Waterloo

There comes a time in one's life when they realized that there was a big problem. Or it might happen quite often. To be honest, though, this was one of those times. The year was 1815. Paulla Titiana Asina, born of the ancient Roman Empire, daughter of Pluto, materialized in the shadows with her fellow hunter Atalanta Monmouth AKA Aria. They were armed, ready to rejoin their fellow hunters in Düsseldorf after unsatisfactorily tracking a manticore.

The only problem was, this very clearly wasn't Düsseldorf. The countryside was entirely different, and it had the distinct smell of war, horses, and gunpowder. "Uhhh, this isn't Düsseldorf." Asina said, her voice a clear alto whose accent was tinged with time, which now sounded vaguely Italian.

"I can't shadow travel again yet, Aria. It's not that easy." Asina said, looking around trying to find a good place to hide. Luckily, sun had already fallen, and aside from the light of the torches, it was mostly dark. The immortal demigod let her eyes adjust to the darkness, then spotted a seemingly empty tent. "There." She said as she headed towards it quietly, trying not to draw any attention to herself. "I have to figure out why we're here. We shouldn't be in France. Or...wherever this is. Netherlands, maybe? I need to know where here is. Have you been keeping up with the news of Napoleon's army?" She whispered as they moved.

There was a distinct issue that Asina could now imagine if they were caught. Aside from the fact that she sounded neither French nor Prussian, they were dressed in active clothing that was not considered dignified for women in this particular era. Any soldier that found them might automatically assume they were just extremely well armed loose women. The Roman's face hardened at the thought, having no desire to harm mortals, but deciding it may be more than necessary.

"Er... wrong tent maybe?" Maybe. Yes. You could say that. Asina had gotten a feeling she had picked the wrong tent when she noticed far too much light. In comparison to the outside, it was bright as the noon-day sun in here. Although Asina knew her perception of light and dark was not the same as others.

A oil lamp blazed on a table, behind which sat a man of average height. He had short, thin dark hair that sat limply against his head. A strong, square jaw and intelligent eyes. Captivating eyes. For all the utter plainness of the man's features, he looked stern, bold and commanding. He also looked vaguely familiar. "Yes. Wrong tent." She said, her eyes locked with the man's before she tore them away and gave a courtsey. "We apologize for the interruption, my grace, we appear to have entered the wrong tent. Bye!"

There was no way in the world they were going to be able to actually pull a wrong tent ruse off, but it was worth the try, right? Better than being executed by Napoleon Bonaparte.

Asina was pulled to the right with Aria. When they moved, the guards fired and Asina baredly missed being shot by a musket. Well, that would have hurt quite a bit. And how embarrassing would it be shot? By a Frenchman when you weren't even suppose to be in France. Or the United Kingdom of Netherlands. Wherever. Asina moved her head down, crouching as she ran. "Sorry! Wrong tent! It looked fine! Maybe some rain? That storm thing you do?" She said, trying to think of the best way to get out of this without having to damage any mortals. "Because I don't want to have to kill any mortals. At the same time, I'm kind of not inclined to be shot. Or arrested. Or ... anything men might do with nubile young women."

She looked around in the dark again, now out of the light. Thankfully. They were surrounded by bad ideas for where they were going. "He could have at least taken into account that you were French. I mean, it's not like you walked in sporting a Prussian or English accent." She muttered, then grabbed Aria and pulled her left into what looked like a supply tent. "Shopping? We have muskets, bayonets, and... hard tack."

"Hunt? No. Keep? Maybe. But only if we don't get shot by the lovely soldiers behind us, Aria." Asina said, wondering if she could use her ability to move precious metals. She could feel the him of the steel and lead, it wasn't as powerful as celestial bronze or imperial gold. It gave her an idea should the soldiers find them.

And find them they did, it wasn't even a half a second later that the first soldier burst into the tent. He had his musket ready, but bayonetted, ready for hand to hand rather than to shoot. "Ah, gunpowder. A spark could set off an explosion. You're not feeling particularly sparky today, are you, Aria?" She said quietly, then smiled brightly at the guard. "I'm sure you're a very good soldier, but you really don't want to arrest us. We're not British. Or Prussian. She's French. I don't want to have to hurt you." She told the man in halting French.

"Halte!" He ordered in French.

Aria gazed at him, dipping her head forward ever so slightly; she could hear the trampling of the soldiers getting nearer, in a second they'd be there and they'd be outnumbered. They were out of time.
An explosion boomed, sending most of the equipment backwards, shredding their ears -- Aria grabbed Asina's hand, hurrying out of the tent, leaving the bloodied corpse behind. She didn't like killing mortals, that wasn't what she was designed for. She even less liked killing mortals simply because they were in her way. But she needed to get out of here quickly, or she could die too. After a century of hunting the most notorious monsters of Greek mythology at the side of the goddess Artemis herself, dying by the hand of a mortal would be a terrible let-down.

"Afraid of heights?" Aria panted as they darted between the tents as quickly as deers, past dozens of soldiers. Several made obnoxious comments and wolf-whistled at them, calling after them that they should get back, adding lewd suggestions in snickering voices. Aria wished she had killed them, her hands igniting with flickers of electricity as her anger built up.

Asina could feel the death of the soldier and his passage into the underworld. She didn't have a coin to place in his mouth and hoped he had something on him. Despite having been pulled out of the way by Aria, and now running for their lives, Asina was devastated. And afraid. Also mostly blinded by the flash. "Aria! He was mortal! You just killed a mortal! What do you think you're doing?! He was mortal!"

Yes, it was self defense, but was it really fair self-defense? It had been self-defense when she killed the shopkeep, but she had nightmares about that and was still certain her soul was damned. What about Aria's? "Not afraid of heights, afraid of falling from heights. As long as I have something solid under my feet..." She answered the question, trying not to focus on the fact that her friend had just killed an innocent mortal. A man who had just been trying to do his job. Tears streaked down her face, but she could explain that from the flash at least if Aria asked. Her night-vision was shot, still flashing lights that mimicked the deadly explosion. She kept enough of an eye on her friend and the surroundings, but it was difficult.