Patrols were as much a part of life as they'd ever been. Give or take. Word from some of the Watchers had gotten back, and they'd been... a tad unusual. Less of the Negaverse itself, more of a potential lead. Groups of civilians had been--supposedly--heard of heading into the deeper sections of the forest, into more rocky terrain. Attempts at getting out of reach of the Negaverse. Or at least, those were the rumors. It hadn't been the first she'd heard of such things--even around the camps now and then people would pass along such stories. No one came with proof of course, and a concern had finally peeked above the murky surface: was there a grain of truth to the rumor? Or was it being intentionally spread from the city?
Evening had fallen, dusk came and was on its way out, only hints of light creeping through the summer's foliage. Or so she was told, after leaving the main camp with a few others of the Mainstay. A reconnaissance sweep. That was the intent of the patrol. Try and identify if there really was any movement they hadn't caught out among the rocks and the trees. The idea was to, at best, find some wayward folks and see if they could be of assistance. At worst?
Metis wasn't alone curious to see if one of those wayward folks would be carrying a weapon. Or capable of summoning one to them.
She also wasn't the only one to see this would be a... long night. Someone tripped over a plant--a root, a rock, something--again and Metis shut her eyes, counting to ten before moving back to help them up. Her vision wasn't perfect, but the green waves of energy that emanated from the various plant life around them certainly gave her an advantage. Didn't keep her from stumbling here and there, having to poke at gaps made by the bouncing waves to figure out if she was about to step on a rock or other non-living debris. But at least she could see where the trees and living roots were.
Now and then yellow waves creeped into her vision, or the waves from her companions' copper auras drifted around to mingle with green floating through open air. But nothing out of the ordinary hit her, nothing snaked along the waves and signaled anything amiss. It'd finally been decided a short disperse was in order--she could cover more ground alone, and certainly far quicker.
The brunette twenty-five year-old had chosen to ignore the grumbles her keen ears had picked up from some of the others in the group, choosing only to acknowledge their apparent leader for the evening. She'd gotten the clear--after a bit of convincing, which had included pointing out some of the tumbles some of the others had already taken that evening. They carried flashlights, but used them sparingly. A tactic she understood, but questioned when the alternative was bumbling around the dark like fools.
But she'd been given her permission, and she'd taken her leave. A rendezvous point was established, and the Eternal was simply grateful for the reprieve. Perhaps Iris wouldn't be pleased if she heard about her choice to separate from the others for a period, but she could hardly argue with facts: Metis was able to move a lot swifter in her heels and skirts than the others could in the dark.
Green upon green, hints of yellow, her own copper. Blanks of rocks and decaying wood. Nothing that lead her to believe people had been past that way recently. Perhaps that was why the appearance of another copper figure ahead had startled her so. Yet, as she drew forward carefully, mindful of how the cloth of her uniform would brush against the flora, there was no denying the other color through the mass of green energy figures within a hundred meters.
Bit by bit she crept forward, and for a moment she lingered behind a few trees, pulse heavy and erratic beneath her collar and at her throat. It was easy to summon the condensed light orb from her tiara, magic at the ready in case she had, in fact, caught an agent by surprise.
How limited was the light? Would they see what she was by the feathery bows? Or the blindfold across her eyes?
"Please understand, I will only ask once: where does your allegiance lie?" Her voice was polite, yet not a trace of hesitance lingered as she stepped out, moving closer towards the unknown figure. Human. Tall. She could make out the shape of the figure. All else? Lost to her. Her magic glowed white on the palm of her hand at her side, at the wait just behind a few folds of her skirts. It was not a threat she liked to utilize given the circumstances, but it was also not a risk for her to take to make assumptions.
Funny how that worked out.
Guine
