talk mannerly to me you nerd

Colin had gotten back to camp less than two hours ago. After spending two months surrounded by trees and prairies and dirt and nature, you'd think he'd want to just curl up in his bunk and die. Which he kinda did. He had major jet lag and he hadn't been able to sleep the entire eighteen hour flight because some kid had been crying the entire time. He was pretty sure he'd end up falling asleep in the forest and end up killed by some crazy monster demon or something. But he did need somewhere quiet to read and chill out for a bit. His bunk was exploding with a bunch of kids having some kind of prank war (which he definitely planned to get into), and the basement was taken by two computer kids being awkward. He thought he recognized one of them through the window, some wind girl with dark hair with whom he once attempted conversation (Ever? Even? Ellen?), but he frankly didn't care enough to stay and check it out. He wasn't one to snoop, after all. He'd even attempted Leila's cabin, in hopes of dragging her off onto the beach for some relaxing catch up. He hadn't exactly told he was coming home that day because he wanted to surprise her. As far as she knew, he would be gone for another month.

So, here he was, still wearing the sweatshirt and jeans he'd worn for the entire flight, a book in one hand and a thermos in the other. A thermos full of coffee, of course. Because Colin was too hipster for the mainstream idea of hipsterism. Colin was literally hipsterception. He was hipster before it was cool. He was hipster and he didn't even know it. He-

Right. On with the story.

Colin was strolling down the unbeaten path and crunching all the leaves in all the places and making one hell of a ruckus, until heard another ruckus nearby, the sound of leaves and chipping branches. He stopped, making sure it wasn't just him, to find that, no, in fact, this particular ruckus had not been caused by his feet. Curiously, he headed towards it, though couldn't quite seem to place. Funny. It seemed as if it were just a tad bit behind him to the left.

Colin had no idea how it happened. One second, he was walking through the forest. The next, he was pinned to the ground by a gorgeous warrior princess, a knife to his throat, his glasses half fallen off of his face.

And then the warrior princess spoke, and Colin realized that she was, in fact, not a warrior princess. She was something much better, and the only thing better than a warrior princess is...

"Leila?" He asked, a bit confused as he reached to straighten his glasses. Yes, it was, in fact, his gorgeous (and apparently very violent) girlfriend. Maybe. Kind of. At what point are you necessarily "official"? Did you have to like, say the three magic words, or just, in general, like, mutually sign a contract stating that you shall from that point on be addressed as each other's romantic other, till tragic breakup or death do you part?

He gave a short laugh, deciding quickly that it didn't matter, because whatever it was that he had to do, he would make sure to do it, because it would be worth it. "I was planning on going to spend some time in India and South Asia, but I figured surprising you would be ten times better. I'm guessing you were pretty surprised,"

He gave another laugh at her blush, though he actually felt kind of awkward about their position himself. She gratefully accepted her hand and stood up, brushing himself off and picking up his book and thermos (of coffee). "What? Tackling me to the ground? No problem. It's probably a sign of respect for some small culture no one's heard of." He joked, before just returning to his constant smile.

"So, how've you been?"