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[/i][/INDENT][/INDENT][CENTER][COLOR=04cf3a][sup]________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________[/sup][/COLOR][img]https://img.roleplayerguild.com/prod/users/33a4f953-7c60-417b-8573-ea5575d2530c.png[/img] [/CENTER][indent][sub][COLOR=04cf3a][B]Location:[/B][/COLOR] [I]Southern Plateau[/I] - [I]Pacific Royal Campus[/I][/sub][sup][right][COLOR=04cf3a][b]Welcome Home #1.068:[/b][/COLOR] [I]Tired of Tripping on my Shoes[/I][/right][/sup][/indent][COLOR=04cf3a][SUP][sub]____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________[/sub][/SUP][/COLOR][INDENT][sub][color=04cf3a][B]Interaction(s):[/B][/COLOR] [I]Mei - [@Garden Gnome][/I][/sub][SUP][RIGHT][COLOR=04cf3a][b]Previously:[/b][/COLOR] [color=2c2c2c][url=https://www.roleplayerguild.com/posts/5516159][I]We get by Just Fine[/I][/url][/color][/right][/SUP]
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Rory's eyes watched Haven carefully, clocking the tensing of muscles as she took a moment to respond. She had taken a step closer, smiled at him, and responded. Her voice was, for lack of a better word, sultry. It almost felt like a whisper, or an invitation. But that didn't make sense... he had asked her. He was getting used to knowing when he had missed something: a reference, innuendo, obvious subtext, or a classic "Rory" phrased sentence. She didn't seem to be referencing anything, 'sure' didn't seem to have any sexual connotations, and there didn't seem to be anything obvious unsaid. This left the obvious problem being a poorly phrased question. Though, what could possibly have been misinterpreted? He asked if she wanted to sleep together. Classic sleepover, nothing weird there. Except... maybe there was something about the together part...

Haven had flown off to have a talk with Banjo, leaving Rory motionless trying to put together the pieces. He sighed, resolving to ask Lorcan about it. He was pleasantly surprised when he saw Mei's approach, his smile instinctively widening as he locked eyes with her. [COLOR=ffc725][b]“Here, a hand knitted towel made by yours truly.”[/b][/color] She had thrust the towel into his chest, reaching up to grab hold of it before she turned around to walk away. He looked at the towel, reading the stitching briefly.

[COLOR=04cf3a]"Wow... thanks, uh... wait, Mei, does this-"[/color] Rory tried to lift one leg up and reached a hand out to stop her, only to feel unexpected resistance. He had leaned his torso forward, but his legs remained stuck together. He tipped over, falling face first into the dirt. He had managed to lift his arms to protect his head out of pure instinct, a protective measure trained from years of being tackled by his favorite 7ft tall blonde athlete. Once prone, Rory flipped himself into his back to examine what had happened to his legs. He was a bit surprised to recognize the strands of silk that had practically glued his pant legs together. He looked up to where Mei had stormed off to. Judging by that reaction, he had royally fucked up.

Rory weighed his options. On the one hand, he could probably fetch his keys from the bag lying next to him and try to saw at the webbing... but that would take time. The other options was... well, a bit more bold. Rory kicked off his shoes and shimmied his way out of his PT sweatpants. He was left in only his black t-shirt, a pair of light gray boxer briefs, tube socks, and not even an ounce of dignity. Now free of his web-trappings and suitably covered in a fine coating of dirt, Rory darted after Mei with the towel in hand.

[COLOR=04cf3a]"Mei, wait! I'm sorry."[/color] He slowed to a stop as he approached, pointing to the towel he was holding. [COLOR=04cf3a]"I... uhh... look, can we talk for a second? I owe you an apology and an answer, if you want."[/color]

Mei could hear the owner of the familiar voice coming from outside of her tent. She hadn't expected Rory to come after her like that. Perhaps, there was more hope to this then she realised. [COLOR=ffc725][b]"Hey Rory. I see you got yourself out of a sticky situation. I'm just setting up my tent to sleep on my own, but otherwise I'm free to talk. Go ahead."[/b][/color] 

Rory stared at Mei for a moment, processing her joke, before simply shaking his head and stifling a laugh. As he looked down, he winced at the realization he had left his pants behind. He had dreams about this. He paused, composing himself, before looking back up towards Mei. [Color=04cf3a]"I'm sorry I... well, thought you were joking. At the beach. I was a bit flustered, with the whole thing with Ro and the dance. And I never would have expected you to ask me to the dance. So I misunderstood what you were saying. I got in my own head. And I'm sorry for that."[/color]

Mei stared at Rory as he laughed at her silly attempt of a joke. She didn’t know if he really found it funny or he was just laughing to lower the tension in her tent. For her own sake, she decided to believe the former reasoning. Anything good that Rory gave her she would take. who knows when she would ever get it again? She wasn’t like Haven who received good signs of intimacy and actions given to her even without trying.

[b][COLOR=ffc725]“Well, I hope it is abundantly clear to you now. I would never joke about such things. Should you ever forget, feel free to refer to the towel at any time. Hopedully that will jolt your memory back to remembering.”[/color][/b]

Rory nodded, flashing a small smile as he looked at the towel. It still didn't make sense to him, why she was always this kind to him. [Color=04cf3a]"I appreciate it."[/color] He paused for a moment, taking the time to fold up the towel before looking back to Mei. [Color=04cf3a]"As for an answer... I would like to go to the dance. With you. If you still want to go with me, that is."[/color] He felt a sudden wave of embarrassment flood into his cheeks, but he held his ground as he looked towards Mei.

As Mei heard Rory's words, every part of her wanted to yell "YES" out loud without hesitation, and it took  an enormous amount of willpower for her to resist herself from doing so as soon as the words left his mouth. She decided that him waiting for a minimum of a few minutes in silence would be payment for what he had done to her on the beach and earlier in the plateau. 

After leaving Rory hanging in silence for a few minutes, internally dreading every single minute that she put both of them through, afraid that he might reconsider, Mei answered him. [COLOR=ffc725][b]"You sure?"[/b][/COLOR] Not giving him any chance to respond, she continued immediately. [COLOR=ffc725][b]"Of course, you're sure! Who else would you go with? I'll go with you, no further thought necessary."[/b][/color] [i]The more opportunities she gave him to not think about Haven, the better she would fare. [/i]

Rory's smile involuntarily widened, and he nodded in response to Mei's acceptance. Everything was finally coming up Rory. He ignored the small part of his brain telling him this was too good to be true. He turned around, back towards the rest of the camp, grinning like the idiot he was. He walked back towards the bag, pants, and shoes he left in the middle of everything. He scrambled to pick them up and scurried into his and Haven's tent to change.

As much as part of him knew some of the others would prefer he ran around all day in his underwear, he changed into a spare pair of shorts to get ready for his work assignment.

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