"Yes, I'd also rather you didn't. I'm hoping to help make people's lives suck less and make them die less, but it's hard going. What're your tracks? I'm invocations, creative."

"Artificing," Tony says immediately.

"Leaning alchemy although with a wistful glance in the direction of languages. It would be a shame to waste my talent for accents anywhere other than the languages track, but alchemy is rarer, ergo more useful, and I've always loved to cook."

"Huh. You could always take languages and hook up with an independent alchemist, you know, there's no reason to force yourself and waste comparative advantage just for positional. I'll bet you could find half a dozen indie kids with alchemy affinities and watch them until you know who's going to be good before they get a real reputation."

"I have multiple talents! I expect to like alchemy better than languages even though Tony thinks I'm a fool for considering alchemy when my affinity is books. I'd do creative writing in a heartbeat if I expected I could hack it but I don't believe I can, I've always been a better mimic than an artist."

"Ah, of course, that's a different question entirely. Hmm, an affinity for books - that really is almost a shame, it points so strongly towards artifice but you're joined at the hip to one. You could probably make some really fantastic inks, I suppose, there's plenty who want those."

"I will make such fantastic inks. Paper, too, potentially; I feel that's a bit of a grey area. And then I can collaborate with Tony on bookbinding, although it's not really his forte, he's most properly an engineer."

"Engineering! Good amount of utility there - perhaps he can make you a printing press."

"Wouldn't that be a marvel."

"And the prettiest shiniest happiest spellbook chests."

"Ooh, shiny happy chests are the best kind. Don't suppose I could commission one? I'm going to be keeping a lot of brainstorming notebooks, you know, and you really have to keep an eye on those."

"That sounds like a fantastic idea."

"Excellent. And of course I've got trade goods, if you're hungry for crystals or reagents or anything."

"Yeah, we can work that out. How soon do you want your shiny happy chest? I don't wanna commit to anything until I've seen the shop facilities around here, but I'd be happy to make it my first side project if the pay's good."

"Not urgently enough to make it your first, I'm not going to have a squirming mass of books until well into the semester, it's just best to be prepared, you know?"

"Cool, cool."

"...speaking of prepared. You've heard the big news, right? Or - no, you just got here, didn't you."

"Big news?"

"Chicago. Something happened, and their freshmen never showed up, but their maintenance boy did and said he couldn't get into the enclave. And - there's a bunch of new blood around, from the environs."

"...oh, yikes."

"Seconded."

"Very much so. I can't decide if it's worse that we lost Chicago or that we got the new blood - I know it sounds callous, but they're not going to be one in four. Their odds can't be much better than they were outside."

"Depends who they can get looking out for them. On the whole, though, yeah, they're fucked."

"...I'm hoping I can look out for some of them - at least a bit. But. I have other responsibilities."

"Yes, I feel similarly."