After yesterday's lunchtime display, Dawin was more than a bit wary of the dining hall; he kept his head down and avoided the dangerous table, the flash of very pale hair, focused down toward his tray and his food and putting his feet in front of the other. Avoiding Angus too, now, whereas before he'd been planning on nabbing the older boy and hauling him away to another table to show off some rather terrible but much-loved drawings of David, and talk about a new character in the works.

He was still flustered. Dawin had gone glazed and distant in one of his classes, until the teacher had shouted and snapped to haul him back into himself, and the embarrassment of it was still ringing in his ears. Worse than that, he had a problem, and he couldn't talk to his mother about it, and his father would be no help either.

There was only one person he could think of to go to for advice. Nevermind that she was a year younger, or that whatever he said could potentially get back to Ava; for now, he picked Julia out of the crowd and inched his way, circling, to her table...

And sat next to her, without request or warning or invitation, slowly and kind of awkwardly, looking uncomfortably to the boy who was, presumably, her secret love. He cleared his throat.

Julia had never before found lock mechanisms so interesting. The boy droned on and on and she stared at him, occasionally nodding, occasionally tittering. If she could be bothered she'd ask a question or two-- although that tended to spark further extrapolation, something which Julia felt was rather unnecessary. Robert was extrapolating well enough without any prompts.

Such was her boredom that her eye began to rove around the room, staring longingly at other men before snapping back to attention.

No, dammit! She loved Robert! She wasn't supposed to be looking at other men!

Still. There was only so much one could stand on 'the history of the lock and key' without eventually collapsing. In this way, Julia felt she was acting admirably. Even if her mind was in a lull.

It was for that reason that when Dawin slid next to her awkwardly, she jumped violently. Robert stopped mid sentence and stared at her.

"Er..." Julia coughed and turned to look at Dawin, her cheeks slightly red. "D..." His name isn't David. Don't say David. It's not David. "David!"

Damn.

"I mean-- no that's not it. Davin. Oh I'm sorry I'm truly terrible at names. Um. How are you?" She smiled brightly and then shifted when Robert nudged her.

"Oh this is Robert. Robert, this is Davin. We met in Vienda at his mother's tea shop."

"Hello, Robert." It was needlessly formal, a bit wooden, extremely uncomfortable. Inwardly, Dawin was wondering if he should correct the wrong pronunciation of his name, and this thought was chased almost immediately by the question of if they'd seen yesterday's mess at lunch, the jumbled pile of Angus and food and furious Ath and he decided not to push his luck. He could be Davin. Sure.

"Julia -- " However, he did remember her name. Possibly because his mother had gone on, once the girl and her family were gone, or perhaps just because he was good with names. "I was wondering if I could have ten minutes or so of your time to, ah. Speak...about...something."

Julia stared at him with a blank smile for a few moments. Her brain caught up with her face. "Oh. Oh! Oh. I mean-- I-- yes! Yes of course! Robert I need to-- right--"

She was getting up as she spoke, looping her arm with Davin and hurrying away, blowing a quick kiss to her secret fiance.

Really she was starting to regret the whole 'fiance' bit of the ordeal, but Julia didn't want to think about that right now.

"Sorry we're rushing. Rob starts talking about locks and...just...wont...stop." She sighed, looking rather embarrassed. "What did you want to talk about?"

Dawin's arm was tense against hers; nothing personal, just a strong sense of personal space combined with the rattling and fraying of his nerves. He cleared his throat, caught hand curling into a fist to keep himself from pulling away, and shot one last look back toward Robert.

"This is a bit awkward, actually..." More than a bit. Dawin was just about awkwardness personified. He cleared his throat, peering down at her, gears turning behind his eyes as he struggled for words. "You remember Angus? You know Angus."

"Angus? Oh yes! I loved him he was very nice." Julia said, recalling the other boy vaguely. She actually hadn't seen him since their first meeting and she wished she had. Vienda had been terribly boring. She had finished all of her books, and when she'd done that she'd actually started on her homework. Who did homework over the holidays?

And of course, Robert had been busy doing his job in the municipal office...

"Why? Is he alright?" Julia straightened her uniform. She loved Brunnhold because she didn't have to think about her clothes, although she was sure that this green really didn't go well with her appearance at all.

It showed how much she knew about fashion-- Julia actually looked rather striking in that shade of green. It was her more favored shades of lemon yellow that made her look a little sallow.

"Yes, well." He hesitated, looking back toward his tray and Robert and then askew to the Trouble Table, tugging thoughtlessly at a curl on the back of his neck, wild and a little long, his mouth twisting aside with thought.

"Well, I meant more like, do you know Angus, and...ah, goodness." This was awkward. He looked back up to Julia, a little embarrassed by his relative 'cursing'. Not like him to fly off the handle like that. "Angus asked me out to dinner and I'm not...well, I mean, that's not usually how these things happen, is it?"

