The Dork and the Hermit

You have been running for a while. You do this occasionally to stay in shape when you have been lazing around the hive for a bit to long. You take a run threw the winding twisting paths of the mountain down to the. You have your club on your hip just in case you run into hostile creatures, but you have a pair of headphones on. You have capataloged your shirt, because when you get too hot you tend to get a bit dizzy. You are really rocking out to some of your favorite tunes, humming and singing slightly under your breath as you jogged.

...But it was not your fault but mine, and it was your heart on the line... I really fucked it up this time... Didn't I, my dear? Didn't I, my...

All this music is making you want to pick up your guitar when you get back to your hive. You wonder if it is still in tune, it's been pedigrees since you picked it up. You trail off near the end of the second chorus. You look about yourself and take your headphones off your ears, your jade died hair falls all over your face matted a bit with your sweat. You spy a nearby spring and capatalog your music device so that you can dunk your head  in it.

You are cataloging plants tonight. It's not why you had originally left your hive this evening, but you'd forgotten your objective long ago and this was a part of the forest that you'd not yet seen. You stroll around absently until you come across a fern or a moss that looks unfamiliar, picking them carefully (with gloved hands, of course) and captchaloging them separately.

Humming a tune you heard on your radio ago, you start to wish you'd brought one of your listening devices. The forest is just too quiet. You've started to daydream and that's dangerous.

After a while you find yourself in a marshy area and realise you're quite thirsty. How long has it been since you had a drink? Your lusus would be ashamed. You follow the weak trickle of water upstream to what looks like a spring, but you stop a few yards away.

There is a very large and VERY shirtless troll dipping their head in the water and you're not sure what to do but

damn

that is one nice rump.

You look up and look around. You swore you heard a voice. You scan the area as you quickly wipe your face off with your shirt.

Yo! Who's there?

You call out shaking the remains of water out of your face, and scattering droplets everywhere, darkening your dye job some with the dampness. Once you are free of the water blurring your vision you spy the other troll. You never wear your paints when you know you will get sweaty, having it run into your eyes is a pain. But  just at a glance you would tower over this short, stocky, and a good bit cute troll.

Sorry there lil' Miss did I stumble into your hivespace?

You offer a smile rubbing the back of your neck some as you would stretch it.

Uh
wow,
um ok.
You are now faced with a troll, clearly much older than you with dark jade hair. He seems friendly enough, but he's the first troll you've met in sweeps that could most likely best you in combat. You'll need to be cautious. You had your hand poised near your small holstered dagger, but you brought it forward at his apology. You try to smile in a non-threatening way, but that's hard to do with your unusually large and awkwardly placed fangs.

ah, n◎t at all... i'm just passing thr◎ugh

Stepping a bit closer and wringing your hands (a nervous habit you thought you'd rid yourself of) you appraise the troll before you

i've been ◎ut all night and h◎ped i'd find a drink here... is the water fresh

Wow that was lame. Needless to say, your social skills are more than a little rusty.

You sit down in the grass, not really caring that it was a bit damp. That shortened your height by at least three feet.

Eh, should be good enough considering it's coming straight outta the mountain.

You keep the easy going smile on your face.

I got some bottled water capalouged if you'd prefer that.

You don't mind sharing. It wasn't hard for you get more canteens in the city. As you talk you grab the peaces of hair that were in your face and push them back and clip them in place with a bright red hair clip. You'd use a less dangerous color but you don't have any in any other color.

This troll is clearly trying to make you more comfortable, sitting down and even offering you a drink. You decide to take the chance that he isn't crazy and accept his kind offer, a more easy smile gracing your features

◎h, well i supp◎se i'll take you up ◎n that b◎ttled water, then! thank y◎u

It seems so much easier to not be on your guard all the time. You relax the muscles you hadn't realised were so tense and sit down in the grass near the larger troll, grimacing a bit at the dew that soaks through your overalls.

You uncapaloge the water and lightly toss the canteen at her. It's solid metal with plastic on the inside. The type you can stick in a freezer and chemicals in between the metal and plastic layers would freeze and keep what ever is inside is cool. You just hope you didn't mix up your water canteen with your canteen full of the wicked elixir.

No worries, I tend to keep a few of them on me when I go for a run haha.

You look up at the sky, the stars were sure bright today the two moons glowing brightly.

You take the canteen gratefully and open it to take a swig, but something stops you as you mid-sip. This does not taste like water. Your brow furrows and you quickly pull the container from your lips, a drop or two dripping onto your shirt in your haste.

what is that???

You're a bit hurt. You thought you could trust this strange (and admittedly attractive) troll. You pout a bit as your glance moves between him and the offending beverage, awaiting an answer.

Oh fuck! Sorry!

You quickly get up and take the canteen from her and give her the water one.

I'm sorry about that Miss. I got the water canteen all up and confused with my faygo one. I need to color code them or something.

You look embarrassed as hell and just start rambling.

Ah fuck I thought I had left it at home. Shit... Water will get the taste right out of your mouth. I must have stuck the thing in my dex after the last holiday.

You rub your broken horn, ah shit you feel stupid as fuck.

Once again, your horrible social skills have preceded you. You've gone and made him uncomfortable. He's ranting and rubbing his broken horn (why hadn't you noticed it was broken before?) and  You almost refuse the second canteen he offers you, but decide that it would probably be rude not to.

However, you do put a little more care into your assessment of this second liquid, sniffing it before you take a sip, then sighing with relief as the cool water washes the overly-sugary taste from your mouth.

thanks... s◎ uh, you menti◎ned a h◎liday? is that

Your face scrunches up a bit.

...stuff a part ◎f a religi◎us thing ◎f s◎me s◎rt???

You try to change the subject, and hope that your fumbling attempts at holding a conversation work. You aren't sure why, but you enjoy this troll's company quite a bit.

Ah yeah you can say that...

You can see it's a bit awkward so you continue on talking.

So what brings you this close to the mountains? You live around here?

Did you already ask that? You are not really sure. It might be your memory acting up again. You keep a slight smile on your face as you drink from the faygo canteen. It didn't bother you as much as it did other folks. You hum to yourself a bit as you drink.

You get a vibe of discomfort from the larger troll, but not the kind you'd expect. His discomfort seems to be more in the realm of embarrassed rather than annoyed. That relaxes you a bit, and you let out a tense breath you hadn't realised you were holding.

ah well, yes and n◎. i live near a m◎untain, s◎rt ◎f, but n◎t this particular ◎ne. 
i've been ◎ut all night catal◎guing plants and where they gr◎w... 

You drift off a bit, feeling that your evening was probably not the most interesting topic in the world. This begins an awkward silence as you search for something else to say. Once you give up on that (it didn't take very long) you try to identify the tune he's humming.

Are you a botanist?

Your head tilts to the side as you listen to her. You rather like relaxed conversation like this. You don't completely let down your guard, you hardly know her after all and the mountain was not always safe with it's predatory beasts and all, but talking was preferable to a fight ending in a culling any day.

I don't know much about plants me self... Well except the type you can eat and what can kill ya.

You laugh at yourself. You know a little more then that, but there's no need to make her feel uncomfortable. You flop back wards drinking from the fagyo canteen as you gaze up at the stars.