Clumsy is as clumsy does (Gaston Jr.)

[Dusty Fae]

Dusty frowned as she looked around. It seemed that all the posters she'd created had been ripped down off the wall. Her black boots were toe to toe with one of the posters that had been ripped into 5 pieces. Why would someone do that?

She knelt and picked up the pieces of the poster. She wished she had tape to put it back together again. She wished she knew who had done this to her poster. Though she reckoned that wouldn't matter. They wouldn't appreciate a scolding.

She stood and as she did another student knocked into her shoulder. Dusty's bag fell off get shoulder as she dropped the pieces of the poster and her books skittered across the hall. Dusty scrambled trying to get all of her things before other students trampled all over them.

[Gaston Jr]

Gaston Jr had been looking for Eddie and he had been looking for Eddie in something of a hurry. He had mentioned to Nancy that he was often found in the comic book store but he wanted to catch him first. After all, what kind of friend would he be if he did not give his friend a heads up? Also…maybe…he might tell him about Nancy and maybe he wouldn’t be interested. Which would obviously be a shame for Nancy because Eddie is a great guy but…then…that would mean…that she wasn’t dating Eddie and could maybe…date…someone…else.

He was hurrying down the corridor, not looking where he was going when he bumped into someone.

“Oops! Oh! Sorry, oh gods, I’m so sorry, here, let me help with that,” said Gaston Jr, crouching down and helping her pick up the pieces of paper that she had dropped, “I’m so, so sorry...oh…are…are these posters yours?”

A piece of it still had some writing on them but he had seen others like it around the school.

[Dusty Fae]

Dusty grabbed her books quickly and stuffed them back into her bag. She looked at the boy who had bumped her, trying to smile a bit. "It's alright." Such an apology wasn't necessary. He'd only bumped her. No harm done after all. She took the pieces of paper from him and put those in her bag too. She didn't know what she was going to do with it, but she didn't want to throw it out. She'd spent a long time working on them. She was trying to find the boy.

"Yeah, they're mine. I'm trying to find someone," she told this boy. He wasn't the boy she was looking for unfortunately, but that was alright. She reckoned she'd find him eventually. The school couldn't be that big. "I don't know why anyone would rip up my poster though."

[Gaston Jr]

“People here can be real jerks,” said Gaston Jr sympathetically, “especially when it comes to posters. I once put up a poster for a D&D club I was starting up and well…yeah…similar sort of thing happened.”

He smiled at her and said, “well…as an apology for bumping in to you how about I help you put a few more of these up around the school? Or, keep an eye out for whoever it is that you are looking for? Maybe if you give me a description of what they look like?”

He looked back down at the poster as he waited to see if she would accept her help and then added, “Did…did you put your name and contact number on it? Just so that they could get in touch if they saw the poster?”

[Dusty Fae]

Dusty shrugged. It weren't any different than being at home. People there were mean for no reason too. Or at least, some of them. But a few rotten apples spoiled the barrel. "That's too bad. Did you get people for your club anyhow?"

Dusty returned the smile. "I'd appreciate if you'd keep an eye out for him. He's about so tall," she reached her hand out to measure approximately. He'd been on skates after all making him taller. "He's got black curly hair and he talks a lot. He mentioned Star Wars if you know anything about that. He was real nice, but kinda clumsy. He told me he's bad at everything, but I don't think a person could be bad at everything."

Dusty hadn't put her name or contact information on the poster and she was suddenly embarrassed by it. That would have been the smart thing to do. "Er, well, no. I didn't. I must have forgotten than bit."

[Gaston Jr]

“Oh yeah, I got the club,” he said proudly, “I mean, it was mostly just the people I tend to hang out with anyway, but the game was good at least, still going on actually. If it’s something you might be interested in there’s always room for another player!”

Gaston Jr was always more than happy to induct those with an interest into the fine art of table top role playing games. In fact, he was happy to induct anyone into the world of geekdom if they wanted too. He wasn’t too sure that it would be this girls thing, but hey, it never hurt to ask.

