Welcome to Gaia! ::

As the group walked, Tamiya noticed something... Missing.

"Miache!" She called. "Miache, cleanliness imp! A dry log lies ahead for your fancy ******** feet. Miache!"

He was not responding. Tamiya became irritated at his silence towards her kind suggestion and whirled around. The teen blueblood followed behind her, forging the trail in her delicate clothes. Where were the other children? Oh, there they were. So small, so drenched in water. She frowned. "Where is that blue slime?"

Her head swiveled towards Eostre. Surely someone else would have noticed his disappearance. "Did you hear anything of his disappearance?" With all of the splashing she was doing, she had to admit that her attention was elsewhere. However, she was totally justified in this fact.

"You! Children. Chiara. Adamaz. You are closer to this unholy sludgeground and farther behind in the pack. Tell me your observations," She hissed.

There was little time to waste in hunting the rebels. Tamiya was getting rather impatient and it showed in her tone and the now highly apparent twitching of her leg, which swished and shook the algae-soaked water as she tried to keep active in the pools. The muzzle of her mask darted a few centimeters at a time to look at each feature in the swamp.

As she sloshed along with the others, Matewa idly jabbed at the little fish in the murk with the broken-off end of her grabby toy. She was glad at first that she'd worn her tall adventure-boots when the water was shallow and they reached high enough to stand above it. As she trudged farther, the swamp quickly rose to her waist and made everything slosh uncomfortably in her water-heavy clothes. Nearby Dogfather picked his steps with an uncomfortably high gait, walking like he usually only did when he wore his weather-booties.

Flinging her stick out of the water to make another stab caused mud to spray up into her face and she spent a sputtering minute trying to get it out of her mouth.

The physical discomfort couldn't really kill her mood though, as for the most part she was abuzz with energy. A dangerous swamp full of untold monsters was a fine setting for what was basically the most intense game of cops and robbers Matewa could dream of.

Chiara rolled her eyes at the purplebloods yelling. Chiara's fear of the highblood was disappearing. She looked down at her muddy boots, quite perfect for this kind of adventure really, and then at the two teenage trolls. Both trolls had chosen the worst footwear. No wonder they complained of nibbling and bites, they were open to the elements like that. Chiara glanced at Adamaz, who was managing to keep pace with her. He was also dressed decently.

"Well if he is not here with us, he must be against us." She stated flatly. "Besides, with all the noise being made around here im sure he can tell where we are."

Tamiya hissed. “Be ******** careful with your words, waterwhelp,” she snapped at Chiara. “You are inching close to insubordination.”

None the less, she lowered her volume. There was no use going back for Miache now – he either deserted, was dead, or lost somewhere. Tamiya shuffled through the water more subtly now. Eostre’s comment hardly registered with Tamiya as she recovered from her fall, but the sentiment was there. There were rebels to destroy, and she was in no state to lead children while hunting them down. In fact, she rather didn’t want to deal with Eostre either. First separating her from Odette, now haunting her in these marshes. Tamiya pulled the corners of her mouth into a smile and swiveled to turn towards the kids.

“Chiiiaaaara. Adamaz. Children.” Tamiya cooed. “Your diminutive size is perfect for traversing the narrow reaches of these pools and between the thickets of reeds, and your garb is more appropriate for swamp travel. For the glory of Alternia and our mission you will break off at once and return to us. Go!”

As she talked, her voice hardened until it was a clear command. Tamiya went to snap a finger and ended up having to use the other hand. She pulled her weapon just in case the children were… unwilling.

It was harder for Adamaz to keep calm on this clown-driven swamp-stomping adventure than it was in the underground battle-zone. He had so many more drone friends there, even if he didn't feel exactly safe. Here, even with Papa Roach, he felt so much more isolated. Threatened.

Tamiya pulled out a weapon after making her command. That steeled Adamaz' thoughts on the matter. "Yup. Got it. Come on Chiara. Job to do." He grabbed Chiara's arm and muttered. "Scouting time." He slogged through the muck away from the older highbloods. Walking always cleared his head... this time, he thought he'd make more like Aerona and move a bit faster.