"No, but they might strangle. Or just give you the wrong answers."

"....Weird. Well, I can test them. Uh, carefully. And - you can tell the other students I've got more stuff in here, and I'd like to trade it for more, uh, magic wards on this room to keep out monsters and things?" 

"Yeah, sure. You'll need upperclassmen to do anything that lasts a long time and there's a curfew so nobody can rescue you if something happens in the night, so hold out for the good stuff when you're dispensing things."

"Right." 

Marian stops going through drawer contents; it seems like a bad idea to do when she's not giving it her full attention, at least until she gets it practiced to the level of instinct that she needs to assume at any moment that any object might be a creepy monster about to eat her. (Assuming she lives long enough for that...) 

"I, uh, also wanted to ask - what's the social scene like here? ...I, sorry, that's probably not clear what I mean. If it's just kids, here, are things run, like, with gangs? Is there anyone who's, uh, in charge?" 

"You are the only adult. The school enforces some things - curfew, passing classes - but there is not as such anything stopping kids from murdering each other. There is - fairly good honor system enforcement of the big prize, getting to move into an enclave if you get out alive and were promised that, and alliances are sacred, and the room poaching rate is very low, and the seats in the school are themselves fairly competitive so obvious delinquents who will reflect badly on their families usually do not come. So I am more likely to be eaten by a monster than murdered. But not because they'd be, like, arrested, or anything."

"Ugh." This is not an especially tactful response but Marian is reeling and overdue for half a dozen different flavours of emotional breakdown and if she focuses REALLY HARD she can, sort of, attempt to make plans about her own survival but she sure can't track social graces at the same time. 

"...Uh. Probably no one's going to be motivated to murder me, right? I'm - useful, and not competition? Um. Just - sorry - thinking out loud, I'm trying to - figure out what I can do to live longer than the last nurse, because you guys need me here. Hmm. ...Is there, like, an underground barter economy here? Like, in prisons you can trade cigarettes like they're money - what's the closest equivalent of that here?" 

"You're useful and not competition but even though you don't have mana you do have life force and you should be suspicious of anyone who wants you to pretend to be a vet. Uh, instead of money we use mana sometimes but mostly barter, there's not a physical currency, you don't want things that aren't useful for themselves cluttering places."

"I, uh - don't follow. What do you mean by people wanting me to 'pretend' to be a vet - what's that got to do with anything?" 

"Anyone who brought in animals is probably killing them for life force and might go for bigger game in a pinch."

"Oh. Gross. So, like, blood-magic is a thing here?" 

"I don't think it needs blood specifically? I don't know, I'm not a maleficer."

"- I didn't mean blood literally, it's just in the fantasy I've read, that's a shorthand for magic you get from killing people. Or animals, I guess. Does doing it turn people evil?" 

"If they do it enough yeah."

"Uh, right." Marian shivers. This is exactly on theme for creepy magic death school, damn it. "Uh, it sounded earlier like there were some kids here who didn't know magic was real until they got kidnapped? Does that happen often?" 

"No, that's super weird. I mean, it happens, somebody gets a mundane pregnant or they just pop up for no reason. But they don't usually get slots. Something did for the Chicago enclave and nearby kids got their slots automatically."

"Oh. ...Uh, can you explain what an 'enclave' is? Is that, like, wizards living together in secret?" 

"Yeah, with the place they live in extradimensional space. So there's less attack surface, for the mals."

"Huh. And, uh, this place is in extradimensional space too?" 

"Yeah. It keeps most of the monsters out, just, there are a lot, and they can breed once they're in, too."

"Yuck." Marian sighs. "Guess I'd better get used to it. Uh, someone else warned me earlier about the food not being safe? Is it just that it might be monsters, or is it poisoned sometimes too?" 

"Some of the monsters are poisonous and even if they leave the food it might not be safe any more. Rumor has it the brussels sprouts are always safe and I might just eat those all the time - in theory it shouldn't matter, it's all this, transmuted nutrient slurry, thing."

"- Well, I guess it's lucky I like brussel sprouts, then! Uh, how about...water? This room doesn't have a sink - the flip-flops kid thought it was a safety measure, less pipes for monsters to sneak in, but I kind of do need water." 

"There's bathrooms, and the cafeteria. People mostly arrange to have water bottles or something and fill them up sometimes, when they get a group to go to the bathroom, and try to hydrate during meals. I have a water condenser but I think that's unusual. I don't know how unusual, I just got here, my parents told me what I know."

Nod. "Right. Ugh, I have a thermos and a water bottle but I didn't have my backpack with me. Maybe I'll see if I can trade and get a water jug or something. And, uh - this is getting ahead of myself a bit, but are there showers? And, uh, is there any way I could get a spare set of clothes? How do people wash their clothes here, anyway?" 

"The bathrooms have showers. People clean clothes with magic or in the bathroom sink or they just kind of don't, one of those. Usually people bring things in but you might be able to get more changes of clothes bartering, like things graduating students left behind."