Rain and snacks (open)

Rudy was so bored that he was almost disappointed at the lack of homework his classes had assigned. The weather wasn't helping either-- dark clouds had been building over the course of the afternoon and now made good on their threat of rain. The heavy white noise against the windows was making him sleepy. The student lounge was full of people, and the gym was full of people, and the library was full of people, and Rudy figured that he would be best served by a snack and a long walk through the winding castle corridors. So, armed with a solo cup full of craisins, he set out to explore the massive and unnecessarily complicated building, starting with the top floors and working his way down.

Given that he had heard on multiple occasions that the number of floors in the castle changed depending on the day, Rudy was unsurprised to find himself on the twenty-third floor with no more ascending staircases, when last weekend he distinctly remembered Dunehelden having only eighteen.

Kazari loved heavy rain on a Thursday afternoon. That's when the big picture window on the twenty-third floor appeared, floor to ceiling panels of stained glass that showed the castle skyline on the bottom third, with a starry sky above, starting at royal blue and darkening to navy and finally a rich purple before fading into clear glass at the top third of the image. The massive glass wall was flanked by plush, curved benches in matching purple velvet, and it was on one of these benches that Kazari lounged, watching the clouds roil overhead through the deluge.

She caught the sound of approaching footfalls and lifted her head a bit to look around, not bothering to sit upright.

Rudy turned the corner and was immediately distracted by the huge, gorgeous stained glass window.

And then he was distracted by the girl that was draped over one of the coordinated benches.  He promptly began to choke on the small mouthful of craisins he'd just tipped from his cup and ducked back around the corner to collect himself.  After a few moments, he figured he could present himself as a reasonably put-together young man who didn't choke on handfuls of dried cranberries when suddenly confronted with That Girl That Wore the Flower Crowns and Could Probably Snap His Limbs but He Certainly Wouldn't Mind Because Holy Shit.

"Mrgh."  He grumbled and wiped his chin on his sleeve before sidling back around the corner.  "Is this window always here?"

Kazari pulled herself into a proper sitting position and shook her head as she pulled one of her suspenders back onto her shoulder. "Nah, jus' when it's after classes on a Thursday, and it's rainin'."

She looked the male up and down and arched an eyebrow. "Ey, you're that reindeer kid, yeah? The one that threw my brother in Oakleigh's class."

Rudy was slow to approach.  He chewed carefully on another craisin before deciding that he could handle sitting on one of the benches.  

He blinked when she spoke again.  The only people he had thrown since transferring to Dunehelden were...

Well, there was the ridiculously tall dude the the scars that spoke in cat, and a bear.  The cat-boy didn't look like Flower Crown Pinup Girl at all, but she was built kinda like a teddy bear, he supposed, so maybe the bear was her brother.  

"If it was the grizzly, he rebounded and knocked the wind outta me right after.  So it wasn't that impressive."

He gulped.  "Also my name is Rudy."

"Yeah! 'At's the one." Kazari chuckled and tucked her hair behind her ear. "Listen, you threw Kazuo, and that's impressive in i'self." She stretched out her hand for a congratulatory fist-bump, lips quirked cheerily to one side.

"Ah, nice t'meet you then, Rudy. I'm Kazari."

Liam looked down at the map in his hand, then counted the staircases he'd taken to get here. There shouldn't even BE this many storeys. He looked around again, then headed toward the sound of voices. One of those was familiar, the other wasn't.

He halted in surprise at the sight of the stained-glass window that took up pretty much an entire wall -- Eve's delighted /ooooooh!/ rang in his head. He grinned and waved to Kazari with his free hand, and nodded to the guy with antlers whom he didn't recognize.

Kazari glanced up at Liam's approach and beamed, She jerked her head towards the window in a come and check this out expression and turned her head to smile at Rudy.

"This is my friend, Liam. Wanna meet him?" She knew the reindeer-fae was newer to the castle, in fact he had transferred in just after Halloween if her brother's account was to be believed.

Rudy accepted the girl's fist-bump with the beginnings of a crooked little grin and looked up curiously when she turned her head. He returned the newcomer's nod, and glanced once more at Kazari.

He caught himself staring at her for a second longer than necessary and hurriedly nodded again.

"Liam?" He raised a hand in greeting. "I'm Rudy."

Liam smiled and returned the gesture. "Nice to meet you, Rudy. Don't think I've seen you around here before." Then again, in a place this size, he probably saw new people almost every day.

Rudy shrugged one shoulder. "I don't actually wander the castle much. If I'm not in class I'm in the gym or at work."

Even when he was in amongst other students, he tended to avoid focusing on people. Getting the wrong looks from his peers put him in a bad mood.

Liam nodded. "That's fair. Where do you work? I'm at Deep Treble, myself."

Rudy felt the corner of his lips twitch upwards. Deep Treble had to be a music store. Had to be. He was putting forth far too much willpower to not laugh at the pun.

After taking a long moment to collect himself, pressing his fist to his mouth to do so, he cleared his throat and managed to answer. "The supply and shelter place. I handle most of the bigger animals." He tipped his head at Kazari. "Like griffons. And bears."

As Rudy's mouth twitched, Liam felt a grin coming on and didn't bother stopping it. He raised his eyebrows at Rudy's next words. "Can't say I've been there yet. Sounds exciting." And more than a bit dangerous, but Rudy must be able to handle it if he hadn't been ripped in half by anything yet.

Kazari rolled her eyes and looked at Liam. "It's the same place Sam works at. I dunno if you've met her yet. One of Veronique's collection of fosters."

Liam shook his head. "No, I don't think I have."

Kazari flapped one hand towards him. "Ah, you'll met one of 'em eventually. There's a whole herd."

"Oh?" Liam raised his eyebrows and smiled. "That's kind of her to take them in like that."