The Lady and the Ladies' Man

Cassie laughed. "You're so silly. You could also have said 'is it hot in here, or is it just me?' You just wanted to take off your shirt. It works, though, whatever you've gotta do."

She hopped her way back to the bed and somersaulted onto it again. She got to her knees and turned to face Mamouru. "Okay, if you have a stopwatch like on your phone or something we can time it to see who can stay up the longest." She clapped her hands together and clenched and unclenched them a few time as she focused. "Come get me! This is probably the first time you've ever tried to get a girl out of bed, huh?" She giggled.

Cassie would be lying to herself if she thought that she wasn't a little bit uncomfortable grappling with Mamouru in a private hotel room on a bed. It certainly had all the ingredients to give someone the wrong impression, and that included Cassie and Mamouru. She also couldn't deny the little twinge of excitement as she watched Mamouru and waited for him. It was a thrill, being alone with a cute boy and getting all personal... that wasn't wrong, was it? She told herself that they weren't on a date, they were just two grapplers doing what they did. Cassie had rolled with lots of guys for her whole life, though probably it wasn't so awkward for her when she was nine. Everything seemed new again, like this was a situation she'd never before found herself in. There was still Jiu Jitsu, though, and that was always familiar.

Mamouru blushed a little. "I'm being honest, Cassie-san!" He said with a soft chuckle. "And it wasn't the shirt I was speaking about, but... you said it, not me!" He took off his shirt and tossed it aside. He wasn't as chiseled as his brother but he still had a pretty decent physique. He was toned nicely. He then unzipped his pants and kicked them off tot he side, leaving him in some boxer shorts that went down to just below his thighs. It really wasn't much different than what he had wore into the ring earlier, minus the shirt.

"Have you ever tried to grapple in those?" He asked and laughed. He then pulled out his phone and set it on the table. He pushed the stopwatch button and then looked at Cassie with a smile. "Well, I'd be lying if I said yes, but the thought behind those actions remained the same, so let's just say yes, ok?"

Mamouru then sized up Cassie and looked for his best opening. He then shot forward onto the bed and tried to reach out for one of Cassie's knees and push it up and back to put her on her butt.

Cassie's jaw dropped, and for a moment she was dumb struck as Mamouru pulled off his shirt. What was he doing? She was partly in disbelief that he would do that, and another smaller part of her couldn't help but oggle him a little. Then he pulled off his pants.

Immediately she was bright red. Her eyebrows turned some convoluted acrobatics and she opened her mouth to say something but all that came out was a small, strained squeak.

"Have I ever grappled in clothes? Yes! All the time!" She cried. "Ack!" She grabbed at the blankets and yanked them up as a barrier between herself and Mamouru, but it did little to stop him. She fell back on her butt and quickly rolled to cocoon herself in the blankets to keep Mamouru from... doing something.

"What are you doing?" She squeaked. For a moment she wondered if she should be worried, if Mamouru would try to do something bad. She wasn't stupid, she knew how this situation could easily turn south if Mamouru decided to not act like a good guy. She tucked her head into her blanket cocoon.

Mamouru watched as Cassie rolled onto her back and out up her quilty shield. He stood up on his knees and looked at the blanket with an amused smirk before letting out a soft sigh. "I was trying to get you off the bed., Cassie-san. He then stood up and slid off the bed and over to his phone where he shut off the stopwatch.

"This isn't going to work..." He said and looked at his clothes. "I'm sorry, Cassie-san." He bowed though she was still covered. "It's my fault for being too presumptuous. I thought you wouldn't be satisfied if I wasn't serious and unhampered. Perhaps I was mistaken. I'll put my clothes back on and we can continue in a more light hearted manner, or perhaps do something different." He added as he looked at the blankety fortress Cassie had holed up in.

Cassie peeked timidly out from under her blankets, both to see if it was safe to come out and to sneak just a tiny little peak at Mamouru. "Um," She said, her voice muffled a bit. "Yeah, that'd be a good idea, I think. I mean... in class, you'd wear a cup and stuff, and there's layers and stuff, not just, ya know..." Boxers. She was one flimsy bit of cloth away from a very sticky situation.

"At least the jeans would be a little bit of a barrier. Right?" She sat up suddenly and looked at Mamouru. "Hey. Um... Are you trying to play games with me or are you trying to, uh, hook up with me?" She asked, not sure if she meant fun grappling games or un-fun head-games.

Regardless, Mamouru did just bring her to a hotel room and take off his clothes. There's really no way to misinterpret that, right? It was just neither here nor there. She wasn't going to get tangled up with him like that when first of all he had a girlfriend, second she'd only just met him, and not to mention that he admitted to being a scheme-y womanizer and all that.

Cassie didn't know how she felt. She tried repeatedly to find a way to think of it where everything was still alright and she could put on a smile, but she couldn't deny how she really felt. She was angry, at least a little. She frowned. "You're not very good at this." She said fitfully.

Mamouru put on his clothes and looked over at Cassie. He looked at her with a serious face. He then turned his head and threw it back and began laughing. It was a jovial laugh that held no derisiveness in it at all. He then looked at Cassie. "Yes. Extremely bad it seems." He then sat down next to Cassie and looked at her.

