Zori's brain idled as he lead Theoni towards water. He wasn't really listening, letting her enlightening explanation of climbing go to waste, while walking. He wasn't so far gone trying to lose sight of the horrific visions in his mind that he lapsed back to not being sneaky. It took a lot of work not to go on about how bad it was. The "Th" in Theoni didn't stand for "therapist" after all. He couldn't let all his problems and the horrifying reality of this world weigh on the girl. She was still a new player. He had to be a senpai about this... Or something. He was still caught up in himself when Theoni jumped in to the water. Maybe he'd have snapped out of it if he noticed she was drowning, but thankfully that wasn't an issue. Instead of spying on her in the spring creek he just walked over the bridge he'd probably been on before. In his mind he was still planning a route to some nearby pond. Then he registered something that brought him back into the zone. Theoni being mad at him. "Hmm?" He mumbled out, having just finished crossing the bridge. He looked to his wrong side before looking on the side Theoni was on, quickly realizing she was completely soaked and mad about him. Ah, he realized what it was. She was mad about the sudden stream. He didn't really consider it a river, since it was barely four feet deep in some parts, she must have fallen in it while he was zonking out. "Sorry. I forgot that was there. This place is kind of new to me still. I haven't been walking around these woods much longer than a week. Shoulda warned you." He walked a bit closer to her and stooped down so the height difference wouldn't be way too extreme. "There's a bridge there, sorry I didn't leave you enough space. I guess the cleanliness problem has been sorted out. I'll stand guard like you asked." He broke eye contact to check the path they'd just came down from. A part of him remembering the paranoia he felt at being followed. He got back to fully stretched legs while leaving behind some words, "I'll let you get to that drying stuff. I'm going to see about using this water to break my trail too." He walked back over the little bridge only to cross the creek at a shallow section. Using his nice starter shoes and long(er) legs to avoid getting too wet in the process. He didn't really feel like any "trail" was "broken" but the symbolic gesture did a lot to rest his mind. Which left space for: "After that... Well actually, Honeyhome shouldn't be too much further away. Maybe I should see if she wants to stay in touch?" He was almost hesitant to give himself the permission to extend such pleasantries. The Caenis boy was still thinking Theoni hadn't been her true self yet. "I think we're getting close enough to town. I can recommend a place for you to look at for staying and hanging out in. Since I go there every now and then we might be able to, I dunno. Stay in touch? Thoughts?" He kept his eyes averted from Theoni but made sure to speak up enough that he wasn't misheard. He needed to watch the area around them but more importantly not seem perverse. He definitely had managed to avoid that so far, why ruin the image and a potential friendship now?