Julia didn't hear the rest of Dawin's sentence. She was stuck on 'he asked me out to dinner'. She squealed and hugged him excitedly, speaking over his next words "Charms and bells that's wonderful! I'm so happy for you! He's quite handsome, isn't he? I know half of the girls I know have mooned after him. Useless, of course. I mean, we all know how he is. They're just in denial."

She shook her head and grinned. It was only then that she noticed his facial expression. "What's wrong? Are you nervous? I'm sure he'd be a wonderful date..." She trailed off, frowning worriedly.

Squeaking. Excitement. Dawin's first reaction was to turn and shoot a nervous look around the room, to see if people were looking at them. He wasn't entirely fond of people watching him, judging, it made him...jittery. He made a soothing, almost hushing gesture with one hand as he turned back to her.

"Well...I mean, well, ah." Hard to explain this bit, wasn't it? He toyed with the hems of his sleeves, watching his fingers. "Well, I've never...I don't even know if I like...how would I know?"

"Oh." Julia smiled and shrugged. "Well I've got friends that just know. I've always known I liked men... I guess it's not the same for everyone. Do you know Ingrid? She's kind of...both? She just went out with both and didn't want to give either up. She's a little um...radical, though. I mean, lots of people call her loose. Mean. She's very nice to me anyway..."

The girl trailed off vaguely, half wondering what she'd been talking about. Davin! Right!

"Anyway I'm sure it wont hurt to just...go out. If you find that you're simply too uncomfortable with the idea after that, just tell him. Angus is nice enough that he wont... explode or anything."

I think.

"It's always good to be open to new things. It's not the end of the world if it doesn't work out!" Her eyes slid over to Robert when she said that of their own accord and her smile quivered a little.

Dawin drew in a breath, at that, with his eyebrows knitting and his eyes narrowing, thinking it over. Rather a deep piece of advice, it seemed: what would it hurt to try it? Well, it could result in uncomfortable groping -- but that didn't sound like something Angus would do, would it? Or it could count as leading on, but again, Angus. Dawin thought that Angus would bounce back in a matter of moment, if it even hit him hard.

"...I don't know." There was still just a twinge of reluctance to it, Dawin chewing on the thoughts, sliding toward traitorous. Even if it wasn't really a...a date, or courting, or whatever it might be, they could go out to dinner. They'd done that before, hadn't they? "Would I have to dress up?"

"Hm. Well you could probably look a little nicer than the ordinary. Angie always looks his best, you know." It was a thoughtless comment that wasn't meant to injure, but it came out sounding a little nastier than she had intended. Julia didn't notice.

"But you'll have fun! If you're really nervous just tell him to take it slow."

"...uh huh. Alright." Poor Dawin still looked bewildered, blinking across at Julia for one more moment; did he have anything else he needed to ask? No, that about covered it. He'd just have to find someone to dress him up, or perhaps risk doing it himself. Gold eyes shot briefly onto Robert again, to his food, and then back to Julia.

"Thanks, then." Lame, a bit awkward: that was normal, though. He just shrugged at her, offered a nervous sort of smile.

Julia stared at him, unsure. "Are...are you alright though? You should be excited about this! Dates are fun!" She smiled at him, worried expression still in place.

"Dunno." That could have been a cool 'dunno' -- it could have been casual, dismissive, a 'no big deal' instead of baffled and accompanied by a shrug. But this was Dawin. It was not cool, in anyway. He took a step back toward the table. "Never been on one before."

"Well...I'm sure you'll be fine..." Julia still didn't sound sure of herself. "Would you like to sit with me and Robert for the rest of the meal? He wont stop talking about locks... it's driving me mad."

"I -- ah." He blinked, eyebrows knitting together as he looked Robert over. His lunch was still there, of course, and he actually felt hungry now that the tension had faded out of the pit of his stomach. Dawin nodded, shrugged at her, willing to stand on point if she needed to him.

Not, of course, that he could keep Robert from going on about locks. The problem was, Dawin might even be interested in all the talk, and poor Julia would be left with two boys intensely focused on an incredible boring subject, instead of one.

Julia, of course, had no way of knowing this. She pulled him back to the table and sat down, briefly touching Robert's hand. It was a seemly display of affection. Her fiance turned and smiled. He was an average looking boy, with thick eyebrows and a long face that seemed to ooze intellectualism.

"Good day-- Dawin, was it? Robert Downing, at your service. " He seemed amiable enough, although he stared at Dawin a little longer than necessary, and moved his arm to circle Julia's waste. She blushed, and looked away, embarrassed.

Dawin was oblivious, absent, mostly focused on eating his food -- and if Julia had been looking for reprieve, she wouldn't get it. He wanted to know about locks, and if Robert paused for breath, he'd find an awkward segway into conversation about airships instead. She was not saved from a boring conversation about locks, but ended up trapped in two conversations about highly technical and extremely boring Boy Things until dinner came to a close.

((EoTed?))