Dawin wasn't due to leave for Vienda until mid-to-late afternoon, which meant the morning was his to do with what he would. Apparently, that meant setting up on the stairs to the dorm with a handful of technical manuals about airships, two books about pirates, and one about human weaponry, just out of sheer fascination and curiosity. Tucked between them, a carefully printed letter, folded into a neat little rectangle.

His intent had been to wait for Angus. The older boy had said that he went out running in the mornings, every morning, and while Dawin wasn't sure if this applied during vacation, he'd decided to give it a go. Unfortunately, he'd gotten caught up in all his books and studies. Twenty minutes later, he was rapidly filling the page with a detailed diagram of an A-93 aeroship in flight. He sat sprawled across his notebook, head mostly down and tipped to the side to study his reference, with his left hand moving in slow, precise little curves to get the nose of the vehicle exactly right.

An aeroship probably could have crashed in front of him, and he wouldn't have noticed. The school could have exploded.

Angus was dripping with sweat by the time he made it back to the dorm. Sure, last night hadn't been as big a party for him as he'd anticipated. Sure, the lovely Prof. Moore had stalked off away from him after ignoring him a little bitty bit in favour of Athrym "Your Ass Is Mine" Bruthgrave. Sure, he'd undone hair ribbons, thereby damaging his developing sense of adult masculinity forever (or at least a week) but at least he'd helped little Stephanie out of a bind. He was just a bit miffed that he had gone to bed sober on St. Grumbles.

It was just... a pathetic way to go to sleep on a holiday.

It was sunny out that morning, so he'd taken his normal run and then extended it around as much of the grounds as he could handle. He'd gone past the athletics oval, the football pitch, the dormitories and even near the Arts building. He wasn't sure he felt entirely better but it was certainly invigorating. He caught sight of Dawin just as he was slowing down.

"Hello... Dawin." Angus said, panting, jogging up the steps to grab a bottle of water he'd hidden earlier. "How's it?"

Angus walked down the steps again, stopping in front of Dawin and beginning to stretch, he didn't want to get a stitch later. He stood on the lowest step, allowing his heels to dip down so his calves could stretch.

It took Dawin a couple seconds to register the voice, the shifting shape in front of him. He'd been painstakingly duplicating the shape of the rudder in the back of the ship, the sloping back of a delicate piece of wood, with fine lines down its surface to clearly demonstrate the way it curved against the wind. What could compare to that, really? It was probably his name that snapped his attention upwards, eyes landing uncomprehendingly on Angus for a moment before he realized what he was looking at.

Then there was the baffled edge of a flush, a puzzled twist to his eyebrows, and a furtive look around to see if anyone else was watching this. He had to clear his throat as he looked back to Angus, to catch his voice and...and, well, straighten himself all out.

"O-oh, I was...um. I was worried you might have left already." Was that casual? Probably not; it came off more squeaked than careless, his eyes following the way Angus bobbed as he stretched. "But you haven't."

Genius.

Angus had noticed that Dawin seemed to be a nervous sort of fellow but he felt it was rude to comment.

"Not yet! I don't think we're heading out until the afternoon. I haven't checked whether Nauleth made it back to his dorm..." Angus realised what this implied. "Not that he wouldn't have, he is a party animal, that old Naul."

Angus fumbles the ball, he recovers!

Angus switched to stretching his hamstrings.

"So, what are you making there?" He asked, looking over Dawin's model inquisitively. "Thanks for being such a good sport with Stephanie the other night, the younger forms don't get as much attention as they need, I don't think."

Angus had often wondered if there shouldn't be more mentoring going on between the younger and older students. It had to be hard for a lot of them, being so far from their families for the first time. Angus had barely noticed at first but he was of a very independent mind and his folks had sent him seventy million care packages, so he'd felt loved.

