Orion usually avoids the springs. They're beautiful, relaxing, but the thought of social interaction is ordinarily enough to warn him away. After a long hike through the Jagged Path, however, his muscles are screaming for respite. If he's lucky, they'll be empty. Surely it happened, sometimes.

He thinks he's in luck, at first, finding the steaming waters devoid of company. He pulls off his heavy duty hiking boots, sets down his bag of supplies, and has just taken off his shirt when he realizes that his luck is as sour as usual.

He was not alone.

The springs were empty, but a girl sat with her Vaporeon on the surrounding rocks. The Absol at Orion's side tilts its head as if examining the strangers for any sign of threat, then huffs and curls up much like the Water-type to sun itself on the rocks.

If @chloe meets his gaze, Orion looks like a deer caught in headlights.

"Sorry, I, uh, didn't mean to interrupt." His cheeks flush, shirt dangling from his grip. That they're in a public place and he's not doing anything wrong does not seem to soothe his embarrassment. He squints. "Have — have I seen you before?"

@chloe looks away, and Orion is quick to follow suit. His own cheeks are aflame, hotter even than the air around them, and he busies himself with taking off his pants. It might have seemed an odd way to combat the anxiety — removing more clothing would hardly help the feeling of being exposed — but the reason for it is revealed as he slips into the water.

He'd gone in quick, without allowing himself to acclimate to the heat, and he hisses through his teeth at the temperature change.

He looks back at the young woman, relieved that she seems equally flustered, and lets out a nervous laugh. "I am, yeah, that's gotta be it. I'm sorry, I don't know your name, I meet a lot of people..." Had he ever learned it to begin with? "I'm Orion."