aldrin was not corrected or told otherwise, she immediately assumed that Sailor Hemera was indeed from Planet Hermea. That being put aside, she followed the group as they made the decision to seek out the smoke. Sailor Cosima assumed that it could be a trap from the Hermit they had encountered before. This made Aldrin smile, seeing how trusting she was now of this mysterious new Crone. Did she believe everything everyone told her? If she told her that she was actually the Queen they were all fighting for, would she believe her? It made her grin.

Then, flames. Lots of flames. No signs of life. None that they could see in the dense smoke.

"I do not understand, Sailor Cosima or What-I-Assume-To-Be Planet Cosima," Aldrin said complacently. "Who is dead? There are no corpses here."

She didn't seem to put together the connection between the stains on the wall and death.

"I shall now listen for any particular noise beyond the noise of this irritating flame," she said coldly and placed her hands up to her ears, doing just as she said. She remained with SAM, trusting her to keep a level head about this new event.