When she gave him the description of the person she was looking for he started to piece things together, “dark curly hair…talks about star wars…clumsy…wait a minute…I think I know exactly who that is. I think that’s my mate, my best mate, Eddie. Eddie Locksley. He loves Star Wars and he’s very clumsy.”

Grinning happily he said, “and I guess you don’t need to worry about him getting in touch with you, I could probably take you to him right now. He’ll probably be at Todd’s Comic Book store.”

He looked at her quizzically and said, “before I take you to him though, I don’t mean to be rude, but…why is it you’re looking for Eddie?”

It could be that this girl might just be interested in his friend, which would be great for so many reasons, however…she might also be looking for Eddie because in true Eddie fashion he might have upset her in some way…and he was going to protect his friend, no matter what…

[Dusty Fae]

Whatever D&D was it was a game. Well it was nice that everything worked out. The invitation took her a bit by surprise though. "Oh, well that's awful nice of you but I don't exactly know what D&D is. Besides being a game but you just mentioned that." Games were fun, but games here were probably different than games back home.

Dusty grinned when the boy seemed to know the boy she was looking for. "Eddie?" she asked. "Eddie Locksley. He has a nice name. Wait, right now?" she asked. She hadn't expected to find the boy, Eddie, so soon. And she didn't have to work for a while so that would be fine. "I'd like to go meet him right now if you don't mind."

Dusty didn't know quite what to make of that question. That seemed very suspicious especially considering the trouble she had gone to to find Eddie. She faltered for a moment, thrown off. "Because he was gonna show me Star Wars, but when we met the other day we forgot to exchange names or contact information. And he was nice," she explained.

[Gaston Jr]

“Ah, well, D&D is a game where you come up with a character and then you give them all these special stats like Wisdom and Charisma and-…” he started, no, this was the problem last time, stick to the basics, “basically you and your friends pretend to be other people whilst one of them tells the story and then you decide if actions or decisions they make are successful or not by rolling the dice.” No wait, too boring, more detail, “it has dragons in it.” Better.

However he was aware that the young girl wasn’t really interested in D&D. No apparently she was interested in his good friend Eddie. He grinned as she said he had a nice name, that was good to hear, people were always so down and mean about Eddie, he would have loved to have heard that a pretty girl like this liked his name. “Yes, right now, if you like?” said Gaston Jr, starting to get a bit excitable.

This girl liked Eddie, he had to like her. His jaw dropped when she mentioned that he was going to show her Star Wars…he must really like her. He felt a twinge of guilt when he realised that this would mean that Nancy didn’t have a chance with him now, not if he was going to show this girl Star Wars, but then…that opened…a few other doors…

“That’s…that’s great,” he said grinning and then held out his hand, “I’m Gaston Jr, have I said that already? I’m Eddie’s best friend and emotional guide. I just had to make sure you weren’t going to mean to him, lots of people are mean to Eddie and I mean to put a stop to it.”

[Dusty Fae]

Dusty wasn't sure what to think of this game. It sounded like charades, but harder? She didn't really understand the part about the dice. She shrugged. She really had no idea what to think about that. "Dragons sound fun," she told him. He obviously loved this game, whatever it was.

She smiled a bit shyly. "I'd like to go now. If you don't mind that is. If you ain't busy." She was excited to see Eddie again. He'd been so nice the other day and she had wished she'd had more time to talk to him. Though this time she wouldn't be cold which would be nice.

Dusty took the hand he offered with a smile. "I'm Dusty. I think Eddie mentioned you briefly when we met. I don't know why people would be mean to Eddie. He's so nice."

[Gaston Jr]

“I know right?” said Gaston Jr in agreement, “just because he’s a little clumsy sometimes people just think they can walk all over him and call him names and it won’t mean anything. I hate it, and I don’t stand for it. I especially intend on making sure that his older brother Richard is aware that now that Eddie is here that sort of attitude is not going to go around unchallenged.”

