Walking So I don't Get Lost (Sni!!!)

Torin hissed and cursed under his breath as he pricked his finger on a stray branch of thorns that wrapped around the plant he had his sights set on. He retracted his hand and stuck his cut index finger in his mouth, licking the blood of. His eyebrows were furrowed as he tried to think of an easier way to get the valued herb to bring back to the infirmary.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw something small flick by. He raised his head and turned in the direction of the blur, blinking. "Hm?" Was someone else on the path today? He hadn't seen anyone riding pegasi by all day. In fact the only person he had seen was the new girl, a short brunette from the Hermes cabin who seemed to be racing a Satyr through the woods. They hadn't noticed him, and if they had, they hadn't cared to say hi. It seemed a little rude.

Torin cleared his throat and called out, in his usual wavering voice, "Uhm...Anyone...here?"

Crap. A girl talking to him. He should've just.... hid in the bushes or something. Girls made Torin nervous. Especially the one he liked. "Uh, nothing." He glanced over hesitantly at the thorn barrier, then came up with an idea. "Hey, you... don't have a knife by any chance, do you?" Great, she probably thinks he's homicidal or something now. Hi, how are you? Splendid! Do you have a knife I could borrow? Or something with a sharp and/or jagged edge? Excellent! Torin resisted the urge to facepalm at his conversation starter. Smooth going, man. She probably thinks he's nuts.

The corners of his lips pulled up into a forced, tiny smile. He shrugged, trying to string together a proper sentence that would explain what he was trying to do. "Plant," he gestured to the bush. Great start. Idiot. "Uh, this plant. I'm trying to dig it out. It's kind of stuck though."

"Tea." Torin looked up and smiled, then rolled his eyes. "Well, also to improve digestion, but mostly for tea." He took the dagger and inspected it for a minute, before working the thorny branches out of the way.

He grabbed small plant towards the thicker side of the stem, where it rooted into the ground, and began gingerly digging around the perimeter of it with two fingers on his other hand. When there was a sizable trench around the plant, he scooped it out. The plant looked like a weed, a long green stem with several leaves growing out of it and a flower resembling a dandelion on top with a multitude of small pink petals. He smiled to himself, feeling more comfortable now that he was talking about something of knowledge and substance. "Have you tried homemade Bergamot tea before? It's delicious..."

Torin shrugged. "Burdock, Chickweed, Thyme... Berdamot." He could've spent the next hour naming things, but he didn't have the time or patience. The girl didn't seem overly-enthusiastic to learn about the wonderful world of botany and herbalism. It was a shame, too, considering a lot of annoying day-to-day problems with the body such as headaches and stomachaches could be cured, or in the least, reduced by plants found practically in the backyard. On the other hand, consuming some plants could potentially kill you. Never eat black nightshade, kids.

Torin thought for a moment. It was truly a shame that this girl didn't drink tea. Tea was absolutely delightful. And she only ate food she could make? Many plants could just be picked and eaten--assuming, once again, that you knew what you were doing. He made a suggestion, a deal of sorts for the girl. "If you help me gather plants, I can make you some tea..." His voice quivered nervously. Spending an afternoon with a complete stranger? Well doesn't that sound legitimate.

Torin blinked, surprised that she had agreed, and then smiled with joy and drew himself up off the ground. Her eyebrows were drawn together and she looked...skeptical, or unhappy, or something along those lines. At any rate, he could feel the disturbance, and his smile faded. "Uhm...Something wrong?" Hopefully he hadn't already messed something up...Torin tended to do that a lot. He had finally just smoothed things over with his girlfriend, and now he was going to start something with someone else? The gods did not favor Torin, apparently.

"Sorry?" Torin had been getting prepared to start walking and searching for more herbs, but now he felt compelled to know what was troubling her. He would try fixing it if he could, or at least consoling her and telling her everything was okay or would get better. He moved closer and tilted his head just slightly, eyes sparkling with interest. "What's there to be sorry about?"

"You're covering it." Torin stated matter-of-factly and shook his head, frowning. "I won't tell anyone, and I'm not gonna think badly of you. Just...Try me." Tell me sounded too demanding, and he thought better of using the word. When people demanded information, people became reluctant. Giving someone the option to explain what was on their mind was a less aggressive approach, and makes the one asking more approachable. Clearly, psychology of the human mind fascinated Torin. So did plants. He locked eyes with her and waited, patiently, for her to speak. Now was her chance to.

"Well... Leaving would be silly... I haven't made you any tea yet." Reasoning with the girl would be difficult. He certainly didn't want her to go, but not knowing what could possibly be hurting her was eating him up inside. Finally he shrugged and gestured down the path with his hand. "Whenever you're ready." The statement meant the literally walking down the path and searching for herbs, but also whenever she was willing to divulge the secret she was trying so hard to hide.

"Okay, search for Basil, Fennel, Rosemary, Thyme, and more Bergamot." He held up the plant in his hand. "This," He waved it slightly. "Is Bergamot. Great for tea but more importantly oil. Bergamot oil aroma is known to relieve tension in the nervous system and helps with depression, anxiety, sore throats, and to help with digestion. It also makes for a good air freshener." He smiled, then grew more serious. "There are plenty of good plants, but there are also bad ones. While we look, be careful what you touch, okay? And don't eat anything if you don't know what it is." He rubbed the back of his neck, remembering when he was younger and had tried to show off how good he was at finding helpful plants by digging up some water hemlock. That had been a bad day. "If you find something you think could be useful, point it out to me first, okay? I...don't really feel like having someone die on me today." He sighed and went back to a tree, picking up a bag that had been laying against it. He unzipped the pack and laid the bergamot gently down inside of it, before sealing back up and sliding one arm through the strap. "Ready?"

He moved forward, stepping out of the woods and onto the horse path. "Uh, one more thing. If you see something that looks like poison ivy...Don't touch it. Or poison oak, for that matter. And try not to get squished by horses, too..." Suddenly, he pictured her getting killed several ways. Death by seizure from touching water hemlock, death by being tramped by horses, death by suffocation after mixing parsley with poison ivy. This was suddenly a terrible, terrible idea." He groaned under his breath, stealing a glance at the girl who was to be accompanying him. He wanted to say never mind, but that might hurt her. And if it hurt her, it hurt him. Besides, he didn't need anymore enemies. Not like he had that many, but, well, he was paranoid. Torin assumed that most people hated him unless they proved otherwise.

"Uhm..." Torin's face flushed red and he stared at her for a minute in confusion. "I...How did you know my name?" He couldn't recall ever telling her, and he hadn't seen her around before. "And yeah... I'm okay. Just... yeah." It's just that I don't want to drag your corpse to Chiron, he thought rather pessimistically. He ran a hand though his hair and pushed his curly golden bangs back. "Uh, whenever you find a plant point it out to me before you pick it up... Then we won't have to worry about... uhm... accidents." He sighed, scratching his temple with one finger, his gaze dropping to the ground.

Torin heard the sigh and his eyebrows slanted and drew together, expressing his rather despondent move. He could already feel in his bones that this trek wouldn't be worth the stress, but it didn't really matter now. He was stuck with it, unable to say no. His shoulders drew up and fell back in a shrug, and then he looked down the path. "We'll probably find enough herbs just going down the path to make some tea..."