[COLOR=GRAY][INDENT][INDENT][i] [/i] [/INDENT][/INDENT][hr] [center][img]https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/1070187379547176990/1079854995761008752/Calliope_Banner.png[/img][/center] [CENTER][img]https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/1070792705547980842/1079957264212971520/image.png[/img][/CENTER][indent][sub][COLOR=SILVER][B]Location:[/B][/COLOR] [I]Pacific Royal Collegiate & University - Dundas Islands, Pacific Ocean[/I][/sub][sup][right][COLOR=SILVER][b]The Homecoming Trials: # 1.113[/b][/COLOR] [I]In-Tents-ive Care. I don't know. Titles are hard.[/I][/right][/sup][/indent][sub][hr][/sub][INDENT][sub][color=SILVER][B]Interaction(s):[/B][/COLOR] Calliope - [@PatientBean][/sub][SUP][RIGHT][COLOR=SILVER][b]Previously:[/b][/COLOR] [I]Campfire Tales and Terrors[/I][/right][/SUP] [INDENT] Jim had sent them off to their tents with some folksy patter that rattled 'round heads and had the group dispersing. Uncharacteristically, Banjo was all too willing to comply. He watched as Calliope made her way to their tent. He stopped and looked up at the sky as if in thanks, a smile creasing wide across his face whilst he stood there shaking his head in a state of pleased disbelief, before continuing to follow her there himself. She moved with a sort of effortless grace, which Banjo now realised probably came so effortlessly through years of practice. Holding form in the name of the father. His own casual gait was anything but. She slipped within the tent. He fought off the urge to dance as he bounced onwards with a bop in his step. Once inside the tent, Calli had a decision to make. How did she dress for sleep? Normally, she slept in her pajamas, but it wasn't like she was packed for this camping trip. And she didn't want to sleep in her athletic uniform. She took her shirt off and felt shame. It was instant. Her mind flashed back to middle school, the group of teenage boys who harassed her constantly, calling her a prude or calling her worse names because of how conservative she dressed. And that one boy who followed her into the bathroom. She covered herself with her arms as Banjo walked in. Her back was to him. She instantly regretted this. [color=darkgoldenrod]"Everything okay?"[/color] She heard a voice behind her. [color=darkgoldenrod]"Or did I get here too soon? Over-eager..?"[/color] He smiled warmly at her, in case she turned around. [color=darkgoldenrod]"I mean, I get it. It's not like any of us had time to pack for this. We've all just got the clothes on our back."[/color] He turned around to give her her modesty. [color=darkgoldenrod]"Hey, wanna know a secret? Maybe you'll get a kick... [sup][sub]kind of dumb though[/sub][/sup]"[/color] his mind raced, trying to come up with something to ease the tension. [color=darkgoldenrod]"When faced with the age old question of boxers or briefs... I picked... dun-da-da-duuuuun Speedos."[/color] He adjusted his shorts to show off the P.R.C.U swim gear underneath. [color=darkgoldenrod]"That's how little time we had to get ready. So you won't be getting any judgement out of me. Now can I turn around, or would you still rather I not..?"[/color] Calli felt second-wave embarrassment over this now. Banjo was more open with his body whereas she was covering herself like a nun undressing. She turned around now, allowing herself to be open, wearing her shorts and bra. [color=F796A9]"Sorry, force of habit. Never undressed myself around a guy before. Let alone a guy in nothing but a speedo."[/color] Calli had to admit, he had a nice body. She commented on it before with Cass and Axel. And now here he was, alone with her. She thought back to her previous intentions, how she just wanted to unleash and forget the hell she subscribed herself to. Instead, she wanted a moment of calm before the oncoming storm that were the Trials. And what did Banjo want? He turned slowly and took her all in, before fighting to meet her eye. [color=darkgoldenrod]"No need to apologize."[/color] He smiled warmly. [color=darkgoldenrod]"Everyone trying to apologize to me today. Sometimes multiple times, for the same thing. It's throwing me. I should have known Canada would be like this."[/color] He joked. [color=darkgoldenrod]"You're comfortable when you're comfortable. You grew up where you grew up, I grew up where I grew up. Lakes, the beach, swimming pools, sporting fields... private school boys clothes would just be strewn everywhere. The most useless room in most any of the schools I attended, I tell you. The changerooms. We drop trow' at the drop of a hat. Which is to be expected... I guess. Because otherwise you'd be wearing a hat but no pants... And I'm not wearing nothing but a speedo. But I can take a suggestion."[/color] He took his shirt off. [color=darkgoldenrod]"...To put us on a somewhat even footing."[/color] He dropped it on the floor. [color=darkgoldenrod]"See, look at that. Our clothes just go everywhere."[/color] Calli watched as Banjo stripped down to essentially nothing. She had to admire his sheer 'dont-give-a-fuck' attitude. She wished she could be so free. But even now, she worried about her reputation. Her father's reach should not be in Canada, but given how political figures in America could have huge influence elsewhere, she wouldn't be surprised if someone here knew her father and, unfortunately, agreed with him. [color=F796A9]"Okay, fair enough. We should sleep. Got to get ready for those trials tomorrow."