“Then we can go now then,” he said happily, “I will gladly take you to Mr Locksley.”

He held his arm to her like one of those gentlemen in those old period dramas that he knew Tristian loved and would sometimes watch with him when no one else was about. It was a polite thing to do after all, Dusty was a lady after all and he had always been taught to respect ladies, just like they were in the Summer Country.

“Shall we my lady?”

[Dusty Fae]

Dusty's heart went out to Eddie. She knew what it was like to be called names. It didn't feel good. Maybe that was part of the reason that Eddie had felt like he was terrible at everything. "That's terrible. I don't have any siblings but I'd feel just awful if my older brother were mean to me. I'm glad Eddie's got friends to stick up for him."

For Dusty taking a gentleman's arm was fairly normal behavior. Dust was basically right out of one of those period dramas. So she took Gaston's arm with a smile and a nod. "Please, lead on."

[Gaston Jr]

Gaston Jr started to walk down the corridor with her and started to say, “I’ve been sticking up for Eddie for as long as I’ve known him. He’s a great guy, I don’t know why anyone would be so mean to him either. He’s got my back too though, I know that for sure, it’s funny, it always seems to be easier to stick up for someone else…”

The same people that were often cruel to Eddie hurled similar insults his way, but he tended to just brush it off and ignore it, however when they turned on Eddie, well, that was a different matter. No one talked to his friend like that, not ever.

“So…Eddie gave you his gloves did he?” said Gaston Jr, “that was nice of him, what were you doing?”

[Dusty Fae]

Dusty was glad that Eddie had such a good friend to stick up for him. And it was nice that he did the same in return. It definitely seemed to be the case that defending someone else was easier than defending yourself. "I think its easier to see other people and overlook their faults than it is to do with yourself which makes it easy to stick up for other people. It's easier to be kinder to other people than it is to be kind to yourself."

She had found that that was often the case. Her momma had told her that too. Being kind to yourself was something you had to practice because it weren't easy.

Dusty blushed at the mention of the gloves. "Er, yeah, he let me borrow them, but I cain't tell you why. It's a secret. I swore I wouldn't tell and I cain't break a promise." She shrugged. "It ain't my secret to tell."

[Gaston Jr]

So Eddie had a secret did he? A secret that Gaston Jr did not know but this girl whom he assumed Eddie had just met, did. He was trying very hard not to feel a little put out about that. He was Eddie’s best friend, surely if Eddie had a secret then Gaston Jr would know about it, he couldn’t think about any secrets he had kept from Eddie. So why would he keep something from him?

“Oh I see, well yes, that’s good,” said Gaston Jr, trying to cover up his disappointment, “that’s very kind of you, and good too.”

Gloves, what would he need gloves for. He wanted to probe more but Dusty had made it quite clear that she had no intention of passing on what the two of them had been doing that had for some reason involved gloves. “So where did you two lovebirds meet?”

[Dusty Fae]

Dusty saw something on Gaston's face. She couldn't tell what it was, but there was something. She wondered if it was just that he wanted to know the secret. Dusty didn't know how to tell him that she wasn't supposed to know either. She'd just stumbled across it by mistake. But that might reveal part of the secret so she didn't want to say anything, just in case. Eddie had sworn her to secrecy.

Dusty lifted one shoulder in a half shrug. "I don't break promises." She learned that a long time ago. Everybody had secrets after all. Wouldn't do anyone any good if went around blabbing them.

Dusty let out an involuntary squeak at being called 'lovebirds'. Then she flushed deeply. She was pretty sure her face was on fire. "We are not lovebirds," she said, completely mortified by the idea. She liked Eddie. He seemed real nice and sweet, but she hadn't even known his name until 5 minutes ago. "We hardly even know each other. He doesn't even know my name."