Rain, rain, go away (open)

It was only supposed to be an hour long trip. Go into town, get her roots done, and go back to her dorm. But nope! Weather just had to be against Avian that day with pouring rain, whipping wind, and lightning once every ten seconds! She wasn't used to tropical storms so when she saw the clouds forming on her way back to the academy, she thought it wouldn't be a big deal. But when fighting the wind and pelting hail became too difficult, she quickly took cover in a tiny coffee shop. Now she was soaked from head to toe, had lost her favorite sunhat to the wind, and didn't even like coffee!
"There aren't even any pretty birds to look at," Avian mumbled to herself.
She wished their was a species of bird that would come out in the rain. That way, she could have something nice to look at while she was waiting. Avian felt a cold chill go down her spine and she quickly hugged her cold, wet skin. It didn't help that her blue sun dress clung to her skin, making her all the colder. The forecast had been for warm sunny weather, how was she supposed to know a storm would happen? Checking her phone, she saw she had been waiting in the shop for twenty minutes. She groaned in exasperation and laid her head on the table.
"Why can't I just go home already?" she whined quietly to herself.
She tried to run her hands through her snow white hair but it only ended in her fingers getting caught in damp tangles. Oh well, at least her roots were done.

Avian looked up at the stranger standing above her. Although only one of her eyes was visible, it screamed "desperate for warmth". Without a words, he quickly snatched the jacket from him and thrust it on. The jacket smiled nice, but nevertheless, it was a foreign smell of a stranger and unnerved her a little. Her shivering soon subsided and she let herself lean back in her chair. Finally, warmth! What was it with coffee shops and over air conditioning everything even when it was cold outside? The girl realized that he was still standing there.

"Oh, uh...Thank you," she gave him a little smile with her soft voice.

Getting a better look at the boy, she saw that he was...very handsome. Although, in Avian's opinion, he would look ten times better with a raven on his shoulder.

"Y-you can sit down...if you want," she gestured to the second chair at her table.

She wouldn't normally want to socialize with strangers, but since he had been kind to her so far, she figured she would be kind back.

"Who are you? W-what's your name?" she asked, trying to make some form of conversation.

Avian reached out a pale, skinny hand and shook the stranger's hand. Well, the shake was equivalent to a dying fish giving a weak flop, but it was a shake nonetheless. His hand felt warm compared to hers and she would've shaken his hand a little longer for warmth's sake, but again, he was a stranger, so she quickly pulled back.

"Lochlann..." Avian muttered the name over to herself.

It was a Celtic sounding name, one she had never heard before. Then again, she was going to a school for "gifted" children, so strange names were expected.

"Are you a student here?"

"Mhm," she nodded, "I'm Avian...hi. Are you a student too?"

Avian felt a little pleased with herself. She was managing to carry a conversation! Maybe her mom would stop sending letters about "making friends" if she actually made one for once. Lochlann seemed nice enough to be a friend, but then again, Avian was very easily deceived.

"Oh no, I'm warm now because of your jacket," Avian shook her head.

Her hair had started to dry off, making it frizzy and unruly. Her sun dress had also begun to dry out, now only a little damp. When she heard him complain, it seemed to make her light up. Finally, something in common! Step one in a good conversation, find something you have in common with the other person!

"I know how you feel, I didn't want to go to the academy either," Avian sighed, "All I want to do is master my powers, graduate, and go home for a normal college..."

Then the girl stared out the cafe window at the rain which was now falling vertically rather than diagonally with the sinister wind. Still no birds.

"...But I don't think time flies when you're miserable. It only makes things worse. Still, I don't know how to enjoy myself here. I..." Avian suddenly cut herself off.

Oh shoot, I just did a lot of talking!She thought in a panic.

She lost the dreamy look in her sky blue eyes looked submissively down at her lap. Speaking more than a few sentences to someone was new, but to suddenly start spouting some profound message was too far for her! Thank goodness she stopped herself before she got too cheesy!

"So, yeah..." she mumbled, looking down at her twiddling thumbs, "Um...I just want to get my time here over with too...like you,"

What made her so talkative all of a sudden!? Was it the rain? Was it him? The lack of birds?

"I guess there's a big down town, and there's always things going on at the school but, well, maybe it's just me, but it's kind of hard to care about that stuff."

Hard to care about? Maybe Avian didn't like the school very much, but she certainly didn't hold an indifference to it. The bird population was much more diverse than home and there was a beach in walking distance.

"I've lost track. They all sort of blend together. How about you--have you always been a student here?"

Avian's brow rose up. 5 different schools?! And she thought she was bad! She wanted to ask why he changed so many schools, but knew that would probably be a sensitive topic.

"I came here last year, but like this year, I didn't enjoy it very much," Avian replied, "I didn't learn anything really useful either. But this year I'm hoping I can at least gain some control of my powers,"