brunchin' forward

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After the oh so maybe awkward confrontation, Alicia found herself trekking, with a bit of an skip in her step, rather quickly through the corridors to the nearest study. The warmth of the fireplace drawing her near, captivating her so as her reptile senses sought the hot air as a much needed comfort zone.

She sat down almost triumphantly on one of the large couches, making herself comfortable with any throw pillow that were nearby, propped her legs up and held the bowl of apples above her stomach. Taking one with her right hand she took a bite and savoured the sweet crunchy fruit, some juice ran down her chin but she ignored it and continued munching.

Audi was making full use of the privacy of the studies. She was sitting behind one of the couches, back against its back, her current project in her lap. She was lucky enough to find a torn pair of jeans in one of the trash cans, and while the fabric was too worn to be useful, she recycled the zipper and was now adding it to one of her numerous vests. Fingers that could seem grubby at first sight moved quickly and deftly as the sewing needle dipped in and out of the purple cloth.

Their movement stopped at the sound of somebody walking in. Audi tilted her head, listening. She would have stayed where she was, not really all that keen on company while she was working, but the sound of the juicy crunch made her mouth water. In a jiffy she put the item of clothing aside and turned around, hooking her sharp claws into the back of the sofa and ascending it in seconds to pop over the top all of a sudden, look around like a perching eagle, then focus her gaze on the figure sitting in the next couch over. Audi narrowed her eyes. Apples.

Alicia flinched visibly, apple mid bite, she coughed slightly choking on apple juice. The fit of coughs passed as she leaned forward and stood up. Sky blue eyes wide she stared at the rat person perched on the couch nearby giving a questioning look along the lines of "what are you, what are you doing, geez oh you gave me a heart attack" but she opted for "uh...hello?"

Audi planted her feet on top of the sofa's back and started crouching down in preparation to jump. She was going to pounce the girl and wrestle her playfully for the apples, just like she would do with a clanmate that had a treat she wanted. Swiveling her head, she calculated the distance, and was just about to spring as she was spoken to. Immediately, she deflated, reminded that this was something that you weren't supposed to to with humans, and she tilted her head forward and looked to the girl from under her eyelashes in a somewhat shy or embarrassed manner.
"Hello." she said quietly, then slunk down onto the couch and sat down on it cross-legged, glancing to the apple and swallowing.

Her demeanour relaxed as she saw the rat person sit "m-my name's Alicia" she uttered then nodded her head whilst bending her knees as some kind of curtsey in Audi's direction. "what's your's?" She saw that Audi kept looking at the apples so she placed the bowl on the table in front of her, pushed it forward slightly to show she was offering them then sat back down, continuing with eating her own apple.

She cocked her head. "Audi." Was the girl giving her the apples? Suddenly, she was Audi's new best friend.
Her ears perked up as she quickly rose to all fours. Eyes locked on the bowl of apples, she recoiled slightly, then sprung out leaping from the couch to the table. Unfortunately, she overestimated the furniture's stability, and as she landed heavily on one edge of the table the other flew up into the air, catapulting the fruit and flipping over the ratgirl. She fell butt-first to the floor and covered her head, expecting the table to crash onto her any moment now... but after a bit of wobbling, it settled onto its side, supported by one set of legs. Audi, however, saw nothing of it as she still had her eyes tightly shut and her arms over her head.

For the second time Alicia practically flew upwards, she dropped her apple waving her hands in a fluster and quickly moved to Audi's side "a-a-are you okay?!" Her hands grasped together as she stooped a little to look at the rat person seeing if there were any obvious injuries. "What in the world was she trying to do?" Alicia wondered, then again the creature before her was most certainly not human, leaping on furniture may be normal on some level. Her eyebrows knitted in worry and she contemplated holding out her hand to help Audi up.

Time seemed to stretch on forever as Audi waited for the table to fall, frozen still. The other girl's voice reached her only as a vague echo. After a moment, though, she slowly opened her eyes and blinked.

She was still alive. Nothing had collapsed on her.

Letting out air in a sigh of relief, Audi shook her head, then looked up at the green-haired human. How many were there in the school, seriously? And why only here? She didn't see that many green haired people up until she arrived at the island. Curiosity returning her to her usual liveliness, Audi got up with a bounce, then shot out her hand to run her fingers through the human's hair. Would the odd color make it any different to the touch?