Dawin's instinct, at the mention of what he was working on and the flick of a look toward his notebook, was to wriggle his arm in over the page to hide the complicated technical drawing, to cover his lines with one spread palm. He caught himself just before he would have smudged the drawing, flushing just a little and shrugging at Angus with that same faux-confidence. His shrug was meant to say 'oh, nothing, just a thing', but instead it looked a bit like he'd lost control of his arms.

Then his face lit up, eyes widening, and he closed the book, wriggling fingers into his stack of belongings to pull out the careful, neat little envelope and hold it out to Angus. "Uhm. Here's our address in Vienda, if, you know, you're in the area. Or. Yes."

Charming, right? He cleared his throat and dragged up a careful little smile. "Your choice, but this way you can find it."

Angus pouted a little, genuinely interested in whatever it was Dawin was doing. It looked like it involved shaping things and putting them together. Angus quite liked working with his hands, though there was hardly any call for it given his social status.

"Oh, great, thanks Dawin! I'll be sure to come visit." Angus' smile lit up again and he took the envelope. "Is there any time that suits you better?"

he tucked it into his pocket, moved down the steps to level ground and started a new stretch. He placed the soles of his feet together and tugged them towards his groin, trying to keep his knees down.

"I'd tell you Nauleth's address but I can't remember it, I'll be staying with him over the holidays." Angus said, still jovial. "Do you know him? My age, white streak in his hair?"

((Any and all innuendo is intentional.))

Dawin had brightened at Angus's smile, at his cheer, infectious as it was, and in response he'd slid down several steps to be closer. Not stretching, no, instead he sat curled with his arms around his knees and just watched Angus, the very edges of a smile playing around his own mouth...

Until Angus mentioned the white streak. He really could only think of one boy with a white streak, and the thought wilted his expression some. Gone brittle. Nervous. "...eighth year?"

If he was right, there may have been an unfortunate interaction or two in the past, yes, and the memory not exactly pleasant. He wasn't sure he wanted to confirm, so he trotted into a change of subject almost immediately. "You're not staying with your parents?"

"Yes, same as me, our rooms are down the hall from each other." Angus caught Dawin's apprehension. "Oh, has he given you a hard time? He went through a bit of a phase... He's pretty much out of it now though. If he gives you any trouble tell me, I'll get him to back off."

Angus meant it. Naul was his best friend but best friends knew when to set each other straight.



"My parents are away." Angus explained, now ceasing to stretch altogether and just leaning back, relaxed. "I could stay with my brother but he just got married. Don't want to crash his love nest... and he's so boring these days! If there's a rule he'll refuse to bend it."

Angus looked as though this was a great and terrible tragedy.

"Maybe we should organise a day to meet, unless you don't mind me just dropping in one day? I can ask your mum when you'll be in!" Angus continued.

Dawin thought that, maybe, Angus had just seen a different side of Naul -- like, perhaps, the side that was scared of people who were bigger and stronger than him. Or maybe just the side that respected people who bubbled over with self confidence, the way Angus so clearly did. However, he kept these potentially damning thoughts to himself. He liked Angus, really, and didn't want to put his foot too terribly in his mouth.

So he just nodded. Agreeable. He could avoid Naul, in the meanwhile.

"...I will be home. The whole time, probably." He pulled a face with this last, shoulders hiking in a sharp, embarrassed shrug. "Home or at the shop, either way I'll be going out of my mind."

That was as close as Dawin would come to saying 'stop by anytime' or 'invite me out' or 'SAVE ME.' He shook his head, forced a smile. "Writing, maybe."

Angus' normal smile became suddenly brighter, not at the thought of Dawin being a picture of quiet desperation but rather the thought of him writing.

"You'll have to show me your new works, when I see you!" He said enthusiastically, pouring a bit of water onto his head to wash off some of the sweat. He was looking rather flushed now, though he hadn't immediately after finishing his run. "I promise to stop by all the time, get you out of the house. There's not too much to do in Vienda, sadly but where there's a will and all that."

