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The forests tended to be the swatches of area that felt the safest in an unpredictable world, acting as barriers against confrontation and equipping one with the ability to walk about unnoticed. Perhaps it wasn't everyone's cup of tea -- certainly not anybody he ever tended to travel with -- but that wasn't a factor now. In such wide expanses of trees and foliage, the likelihood of stumbling across anyone else was next to nil if one were to steer clear of the usual camping grounds. That is, at least, what Endymion was so adamant on believing in order to negate the constant, nagging anxiety.

There were other ways of distracting from such counterproductive thoughts as well, though. Ways such as the unceremonious tripping over a half-exposed and gnarled tree root. He pitched into the nearest tree to the east of the misstep, catching himself with the blunt of his blades before any damage was done. Glancing up the face of the tree he was pressed against, the teen held a breath for a moment longer, eyes scaling to the top. "That... could have really hurt," he breathed, relieved. It was an older one, and one that didn't look like it really felt like swaying for impact. Not to mention the bark was really rough.

Stepping away, he took the opportunity to peer around. He hadn't exactly been here before, despite it being just another distance of trees. Apparently treacherous trees with a vendetta against travelers who weren't looking where they were going. Or pranking. The thought was enough to amuse him enough to snicker at it while he regained his bearings.

Yep, he was definitely lost.

Leaning forward slightly, the teen took a glance around the thick trunk of the tree, but all he caught sight of was... more trees, and no indication of where he was in the whole gathering of them. Even if he had spotted any sort of landmark, it likely wouldn't have done him much good; he hadn't been in this direction before, in his short time of straying aimlessly. All he had to do was go back the way he came to find the trail again, he was sure, but then he also had to be sure that it was an exact one-eighty. How long had he been wandering anyway? This would never have been a problem if he had been allowed to travel on his own, like he had initially tried to do. But no, now he had the increased stress of having to worry about someone other than himself, even if--

Endymion visibly flinched as the hesitant words cut through the silent air, interrupting his criticizing thoughts. Had he... really just nearly pitched into a tree while someone was standing there? How long had they been there? Maybe... maybe they just arrived, but he couldn't be certain. He buried his nose back in his collar, shrinking back with the action as much as he was attempting to hide the reddened embarrassment before he made any move to turn around at all.

He hadn't expected the voice to belong to a girl so young. It appeared that she was on her own, but her physical age cast some doubt to such assessment, despite this being the perfect habitat to run into bug pokémon, as she seemed to be. "Sorry, I was j-just..." he began before his jaw snapped shut, eyes averted to the side. Alright, so he hadn't exactly thought about how he was going to explain anything before he actually started to; obviously, being social was not his forte. The more he focused on trying to hold back his stutter, the more it seemed to present itself, but he attempted to redirect the conversation nonetheless, "Do... do you live here?" Maybe he could ask directions without... blatantly asking.

Normally, Endymion was quite capable of picking up on the nervous energy from another party, mostly out of the fact that he was so familiar with the feeling himself -- when enveloped so constantly in a state of mind, it became quite easy to pick up the same wavelength in others. Chloe's ability to swallow that fear and move without it tying her too far down detracted from the usual signs, as was the fact that the scyther's own attention was turned further inward after his little mishap. It wasn't until he felt the light shivering of her fingers on his shoulder that he... well, for one, was surprised that she even wanted to try to come that close to a walking salad shooter, but also was able to realize just how much she was probably pushing herself to initiate any sort of contact at all, verbal or physical. His attention turned back to the girl fully once more. She was scared? She did a good job of hiding it! The sheepish grin he offered in return was mild but well-meaning; he didn't particularly trust his voice not to give out on him again at that moment, but it was a reply nonetheless.

