If I ice your wrist do I get a kiss?

Torin was leaning back in his chair, with his head resting, his nose pointed towards the ceiling and his jaw slacked open slightly. There had been a surprising rush of kids earlier in the day, all injured in some way or another during sword training or pegasi riding or something. Not that he necessarily minded helping so many people, just...So many people at one time was a little bit hectic. And it was early in the day, so there were few nurses and Apollo kids. And of course, no other Asclepius kids. Was the guy picky with his women? Torin would never know. Torin thought plenty of girls were cute, though he never went after them in fear that he would be rejected. In grade school they always had.

The ambrosia had been nearly cut into symmetrical squares(none of that rectangle crap that Torin so often found) and were divided into two sizes. Cubes, about the size of cheese cubes for minor wounds, and squares the size of brownies for bigger things like stabs. Fresh rolls of gauze had been laid out onto a clean tray as well as suture thread and traumatic needles, dressings, ointments and the like. When the rush of campers had arrived, he didn't have time to place things in their proper area, so finally when they left he got to tidy up. And now the place looked spotless, but Torin was exhausted.

He breathed in his chair, practically ready to fall asleep. As he started drifting, he thought about the girl from earlier. She was pretty, stunning blue eyes, long blonde hair, an adorable smile. And, if he hadn't been mistaken, she had flirted with him. Of course, he might've started it by taking off his shirt, but she took the bait. For once, a girl was into him. Lexi, was her name, if he remembered correctly. Lexi...

Torin forced himself awake by blinking and rubbing his eyes. He stretched his arms above his head and sat up in his chair, letting out a yawn. Saving people was a tiring job, be he had rounds to make.

He stood up and pushed the desk chair in, walking to the center of the hall and glancing over everyone. Most people were sitting up in their beds, talking to friends. They'd already gotten their band-aids or whatever they needed. Now they were probably just wasting time, not wanting to go back to training or something. It was understandable; training was similar to gym class, and Torin had always hated gym class. He was physically fit, sure, but being told how to use is strength wasn't very appealing.

He made his way through all the wings, the last one being the northwest wing. It looked the same there, just a bunch of kids lazing around. There was one thing different, though. Torin recognized her face instantly. The girl from the arena! It was Lexi! His heart sped up. What were the odds? He made his way over, putting his hands in his jean pockets to attempt looking smooth. However, the look in his face wasn't one of an apathetic cool guy. He wasn't able to hide is concern well. "Hi...What are you doing here?" He tried not to look suspicious as he scanned her over. Nothing too bad--except her wrist. Dang, her wrist was swollen something nasty, blotted red and looked like it hurt. He pursed his lips slightly, the urge to help her practically over-whelming him. But he'd wait for permission first, as well as a story to explain how she ended up with that lump of a wrist.

Well, I hope this isn't what you meant by 'picking you up' Torin wanted to say, but refrained. He didn't want to make her mad. Instead he held out his hand, beckoning for her wrist. "May I?" This time his need to help her won over his need to keep her from feeling the tremor in his own arms. She wasn't badly hurt, but the sooner she was taken care of the better. And who knew? Maybe he could score a date with her afterwards.

"Uh, Holt." He blinked. "Torin! Holt is my last name. I-I'm Torin Holt...Son of A-Asclepius." His Adam's apple jumped as he gulped nervously. "I can... Help...With the wrist..." He looked back at her wrist, a little upset that she had pulled away so quickly. It was... honestly the first time a girl had willingly given him her hand. Also the first time he'd asked for a girl's hand. He was trying all sorts of new things today, wasn't he? The most dominant thought in his mind right now was that her wrist would keep swelling if she didn't get an ice pack on it soon. And it was probably tender. He wanted so desperately to fix that. "Uhm...." He looked at her wrist, then looked up into her eyes. "Please..."

Torin's face was probably as red as her wrist now. Sweetie? She called me sweetie? He bit the insides of his lips to keep from smiling. It was difficult and he didn't do a good job of it. Why was he so terrible at concealing his feelings? The smile threatened to play across his lips, so his tried turning his attention to the matter at hand.

Torin gingerly touched her swollen wrist, his gaze flickering from her arm to her eyes to see if she showed any sign of pain. The wrist itself was botched red, and seemed to be browning slightly. There was a lot of discoloration; It was bruising. "When you hurt your wrist, did you feel anything...pop?" His voice was stronger now that he was talking to something he was knowledgeable about. There was a tad bit more confidence to him.

A ligament might be torn. He hoped she was wrong and didn't actually hear anything pop. He shook his head lightly and lowered her wrist until it rested on her lap, then he removed his hand from under hers and stood up. He walked to the other side of the infirmary, to a moderately large freezer by the desk he had been laying in before. From inside he grabbed an ice pack and an ace bandage.

He returned hastily to her bedside while crackling the ice. A smile formed on his lips. One of sympathy. It probably sucked having possibly torn a ligament by stabbing a dummy. She probably felt self-conscious about it...Torin knew he would. He handed her the pack and gave her instructions. "Hold it on your wrist for about 15 minutes. Then take it off for another twenty five or so. Repeat that for the next day or two." It was an annoying habit, he bet, but it was what had to be done. And she had better not go fighting with the dummies again any time soon. "Tomorrow if you come back I can bandage it for you..." Heat radiated from his cheeks. Looks like he'd be getting to see this girl some more.