"I'm terrible at being earnest, it would seem." He turned his head, still smiling a bit. "I haven't been trying to play you at all. I thought that it would be quite appropriate to do what I did for the sake of the grapple game. A thought otherwise didn't cross my mind." He then slouched a bit and ran his fingers through his hair. "Heh... You're right to have reacted the way you did. I'm a fool for not thinking ahead. Usually all I do is calculate things, I feel foolish that I didn't... I can't really understand how I didn't, honestly." He said and looked back at Cassie.

Cassie furrowed her brow. She couldn't tell if Mamouru was being sincere, mostly because she was expecting him to be insincere. Could he actually be so dumb? He didn't seem dumb.

"You're a bad calculator." She said. She didn't laugh along with him. "So... you really just thought that the best way to do little wrestling games with a girl in a hotel room was to take off your clothes first? Um... maybe you can see why that's hard for me to believe. But... you aren't trying to like, woo me, or whatever, at all?" She almost sounded the slightest bit disappointed. Why wasn't he? If he was such a womanizer and everything. What was wrong with her?

That was the wrong way to think about it though. She didn't want him, he wasn't available, this wasn't a date. He just wasn't her type, anyway, so... She just needed to stop thinking about it like that.

"Maybe we should just watch a movie instead." She suggested.

"I'm not calculating!" Mamouru said with a suddenly defensive tone. He wasn't mad or even upset. He was just confused. He was acting like Johnny and all because he wasn't TRYING to play Cassie.

mamouru turned his head and ran his fingers through his hair. "Listen..." He said not looking at her. "If I WAS trying to woo you or play you or... whatever... then I wouldn't be acting so dumb, ok? Like I said before... it's ALL I do. This sort of thing... is kind of new to me." He looked up at Cassie. "It's not like you're not um... wooable or anything. You're really cute... and stuff... and actually kind of interesting. I don't really understand but... I guess I just decided to try something different, ok?"

Mamouru looked up at Cassie finally and tried to smile but it was weak. "I've never felt so..." He turned his head and blushed. "Foolish... in all my life." He inhaled deeply and then looked at some random corner of the room. "It's up to you. If you think that would be best, then that's fine really." Suddenly his throat was really dry. He wanted a glass of water but he didn't feel like he could move just yet. Not until Cassie's eyes relinquished him and her mouth gave him permission to go. He had to hear how she took in what he thought was a crazy explanation.

Cassie looked at Mamouru for a long time, studying him with a stern, somewhat concerned look. In her head, she weighed out the options, the likelihood that Mamouru was running the long-con or something, that he was just really good at acting the way he thought he had to to get what he wanted. It seemed so unlikely, almost laughably so, but the consequences... If she trusted him and he hurt her, she couldn't bear it. Betrayal was one thing Cassie couldn't take.

But it wasn't in Cassie's nature to be cynical or distrustful. How terrible would it be for her to not believe him when he was being sincere? It could be a good thing for him, and she could deny him it just by not going along with him.

She sighed a sigh that belied her age. She sounded almost maternal when she spoke. "Good. I think it's good for you to feel foolish. What you do is foolish, and now you're... you're opened up or something. I think. Something like that. Like maybe you can only keep doing things the way you do because no one knows... so like you're not... accountable? Is that the word?"

Cassie nodded slowly. She certainly wasn't expecting all this when she left the Tension building, but Cassie did have a way of drawing these things out of people. She stood up and held out her hands to Mamouru.

"Come hug." She said. "I'm glad you're not trying to trick me, or whatever it is that you do. I'm sort of expecting you to be a big liar, but if you're being honest, and I think you are, then... thanks for being honest. That's really cool. Now, hug." She clapped her hands like a crab.

"Heh..." Mamouru managed. It wasn't snide or derisive, just a sound to let linger int he air for a moment while he thought about what she said. "Yeah... I guess.." He then let out a sigh. "It's not like I didn't know that." He added. "It's just..." He paused. It was just that he didn't care, and even liked it. Being honest was more foolish feeling than being a liar. He knew it wasn't suppose to be like that but he hadn't really cared until Cassie brought it up. Well, she didn't even bring it up. He just told her. Why did he tell her though? Why was he so honest with her? She'd be so easy to fool and manipulate. He could have had her in the palm of his hands doing whatever he wished. Not only that but he'd have many reasons for it other than just because Cassie was cute. She struggled with the thought but pushed it aside. He'd worry about it later.

Mamouru looked at Cassie as she offered a hug. He smiled weakly. "Ridiculous..." He said with a soft chuckle. "You're ridiculous..." He said again. "I'd never trust me in a million years. You shouldn't be so quick to be so nice but..." He inched forward and slid his hands around her hips and curled them upward laying them against her shoulder blades and bringing her against him.

"Thanks..." He whispered as he felt her warm body press against his. It was... comforting really. It felt... safe. He couldn't explain it but he was very grateful. His intuitions with Cassie seemed to have been correct even if he didn't understand them.