Angus stood up, raising his hands above his head and making a pleased sound. He looked a bit messy, all things considered. His shorts were dirty and his shirt was almost too old to wear. He seemed more comfortable this way than he did in his uniform. Under his fashion consciousness lurked an apparent serenity in just being comfortable.

"Mind wishing me luck? I'll be spending a few houses on a carriage ride with Athrym Bruthgrave, since she and Naul are engaged. She's not very happy with me. I barged in on a... moment, a while ago." Angus chuckled. "Girls really don't like it when you do that. Especially not when you do a little dance, like I did."

Angus laughed some more, sincerely hoping that Naul's fondness for him would save him from impending doom. Athrym had given him socks, surely that was a good sign!

Yellow eyes followed Angus's movements with a steady sort of fascination. For his own part, Dawin looked about the same in and out of uniform: stiff, slouched, awkward, uncomfortable with his height and a little uneasy in his own skin. He seemed, in fact, rather like a smaller person wearing a giant Dawin suit, who wasn't quite sure what all the buttons did or how to move it right...

He had to clear his throat, scratching at the side of his knee and focusing on the words out of Angus's mouth to keep his mind from wandering off. His response was an immediate, enthusiastic bob of his head. Luck, indeed. "W-well, no, I guess they don't. Most people don't."

Loosely, perhaps, Dawin had heard some things about Athrym. Several years older, but she was rather central in quite a few out there rumors at the moment, which garbled together seemed to imply she'd gone cavorting in the Stacks, gotten knocked up, gotten engaged, gotten married, gotten an abortion, dropped out of school, begged to get back into school...he managed a little smile at Angus and just didn't ask. Surely celebrities would rather be left alone.

"You'll do fine. I don't think anyone could stay angry at you."

"This is true..." Angus capitulated.



Angus actually reddened a bit more at this. He grinned, widely, teeth flashing. Angus had nice teeth. He rubbed the back of his head, something Dawin would come to recognise as an indication that he was feeling bashful.

"Awww, you think?" He said, enjoying the compliment, Angus wanted to be a nice person but sometimes he felt he was just a bit too exuberant. "Naww..."

Angus gave Dawin a warm look before wiping his forehead with his wrist and looking about for a clock.

"Say, have you got the time? I think I need to clean up a bit." Angus shrugged his shoulders apologetically. "I hate to go but... see you in Vienda? I won't lose your address."

Dawin all but bounced to his feet, floundering around into his pocket to pull out the somewhat-scarred but well-kept pocketwatch his father had given him. It wasn't exactly pretty, no, but it did tell the time, and that was what a pocket watch was for.

"Ah, it's...yes, you should probably...I mean, I don't want you to, or anything, but..." He stared at the watch for a moment, and then up at Angus, more than just a little bit flustered now. Dawin tucked the watch away and snatched up his books under one arm, several terrible character drawings sticking out of the top of his book, and then hesitated.

"I'll see you, anyway." Then, gods help him, he kicked out a bow, awkward and gawky and a little crooked. Graceless.

Angus kept grinning lopsidedly.

"Yeah, I don't really want to go either, you're fun to talk to." He said.



Angus bowed a little as well, wondering if Dawin just wasn't at home with all the rigid social structures of Brunnhold. Angus seemed to thrive within them but he exploited the system. Dawin's awkwardness was charming.

"Yeah, you too, Dawin. Take care!" Angus patted him on the shoulder and then disappeared into the dorm.

It was less discomfort with the system and more discomfort with his own shape and self. Dawin straightened to watch Angus go, blowing out a nervous sort of breath and relaxing by inches. This was, really, the best way to go about it. Angus could come if he really wanted to, a pleasant sort of rescue, but if he changed his mind and didn't end up stopping by it would be no skin off either of their backs.

No stress. Right? Right. The best way for it to be. Even if Dawin wondered nervously, as he headed upstairs, if he should have specified a date and time, to settle things more solidly in stone.

Oh well.