The teen watched her a bit, trying to determine how to respond while simultaneously attempting to understand a vague notion of motive. No, Endymion didn't feel like he really needed to be on guard around her anymore, but if she was so frightened... was it about first impressions? Was she lonely? He almost offered an answer, that is until she mentioned town. At the word, he flinched, inwardly shuddering at the thought. "No no, not anywhere near town," the words nearly shot out of his mouth, reactionary irritation displaced from the current context. When he realized the snappish response might have come across as retaliation toward her kind offer, he hastily tried to pick up the pieces, "I, um... I don't really like people. T-The humans, that is." Oh awkwardness, you never did fail to make yourself known, did you? Clearing his throat, the scyther continued, "Though I think... I think I'd like that. I'm not exactly sure where... here is. I kind of just started walking, thinking I could turn around and head back the way I came." He frowned slightly at that thought, "I'm... not entirely sure that would work too well, though. I walked pretty far..." Eh, he was already embarrassed, why not dig that trench a little deeper while he was at it? Yeesh.

It was about at this point that he realized that she had been watching him fairly closely, his attention having been more diverted than he had been wanting to avoid doing. He blinked, stunned at her response for a moment, especially when it seemed like... wait, was she teasing him? He floundered a moment, flushing pink on the sections of his face that weren't chitin-clad and shaking his head vigorously a few times, "Whaa!? N-No no no, I-I'm not--!" Not afraid of looking like a fool, was that what he was going to say? He took a sharp inhale, deciding against continuing that failure of a debate. Momentarily forgoing his hold of semantics, he grumbled a more simplistic reply altogether, "I just really suck at talking to people, that's all." Never mind that she really did startle him earlier... He took a moment longer before he offered a smile in return, and of all things, a bit of a snicker, "I'm Endymion. It's nice to meet you, Chloe!" At least it seemed as though the scatterbug was getting more comfortable; maybe that would help the scyther do the same.

Despite what little time the both of them had been interacting, it was quickly becoming evident the type of person the other was dealing with. So few lines were exchanged, and yet, when Endymion had admitted to his shortcomings and, albeit in a very roundabout manner, his fears with the average populace, he was not surprised at Chloe's response on the matter. Regardless of how the scyther had nigh flipped out about his stumbling word choices, and regardless that the young scatterbug seemed to be able to outwardly calm herself down that much more successfully, he could still accurately anticipate such a response. Maybe he thought perhaps that she was just empathic, or maybe he realized how ridiculous a sight he must have been to someone a fraction of his size; either way, it was obvious she could recognize the same sort of anxiety, even if she might not have been experiencing the same at this particular moment. Sure, it was still kind of on the embarrassing side, but there was a great sense of relief in knowing that, perhaps, he really didn't need to explain his bumbling quite so much, because the person he was currently talking to had been there, done that.

As Chloe spoke, Endymion could feel the tenseness ease off. "There's a lot less you have to worry about, with trees..." he agreed to the girl's preferences, sidestepping the issue of nearly careening into one of them moments before. Or the fact that he was most assuredly lost because of how clustered the trees were... but then, that probably wasn't their fault anyway, if fault could be applied to a tree. Chloe seemed to be convinced of their sentience, though, and Endymion really didn't have any reason to believe otherwise... were they honestly out to give him grief, too? He took a sideways glance at one in passing, though knew it would do no good either way.

He was no longer very sure about what way exactly he came, if he was pointed at the correct degree, but at least he could still point himself in the correct cardinal direction. "Just mostly... to the plains, I guess," he suggested, "I can at least right myself from there." He fidgeted slightly, anticipating the blank expanse. He really didn't like the thought of being somewhere so wide open, but he really couldn't navigate himself within a forest, he just wasn't equipped for it. He winced slightly on that thought, a wry smile appearing behind the coat collar, "I guess... I guess I should count myself lucky for running into you, for more than one reason now." A real lifesaver, to be perfectly honest!

"I'm not in a real rush though. I kind of just... panicked..." the teen added. It was kind of nice, being around someone that wasn't pressuring him to do something he didn't want to for once, after all. Admitting to fear was never Endymion's strong suit either, though, and he caught himself trying to retreat a little after saying as much. In an effort to steer himself from doing so, he instead changed focus, "So, uhh... what do you tend to do, way out here?" Seemed difficult to maneuver through such closed quarters once you found your star.

With a light flinch, Endymion realized there was probably something else that he should be saying to her, before they got too far on their way. It took him a second, mentally shaking off nervousness that he really didn't need to be feeling, "Oh, um, and... thanks. Really, thanks a lot, for all this." For being so understanding, for being so nice, for helping out such a nervous wreck... His smile came more easily now, and felt much more genuine.