Is she - yeah, okay, the Indian-looking girl is definitely coming towards Dasha. Looking like that it's a toss-up if the girl will have English or Mandarin or both, but her Mandarin's worse so better start with the English. She sits on the panic and catches the accent on her name before the first syllable is out.

"Hey. I'm Daria Chernova, Kiev."

Oh, an enclave kid after all, though Kiev's not a major one. "Annisa Marunduri, Surabaya. Who's here from Kiev this year?" How big is your enclave and what does it have to offer hangers-on, and also how much does it need them.

"Just me, the rest of my cluster's a year or two younger." Volunteering the size of the group next year looks too much like she has something to prove. (She thinks. Maybe it just makes her look weak? - and she's overthinking it and she can work out if she said something wrong later, when she doesn't need her face smooth and her voice steady). 

just me', resources on the outside but not really on the inside, only technically an enclaver. Maybe looking for allies rather than hangers-on, though freshman year is far too soon for real allies who'd stick out their neck for you because you're part of their long-term big picture plan to survive. 

(Annisa is tempted by a tangent about how clustering wouldn't work in Surabaya, because Indonesia as a whole gets a very limited allotment and if anything you space your kids so they aren't competing directly against each other for slots, but that's too self-pitying,)

"They'd better have some impressive care packages planned." That's a tough position you're in, but also one that suggests you're more useful after this year. If subtext even translates in a language that isn't the first for either of them. Annisa's good at this at home but she's not at home, anymore.

"We don't have everything nailed down yet but they're bringing me an extra power-sharer for sure." Eventually father gave up on trying to teach her the social graces most of her cousins soaked up like a sponge, but this hint isn't hard to miss.

"I do wards, focused on detection lately but the affinity's for most kinds."

"Well that's useful! I do weapons."

"Oh, that's very good too! A lot more offense than I've got, that's for sure."

"Well, I hear you need both. I have an enchanted dagger, and it's much cheaper to kill things with that than to fry them, but I'm risking my arm every time I get close enough to use it."

"I've got a couple poison darts but those are only good for a couple throws each unless you can find refills. But I've got my sleeves if I'm stabbing things," she gestures at the embroidery on her long-sleeved shirt, not quite holding it out for inspection.

Annisa looks a precisely polite amount, which isn't very much. Looking closely at anyone's defenses is looking at their enclaves's close-held secrets, in some ways, and is also mostly useful if you want a way around those defenses. "Refills, is that alchemy?"

"Yep. Enough to slow something down a bit isn't even that expensive, I've got that memorized in case I can find the materials for it."

"What materials? I'll be on the lookout, if you'll trade for some of the poison. Never hurt a knife to also be poison."

"The worst is joro venom, those aren't too rare but you have to kill them in a way that leaves the venom sacs under the head intact."

"I'll keep it in mind. What's your room number, I thought I caught sight of you coming in here."

"263A."

A little bit of a smile probably doesn't make her look like an idiot who thinks they're here to make friends. "I'm 255A. If you watch my back while I check my room after dinner, I'll watch while you check yours."

"Oh, we're right next door. Do you want to disassemble the drawers then too?"

"Yeah. What were they thinking giving us drawers??"

"Maybe the school materialized them so it didn't have to waste energy on anyone who didn't even bother to take them apart. - though there's a lot of mundies this year, I hope someone warns them."

The mundies aren't going to make it even if they get all the good advice in the world but she doesn't say that. "Chicago must've had a lot of slots. I think I've seen more Americans wandering around in street clothes than there were successful applicants in Indonesia." She rolls her eyes, so as to convey that she's not complaining that the system is unfair, not being the kind of person who is stupid enough to think systems might be fair or that other people might be moved by their unfairness. The Americans do stand a better chance, realistically, because they're richer; it makes sense for them to get most of the slots.

"Oh yeah. I guessed ten earlier but I think it must have been more than that, I've seen five at least and I haven't looked over nearly half the crowd yet. There was some girl in pajamas who was smart enough to go and hook a New Yorker first thing, I guess if he ends up sticking around she'll do all right."

"I saw that. Who knew that the best strategy for seducing New Yorkers was to come in in pajamas and give them tearful hugs. In two years everyone'll be doing it. I worry that even if he sticks around, she'll be out of her depths the first time something gets into her room. ...maybe he's in the market for an idiotproof dagger for her, I've got one of those."

She snorts. "If you end up asking let him know I've got some wards for trade, I've got one that'll even color-code the mals for her. Mostly useful for noticing psychics but it wasn't actually hard to build in some other details once I had that down." It probably isn't necessary to say she'll owe Annisa a favor if it goes through? God, she misses Sasha.

Daria presumably has just as much of an in with New York enclave boy with the mundie girlfriend as Annisa, ie none, and could ask herself, but if Annisa is giving off the impression that she's capable of passing along tips to New Yorkers then so much the better. "That's pretty cool. I assume you're artificing track?"

"Yeah, we thought languages until my affinity showed up, it's why I have Mandarin, but my wards usually need to be anchored to something. Same for you?"