In a little dash of mercy, the rest of the afternoon was not an upheavel-laden affair. Once Rhonda's belongings had been unloaded - with her most precious personal effects neatly locked away, secured with a magically-reinforced lock courtesy of Sofia - the next hour or two saw her heading around campus to get a feel for her new routine. Determining the routes between classes and her her dorm room, and other important places such as the cafeteria and various restrooms, really was the main thing. She'd been careful in selecting classes to pick out places that one didn't need to access by use of some mystical gateway or teleportation spell, and verifying that she hadn't made a mistake in that regard was crucial. Sofia had made it clear that she wouldn't have the time to come and shatter the barrier between dimensions every day just so that Rhonda could head to her chemistry class.
She had the routes figured out sooner than expected, allowing her an extra couple of hours to kill before she'd have to head to bed. The latina's first thought, naturally, was to hang out with Sofia - that was kind of their mutual default choice when there was time to kill. Tonight, however, she had actual concerns to attend to. She really did need to get familiar with her dormmates... or at the very least, she needed to make sure they weren't going to start casting random crap on Rhonda in her sleep. It went without saying that she trusted Abigail about as far as she could throw her... and while she had seemed to make a positive first impression on Emma, or Lichi, or whatever she was going to call her, experience had taught Rhonda that 'magic powers' plus 'grand ego' equaled 'unpredictable as hell'. Had to keep an eye on that one.
Neither was a challenge she found herself terribly enthused to take on right now... fortunately, another option presented itself as she was heading back to her room. Even among the crowds of girls going to and fro in the school's halls, and even from behind, it was hard to miss May. The clearly-eccentric girl's hair was genuinely unique, a true accomplishment that stood out among the countless girls with pastel-dyed hair and 'wild and crazy' styles that Rhonda had seen a hundred other witches sporting who all thought they were special too. No, that weird, uneven, burned-at-the-tip look stood out, catching the young lady's eye as she walked past. It spoke of a girl who was probably much more intriguing than most of the students she would run into... and that was before taking into account the other factors, such as the rather plump, heart-shaped one positioned just below where her shirt and a battered vest full of tools ended.
Equally intriguing was what she currently seemed to be doing. Rhonda's gaze finally trailed away from May's posterior on realizing that the girl, with a nearby toolbox open to reveal a mess of mundane and magic implements, was doing something to one of the water fountains. That one of the students had decided to go ham on the fountain was almost as strange as the fact that they even had water fountains with a student body who should have all been able to create magical water on demand. A benefit for girls who lacked talent with conjuration, she supposed, and a benefit she would never complain about.
Curiousity aroused, she moved past a gaggle of giggling gals to approach the industrious blonde, greeting her with a softly-spoken question as she tried to peek over the girl's shoulder to see what she was up to. "Hey... May, right? What ah.... what have you got there?"
Instantly May spun around, Rhonda's eyes trailing down for a moment to her considerable chest as its mounds bounced at the sudden movement. It briefly occurred to the latina that all the stimulation feeding her more hormonal side might be a mixed blessing here. "That's me!" She replied cheerfully, pulling down her goggles, "Rhonda, Sofia's buddy, I remember you! Oh, you have good timing actually! Can you hold something for me real quick?"
Odd request, but she shrugged. "Uh... alright." She stepped closer to the fountain, finding that May had apparently pulled the whole bowl and end of the faucet off, revealing the collection of plumping underneath.... along with a whole bunch of other random, weird mechanical parts that she was pretty certain didn't normally belong in a fountain. "What's... all this for, exactly?" She asked as she took a firm grasp of the wrench that May gestured to.
"Oh this is one of my projects - simple thing, but I think it's cool!" As Rhonda held the wrench and the hose it was grasping in place, May hurried to hooking up a few other connections, rushing through attaching various components as she explained further. "Y'see, most of the vending machines here, they get kind snippy, right? 'Cause of the enchantments, they're all alive to make things convenient, but they'll get all catty about what you order, and they'll call you a fatso for asking for a soda even though you're a growing girl who needs the calories and yeah you're a little overweight but as soon as you hit that growth spurt you've got coming you're gonna bloom nicely!" She didn't linger on that bit long enough for Rhonda to ponder how personal May's tone had briefly become. "But you know what doesn't get catty at you? A computer! Not unless you program it to but you can just not do that and bam!"
