Welcome to Gaia! ::

Dmi eyed his company, opening his mouth, but then pausing as the conversation was briefly interrupted by the welcome arrival of food. After thanking the attending waiter, he lifted his fork, but held off on eating immediately in favor of answering. “It can, so far as I have heard,” he said. “The weather here, though, is mild and warm as compared to the north. I have never experienced a winter here, but from what I’ve read or been told, it may do as little as rain, or as much as storm with blizzard conditions. So far, however, I have not seen it get any colder than it is today.”

Which was, in Dmitri’s opinion, barely chilled at all. Of course, his body was not any more especially sensitive to temperature than it was to anything else, and as a litch, his senses were dulled on the whole comparatively, so he imagined Tyas might well have ‘felt’ the weather more than he did. His food, when he took the first bite, was satisfying as ever. He swallowed fully before continuing.

“The university, though, is warmed throughout, so we ought not to have any trouble, at least inside. It is the summer that may grow hot. I assume you are…used to warmer weather, though? Does it storm often in the Above? Or, specifically, your own hometown? My knowledge of geography is, admittedly, bad enough as it is for the Below, and I remember few of your cities without a map.”

“The cold—” ‘…has never bothered me terribly, to be honest. I barely feel it.’ Dmitri debated, and decided against that, “—can cause problems, I suppose. And the on-campus food is nothing to complain about. I am sure it won’t be an issue.” Dmitri had always found a sort of personal peace in the rain, warm or cold, as though nature were shedding its woes and washing the earth clean in the process. It also made for such a subtle, tuneless backdrop to the world, rushing and softly rhythmic, that it was almost a sort of music.

He enjoyed composing to the quiet pitter-patter drumming beats of rain—against windowpane glass, a solid roof, or even just the tarp of a canopy or umbrella.

Though he was full by the end, they ordered dessert because Tyas seemed enthused—as, Dmi was beginning to notice, she was about most things—and it, too, lived up to the standard set by the rest of the place. He didn’t finish. He did have his leftovers packed into a takeaway box to tuck into mini fridge back at the dorm. When they stepped out, however, it was drizzling. He blinked.

A soft, whispering sheet of precipitation so thin, it almost could have been mistaken for fog. He glanced to his company.

“I don’t suppose you have an umbrella?”