Lots of the poor bastards who just got sprung into the death trap unawares have wandered off, but the wary redhead is still hanging around the cafeteria.
"You look like you could use a hand. This isn't usually anyone's favorite day even when we show up mostly prepared."
Don't pull a knife on anyone unless they start muttering at you or pull first, Wendy.
"-Uh-huh. Wouldn't turn down any charity, but it's a bit stupid to be expecting that to be in great supply, considerin'."
"Well, fortunately for you, I am an idiot enclaver who hates how our entire shadow world is structured and does unstrategic things like give charity to people who are unlikely to ever pay it back." Or even survive. But reminding her of that is unlikely to be helpful.
"If I fail to die for long enough that I can start doing that, seems like the right path to go down, paying it back. I'm cagey, I get that, but my shitty inner city school's bully problem means at least I'm not thinking about boys and fashion. And hopefully I can be the twitchy lookout for someone later instead of the twitchy weirdo nobody associates with, once I figure out what my special sauce is."
She is scanning the surroundings during their conversation, including a nearby ceiling vent, rather than maintaining eye contact.
"You're certainly in better shape than the girl in her PJs. And you have the right attitude for an independent. Do you have any spells yet?"
"I've got a knife, and I was going to ask my room for one later. English, city kid Spanish, an inconvenient amount of German, if you're offering one?"
"I have basics in English you should be able to pick up fast. Shield and a little ball of force that is useful against most things but only mana-efficient for small ones. A good fire attack in German I can share, but maybe wait on that."
He fishes his personal spellbook out and flips it open to the early pages.
"You have paper you can copy onto?"
"I do not. I have a phone that is currently off with 84 percent battery, that can hold it until I do have paper. I don't suppose you have a clever use for a phone with 84 percent battery."
She pulls it out of the opposite pocket from the one that has a knife and holds down the power button so the startup screen loads.
"Hmm. Once you've gotten notes transcribed, pull out the battery and sell it, disassemble the rest, sell those for materials? There should be some rare earths in there, right? Even small amounts should be somewhat useful for crafting. Not huge, but especially if there's anyone with some electrical affinity, it should help. I would definitely say disassemble it within a couple weeks at most. The more sophisticated the device, the more quickly it will turn against you, as I understand it, in three months it will try to eat your fingers."
"If you keep things happy, especially if you enchant them, you can ward that off. Gun you carried regularly and gave regular cleanings, probably that would be fine. But yeah, we're especially nervous about anything that acts like it thinks. And about leaving anything in a closed space you can't see - if you have drawers in your room, pull them out and rig it into shelves. Also mals can hide in drawers, but even scissors can go kinda mal after a while if you aren't careful.
The Scholomance is fucking awful. It beats the alternative, but that's the nicest thing you can say about it."
"I was gonna check the drawers but pulling them out works too. I'll take good care of my jacket, I love this thing. Need to borrow some needle and thread from someone... Uh, does the void spit out school supplies when you ask or just homework?"
He looks vaguely thoughtful. "As far as I've ever heard, clothes are fine. Random unenchanted knives are safe, too, as far as I know. I don't know why clothes are fine and scissors learn to hate us. A lot seems to respond to our collective expectations... that's true outside, too."
"Neither school supplies nor homework will arrive in your room - that's pretty much just books, specifically spellbooks. There are supply closets - the one for paper and ink and such is smaller and usually safer than the artificing and alchemy supply rooms, but you do need to go fetch it, which you should do in a group, while armed. Homework will show up at your desk or lab bench or whatever. The void in our rooms does spellbooks, which are, unlike homework, mostly not mandatory."
"Huh. Okay, yeah, I think I saw those on the map. I was gonna look for a bathroom run group anyway. So about that spell, phone's started up now and I wanna save the battery..."
She notes the pair of spells down carefully, along with textspeak about what they do. Closes her eyes and replays them in her head a few times.
"Thanks. If I live to see tomorrow maybe I can give you a spell you don't have yet some time. Or a pen or something. I don't think we've shared names though. Wendy."
"Theun. 790B. Pleased to meet you, or as much as I can be given the circumstances. And don't worry about it, I'm a rich idiot and you should absolutely take advantage of me."
"Oh hell, if I can remember this time- B. Two - forty five. Yeah, 245B. Ahem. See, but if what's known about me is 'takes advantage of idiots', that's only attractive to people who'd double-cross me if it was convenient. Which enclave is that, anyway?"
"Philadelphia, but I do not have any friends in it. Turns out raging against the injustice of the system makes people who benefit from that system annoyed with you. I should just shut up about it, that's the sensible thing, and yet, I haven't. So, rich idiot."
"System's fucked. Statement remains true no matter what system. And we're all idiots sometimes, I have stupid dreams about fixing politics that are probably literally impossible." Sigh. "Good to meet you, though."
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