Rhonda blinked rapidly a few times. "Uh... yeah, that sounds... about right."
"Course it does! So what we've got here, see, it's got all the magical vending machine parts - you've got your self-restoring beverage packs, and the enchanted dispenser, and all that. But!" She pointed to a mess of electronics jammed into one section of the fountain's stand. "Computer control, with an electronic mystical interface device I made myself! Even got some magical voice recognition installed! You tell it what you want, and bam, you get it, all without the fountain bitching about your weight.
May was beaming with pride as she explained things, and Rhonad had to admit, it was clever in its own way. She'd dealt with sentient objects before, the prospect of being able to utilize their magical benefits without having to endure their unwaveringly grating personalities was pretty cool. "Huh. I like it." She smiled and nodded. "Why are you doing it with a water fountain, though, and not one of the vending machines?"
Waving that Rhonda could let go of the wrench, May rolled her eyes, though it didn't seem as if her annoyance was directed at the other teenager. "Ohhhh, I tried, but you can't find a single machine at this school that isn't alive and cranky. So, this is my proof of concept!" She quickly secured the bowl and the faucet once more, returning the fountain to a functional state. "Go on, test it out! Just ask for your favorite drink!"
Shrugging, she stepped over to the fountain and spoke alound her order for some soda, her favorite brand and flavor. To her surprise, subsequently pressing the button caused the faucet to spew a carbonated brown liquid; a taste quickly confirmed that it was exactly what she had requested. "Oh wow. Nice and cold and fresh, too. That's pretty neat."
The blonde grinned, her cheeks flushing slightly red at the compliment. "You really think so? You don't think it's weird or sick or disturbing at all?"
"Uh... no, of coruse not." She raised an eyebrow slightly. "Why would I?"
She reached back behind her head to rub her neck. "Oh, well... y'know, a lot of witches I know back home, they look at the stuff I do... well, they think using magic with science... it's weird, and gross. And I don't get that, I mean it's just using what you've got available, and heck magic itself is kinda a science when you really think about it, but they don't see it that way. And neither does my mom, or my grandma, and I keep explaining that it's totally fine and combining magic with electronics isn't any different than enchanting a piece of wood, but they don't agree with me and-" She stopped suddenly. "...sorry. I kinda get going sometimes."
"Hey, it's fine. No need to apologize." She had to admit, there was something comforting about knowing that she wasn't the only girl here who was a bit of an outsider. Especially if that girl might be the best tech support on campus. "Listen, anytime you want to ramble about anything, just give me a holler. I'd be happy to listen."
"You mean that?" She moved forward excitedly, causing another series of jiggles in the other part of her body that Rhonda would've been happy to give immense amounts of attention to. "That means a lot! Your friend Sofia, she said you were pretty cool, and I guess she meant it! Thank you thank you thank you!" She surged forward, suddenly throwing her arms around Rhonda in a huge, and causing her chest to squish up against the latina. It was her turn to blush as she returned the hug, more than happy to stay in this position for a little while.
Thankfully, the red coloration faded by the time they pulled apart, and the blonde quickly grabbed a notepad and pen out of her toolbox. "I know we live next door, but if you ever want to ring me up, here you go!" She handed over a sticky note with what Rhonda instantly recognized as a phone number. It took all the effort she had not to make a little celebratory fist pump in response - first day and she already had a pretty girl's number. Abigail aside, maybe luck was on her side after all.
Right. Abigail and Emma. She still figured she ought to go talk to one of them a little bit, if only to get to know the latter a bit better, and to make it further clear to the former that she wouldn't hestitate to kick her skinny rich bitch ass. Although... she had a whole semester to work on that... and right now, there was a girl in front of her who seemed interested in spending time with her. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad to put her roommates aside, just for tonight, in favor of getting acqauinted better with May.