Alicia flinched when Audi reached out and touched her hair, this rat person was certainly unpredictable and getting Alicia's worry meter all up in a ditzy. While she was fine with most physical contact from Lunie in the form of hugs and such, Audi is still in the "verify yourself as a friendly" tier. Even though Audi probably didn't have a relatively high danger aura, it wasn't like Alicia would be able to tell anyway seeing as she lived most of her life away from people. Thus she tended to be on guard unless told/shown otherwise or while she was with someone she trusted who here at the academy is most likely only Lunie.
Her hair was as smooth and soft as a teenager's hair can get (which if unwashed would be greasy but Alicia does like her baths) since it was not in snake form, it had no scaly attribute. "what are you doing?" She questioned with a nervous lopsided smile which showed her fang.

Audi never paid particular attention to what people were saying, unless it was a direct order from somebody she accepted the authority of. It was in her nature of a minion to obey almost reflexively. But the other girl was definitely no such person; and when Audi was fascinated by something, there would be no answering questions from anyone at all, anyway. Alicia's words went in one ear and out of the other.

Audi ran her fingers through the green hair, inspecting it with intent curiosity and even rubbing a strand between her thumb and index finger. It felt just like normal human hair, she concluded, and that was boring. So, her attention was brought to the glasses below instead.

Oooh. Shiny.

Her hand retracted for a moment, as if the examination was over... then quickly shot out to snatch the glasses.

Not quite understanding but not really minding Alicia allowed the hair petting, that is till Audi ceased and reached for her glasses. "stop!" the shout was sharp and startled Alicia even a bit as she fell backwards toppling over in a rather extravagant movement full of hand waving and tripping her own feet. She sat on the ground holding her glasses firmly in place, something she feels she has done a lot since coming to Lillegard. "what is everyone and everything's huge interest in taking my glasses?!" she thought "should i explain why she shouldn't take them? or stonify her and run..." while debating in her head Alicia continued to sit idly on the floor.

Alicia's less-than-graceful escape made Audi flinch and left her with a hand awkwardly hovering in midair. She blinked, stared at the girl for a while, then also sat down on the ground. Okay, then. The glasses were nice and shiny, she could understand why she wouldn't want to part with them. Instead, the ratgirl looked around, then used her tail to sweep a few of the apples within an arm's reach. She picked up one and held it to her mouth in both hands in a very rodent manner, then proceeded to chomp it down, all the while observing the other girl carefully.
From what she knew, humans, being the ever-wasteful creatures that they were, didn't usually eat whatever fell down to the ground. It meant that now all of the apples belonged to Audi. With that in mind, she could forget the glasses, however awesome they seemed. They were, after all, inedible.

It finally came to realisation that the apples had fallen on the floor when Audi picked one up, Alicia tut'd quietly as she sat with her legs in front of her almost like the foetal position. "what a waaaaste" she sighed internally, but Audi seemed happy to have them all so it's okay... plus there's always raiding the kitchen or dining room again.
"sorry for shouting," she muttered, propping her head on her hands she returned Audi's watchful gaze, noting the way she ate the apple rather cute she gave a small smile. "would you like to raid the kitchen with me for more apples or other food when you're done?"

Audi finished the first apple and wiped her mouth off the juice with the top of her hand. She wasn't really hungry, to be honest, but the fruit was delicious. She grabbed another one.

She sat there in silence for a moment, still staring at Alicia as she consumed the second apple. As she was actually paying attention for a change, she considered the question and her gaze slid to the floor. Would she? It was tempting, but... she had work to do... She stuffed the remains of the apple into her mouth, her cheeks filling up like a hamster's and she got up to trot back behind the couch where she left her handiwork. After a moment, she emerged again, and approached the girl slowly and a bit tentatively. She held out the vest towards her to show it as a way of explanation.

"Busy." she said.

This was one of the few times that she had ever shown her creations to anybody before they were finished, so she felt a bit uneasy and she glanced off to the side to avoid Alicia's eyes.

For a second Alicia had thought the rat girl was leaving her, she was a bit miffed to not even get a goodbye and proceeded to get up yet Audi returned. Her eyes lit up "oh wow you made this? she clasped her hands together and grinned "that's really neat, I'm only able to knit simple things..."

"Maybe next time," she replied as she brushed off her skirt "hope we meet again." Sauntering to the door mildly downcast from having to go away from the warmth of the room, however the odd encounter was interesting and she was happy to make a new albeit strange friend.