"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."

"...that being said, there's a girl who's been buying their hair off them at surprisingly reasonable rates, and one of them attached herself to a New Yorker, and - I don't know. Maybe we've got an unusually helpful class."

"Wouldn't that be lovely."

"Here's hoping."

"Yeah. Here's hoping."