He jumped when she put her hand in his. It was a first reaction, but he pulled his hand back. His arm and mouth both dropped. He looked at her blankly and stuttered. "Uhm... uhm..." What's redder than a tomato but much less smooth? Oh right, that would be Torin. He went to take a step backward but caught one foot on the other and fell into his butt, flinching when he hit the ground. It didn't hurt that bad, but he kept his eyes closed. He was sure the girl was judging him. He was sure she thought he was stupid. They'd never hook up now. He opened one eye slowly, gazing up at her. Shoot me now, he thought. Any once of dignity he had built up had vanished with his balance.

When he heard something fall on the bed, he opened both eyes. What he saw confused him greatly. The girl, Lexi, was holding her head in her hands. She seemed...Hurt. Not physically, but mentally and emotionally.

Torin's gut suddenly felt empty, as well as his heart. Had he caused her to feel bad? Did he offend her some how? Was she... mad at him? For falling? He wanted to leave, just get up and go away in silence, to coop himself up in Hera's cabin, somewhere in a corner to think about all he had done wrong. He was disgusting. An animal for hurting her. How, he wasn't sure. But he'd certainly done something, because she hadn't been like that a moment ago. A moment ago she had held his hand and--his hand. That was probably it. She had offended her by dropping her hand. It wasn't very chivalrous at all, was it?

He hauled himself off the ground and pat the back of his legs to get the dust off. Then, he did what any person who do for someone they wanted to help but couldn't. He took a seat on the edge of her bed, next to her, and swung his legs over so that they were parallel to hers. Then, he turned himself into a giant teddy bear. He wrapped one arm around her and the a hand on her arm closest to him. He was very close to her now, so he didn't have to say anything very loud. He turned his head towards her, his nose almost touching her ear, and he whispered, "I'm sorry." Before turning his head back to look up at the ceiling.

It probably looked awkward, but he didn't know what else to do. He couldn't just leave her there hurting, and no amount of band-aids or stitches would make emotional pain go away. The only thing he found that did help, was love and support from others. So hugging and expressing his affection was exactly what he did.

He looked down at her wrist when she did. She seemed to be self-conscious of it. Why? Maybe she just wasn't around injury as much as he was. He spent most of his time at the infirmary, so he'd seen all sorts of injuries. He was used to it. Gently, Torin used two fingers to push her hand down so she'd stop looking at it. He touched foreheads and noses with her. Everything was sort of coming naturally now. He wasn't so much afraid as he was... hopeful. That was a new feeling for him. He closed his eyes. "Stop worry about it."

Torin smiled when she put the ice pack back on her wrist. Now he was getting the girl and she was being treated. It was a win-win, right? He was red in the face, and his entire body felt warm. Butterflies flew circles inside his stomach. He had...Actually done something good. He'd gotten the girl. And what's better, he'd fallen, shown his true colors, and she still seemed to want him. Torin couldn't have been happier. When she laid back he laid back as well so she could rest her head on his shoulder. He'd stay like that as long as she wanted him to. This girl...Lexi, Torin couldn't explain why, but Torin really wanted to protect her and be with her.

"Sure." Torin sat up, a little upset that he had to move, since he thought they were having a cute moment, and made his way to the door. Before he could open it, someone pushed it in, hitting him with it. He fell back for the second time that day.

In burst Charlie, trying to catch her breath. "BRO. YOU. APOLLO CAMPER--"

"B-but I'm not an Apollo camp--"

"WHATEVER. You. Outside. Now!" She grabbed him by the arm and yanked him through the door, rather forcefully considering how small she was. He smacked his shoulder against the wall on the way out with a loud thud before Charlie dragged him into the woods.

Charlie hopped over branches and spun gracefully around trees, somehow managing to dodge every branch in the forest. Torin hadn't been so lucky. He kicked every log on the ground with his shin and got smacked in the face by every branch. He probably had leaves poking in every direction out of his hair. "What's going on?" He managed to ask through his gasps.

"Satyr. We were going on a night adventure and... I don't know! Just... There was this loud thump and next think you now the satyr was laying limp on the ground like ten feet away!" She sounded excited and frantic. "Some, like, snarled at me, so I ran out of the woods. It was on my tail for a while, I could hear it crashing through trees, but it stopped when I got out of the first...We need to hurry! The Satyr looked pretty bruised up."

Torin put on his game face when he heard that there were injuries involved. He picked up the pace, tanking through branches. Charlie now at his side rather than in front of him. She took a quick moment to look at him and blinked. Now this guy sounded like the thing behind them.

They came to a clearing with a body limp in the center. Torin dashed to the body and knelt down, immediately checking vitals while Charlie scanned the perimeter.

Birds cawed and flew out from the trees, all startled. They soared past Torin, Charlie, and the Satyr, who Torin had turned onto it's back to inspect. He took off his short and tore it into strips of clothes, then began wrapping wounds and making tourniquets where necessary. The satyr look like it wasn't in good shape. Luckily, it was small. "Kid," Torin gestured to Charlie, who came over. "Piggy back the satyr to the infirmary. I'm gonna go find out what that noise was." Charlie wasn't going to argue. She valued her own life more than his.

She spun on her heel and took off towards camp, while Torin jumped up and dashed deeper into the woods, batting at branches and bushes that blocked his way. The scream had sounded like Lexi's, and his heart ached thinking about what could happen to her. Had she followed him all the way out there? Risked her life for his sake? Torin promised himself that he would do everything in his power to keep Lexi out of harm's way. He'd have himself killed before he let anything kill her, he vowed. "LEXI." He yelled as loud as he could. It scratched his throat, but he didn't care. A sore throat was the least of his problems right now. "I'M COMING, HANG ON!"