[/color] Banjo stood there with a big dumb grin on his face. He didn't let it drop and tried hard not to look disappointed. [color=darkgoldenrod]"Yeah... Okay. Yeah, you're right. Got a... big day tomorrow, huh?"[/color] "Man, did I read that wrong. Or did I screw up, or... What the bloody Hell happened there?" He felt like he'd been through a tumble dryer. She knew he was disappointed, she could hardly blame him. She had promised something and then did not deliver. [color=F796A9]"It's not that I don't want to. When I suggested it, my intention was not good. I wanted to use you to forget about my own problems. To forget I was somewhere else and forced into it due to my own actions. But you showed me genuine kindness. No one has ever done that without wanting something from me. So, not yet. Soon, perhaps. But I want to get to know the real Andrew before then."[/color] [color=darkgoldenrod]"Oh. Ohhhhh... Oh thank God. I thought I'd gone and screwed up or said... one of about a hundred bloody different things wrong or something. So this is a... good thing then, on your end? Yeah, if you don't want to rush into anything that's great. No rush. As for you, I'm an open book. Anything you want to know that I can answer, I will. Hell, I'll even let the 'Andrew' slide."[/color] He finally exhaled, more for his own benefit and the stress it relieved from his own side of the situation than anything else. The actual 'act' itself, he was still more than a little nervous about with his own lack of experience. He piled into bed. [color=darkgoldenrod]"Still okay to talk, or too tired?"[/color] She hoped he understood that as she climbed into her own bed. [color=F796A9]"What did you have in mind?"[/color] [color=darkgoldenrod]"I mean... you seem pretty switched on. What do you make of that rabble out there tonight? Reckon we can hold this lot together?"[/color] He asked, looking up at the tent ceiling. [color=darkgoldenrod]"Personally, I feel a lot better about how it ended than how the day started."[/color] [color=F796A9]"Hard to say. I think we ended things on a more positive note, but I still get the sense that we're not a collective unit yet. Like I am sure Trace hates me. Rory still doesn't forgive me, which is fair. Mackenna is....Mackenna. And you made strides with Inigo, but even doing that seemed to ruffle some other people's feathers. There's no balance yet. There might be one day. No one was significantly harmed, so that's the best I think we could have gotten today."[/color] [color=darkgoldenrod]"I don't-- I don't think Trace hates you. Don't get me wrong, I think they have enough vitriol in there for everyone... But we have this weird dynamic going on. Like I'm the annoying kid brother. We go back and forth at each other a lot. I don't want you to take this the wrong way... but what they said? I'm pretty sure that was just you getting caught in the crossfire, and it was meant for me. I crossed a line there, too. So maybe-- maybe they think you're responsible for turning me into 100% of an arsehole, up from about two thirds of one..? But I don't think they have any specific animosity towards you, in particular. I've got to straighten it out though, I shouldn't have said what I said. Really stupid thing about it all... I don't even think what I said. They just dragged you into it, and I saw red, and said whatever I could to hurt 'em and... well, whilst I don't think it, I know that [b]THEY[/b] think it, even if it's stupid and--"[/color] She'd been quiet for some time, and he'd been mumbling away on this weird tangent. [color=darkgoldenrod]"Yeah. I'll straighten it out tomorrow."[/color] He finished. He lay there for a few moments, unsure if she'd gone to sleep. Then decided to say it, even if it was only for his own benefit. [color=darkgoldenrod][sup][sub]"Calli'..?"[/sub][/sup][/color] He said softly. Not sure if he wanted her awake to hear it or not. [color=darkgoldenrod][sup][sub]"I've never met anyone like you before, either."[/sub][/sup][/color] Then he rolled over, and sleep fell upon him. [center]- - -[/center] [sub]"[sup][sub]Knock it off, [/sub][/sup]Banjo!"[/sub] Echoed around the tent. Banjo furrowed his brow and fought to ignore it. [sub]"[sup][sub][sup][sub]I swear if this is some sort of prank.[/sub][/sup][/sub][/sup]"[/sub] Time passed and a rustle, a scuffle could be heard outside. Then louder. [color=F796A9]"Did you hear that..?"[/color] [color=darkgoldenrod]"Yeeeeah..."[/color] Banjo sighed, in frustration. [color=darkgoldenrod]"I'm pretty sure I heard someone say my name out there as well."[/color] [color=F796A9]"You did? Why didn't you say anything?"[/color] He raised his eyebrows in surprise at the question. [color=darkgoldenrod]"Well, because the only person I was really interested in hearing call my name out right now was you..."[/color] As he began to re-dress. Calli shook her head, part in disbelief and part because, honestly, it made her feel warm. [color=F796A9]"As sweet as that is, dummy, if you are hearing your name whispered in the middle of the night, I want to know about it."[/color] Once again, Banjo found himself hating himself for his decision to check on others rather than staying by the tent with Calli' as he looked around the floor for his shirt... This better be good. It was very much not. "What the Hell are you doing, boy!" 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