There was a part of him that kind of felt bad. Tristan made sure that Damselraed was looking at him when he popped one of the last bubbles she blew and flashed her a smirk and a wink. Ether shared in this, popping a bubble himself and wagging his tail playfully.

Veritas was released, read-in to the situation by Ether, and moved forward into the mid range - a bit outside of Shaq’ti’s range to map the grounds, discovering how many individuals they might have to deal with. Her awareness was expansive - being a natural empath and with so much training and experience in the skill, even at her distance she independently kept an eye on the main group occasionally while reaching out ahead to sense anyone long before they might come into view. While the sphere of her awareness was almost a couple hundred feet, she was able to, in a moment, focus in one direction over exponentially longer distances. And having an intimate relationship with Ether, and Ether’s own reach, this was a comfortable practice for the pair.

She’d hover silently among the trees, her eyes dimly glowing while her mind probed. Oracle, for her part, was given the go-head to start to See the Future to be their early warning system of sorts. With Antligon hovering right over her, she was rather safe to pull her focus.

Ether was glad he didn’t have to also scan the immediate vicinity at the same time, feeling comfortable to leave that up to Shaq’ti. So, being able to focus on just being the communications hub was actually refreshing. Commands and updates were near-seamless as the group moved through the forest and straight for the cabin. The jewel at his forehead pulsed slowly as he performed his job impeccably.

While their combined forces would be more than enough to defend themselves from most any hostile forces, Tristan was still rather on-edge. In any other situation he would consider this set-up rather safe and secure. But, with the powers they were dealing with, he knew they were incredibly vulnerable. His concern would be picked up by Ether and Shaq’ti, causing Ether to spend more time keeping in touch with Veritas than anyone else as they moved. Veritas was in the most vulnerable position, while also the most crucial. His right hand grasped the strap of the satchel so that it was close to his left, ready to release Aequitas, Arine, and even Vertigo if the situation called for it.

It took a few long moments before Tristan was able to internalize and respond to Forrest’s light-hearted jab. “What do you mean?” He started in protest. “We’re just walking through some woods. It’s not like we’re hiking a mountain or anything.” He sounded more incredulous and defensive than the comment might have warranted. He’d add, “At least I have more than one outfit to my name,” as a way to demonstrate that he wasn’t actually taking it seriously, and rather just playing along while lightly jabbing back. Tristan looked Forrest up and down with a smirk to really lay it on, adding a chuckle for good measure.