That didn't get the response he was expecting, but then again, Masozi isn't sure what he was expecting - when it comes to talking to other people from other countries, he's making up everything as he goes. 

- everyone (who gives off the sense of caring about other humans, at least) seems to be really uncomfortable about maleficing, so...maybe this time he'd better check about that first? 

"...Umm, can I - ask you a question about something? It - might be weird, sorry." 

What, because she's read a book ever - probably he's just awkward - "What is it?"

"So I - talked to some other people before, and...."

Damn it, he never felt like this was awkward before, and it's not like she's going to hit him about it, so why does it feel so hard.... 

"- and, have you read anything actually useful about how maleficing is bad for people? And - whether it actually - turns them into different people and makes them care about different things...?" 

"Oh. Yeah, some, are you thinking about quitting?"

".....Ummmm, maybe? Depends if getting mana from bugs counts as that, but - I don't think it should, it doesn't hurt and it's - I mean, it's worse for bugs to be dead than not but it's not that much worse, they don't really have feelings." 

"Bugs actually aren't a big deal as far as I can tell. People seem to do fine if they stick to bugs, plants, inanimate objects. But I don't know if that's true if you've done smarter animals before, it's possible that if you've crossed the line into mice or whatever then you need to quit altogether at least for a while to clear up any damage you've done."

If he can't even use bugs then he's probably going to DIE and then he won't have any options for preventing all the less-paranoid kids from dying and so that's not acceptable, not right now. Maybe later. He'll see. 

"...What kind of damage? That's what I don't understand. If it - just makes you weaker, like a broken arm - then that's just a normal decision? Trade one thing for another? But if it's– I don't know any other things that hurt you in a way that - changes what you think is important? That seems really weird! But if it's really true then it'd be really bad." 

"I mean, there are a lot of completely mundane mental illnesses, do you know about those?"

"....No?" 

"Oh. There are some infections, or problems you can be born with, or things that can happen if you get hit on the head, that affect your brain, which is what does all your thinking. If you break your arm, your arm doesn't work as well; if you damage your brain, it doesn't work as well. A little cheating doesn't seem to do damage, or it does it so little that you can heal it, like - uh, have you seen white people sunburn, if we go in the sun too long we get red and itchy, but if we go out for just ten minutes we don't even get pink, if you do little enough damage it's almost like doing zero because you can heal. But serious maleficing damages you in a way that is harder to heal from, and it might be that you are now burned enough that you can't even go in the sun for five minutes without getting worse, I don't know."

(Bobbie is on a quest for fabric, first, to wrap everything else in. She looks for a sewing kit but no luck there, she'll have to trade for one later. She does get a hammer, which works as a weapon in addition to a tool, and a set of pokey things she doesn't recognize but is probably a specialized kit for something, hopefully something that needs a specialized kit such that someone would be willing to trade for it. Along with a swaddle of nuts and bolts and screws, she grabs some sheet metal because she has a comparative advantage in storing sheet metal in her room, and she wants to make some armor later. She tests it out, holding the sheet metal on her left shoulder and balancing everything else on top - it works well enough for now and she's still got one hand free if there's a fight.)

Masozi watches Bobbie thoughtfully as she collects her sheet metal. 

"- But, does it damage your brain in a way that makes you - not care about people anymore? Instead of just, I don't know, being stupider?" 

"I'm not sure how it cashes out on the most basic level. But it fits with what you hear about maleficers who go off the deep end. They kill impractical numbers of people, sometimes apparently just so they have enough malia to get through the fight with whoever's next."

“….Huh. That does sound stupid. But is that - people who were like that to start with?”

"Most everyone who does a lot of it escalates to people eventually. It's like drugs, right, maybe you can do heroin once and not be an addict but if you're doing it regularly for years..." She is still stacking sheet metal and has her back to the two of them - there's no indication besides the content to suggest she's not talking to a cabinet.

“I don’t see why it’d be like that? The thing with drugs is they’re supposed to feel good, I thought.” Not that Masozi has any personal context on this at all. He’s heard of heroin before but it sounds singularly pointless to him so presumably he’s missing something.

"The popular ones do because those are the ones people have reasons to start, but it's not actually essential to the mechanism of addiction. Do you have trouble building mana normally or something?"

“I don’t think I have any more trouble than most people? I just…” Masozi shrugs. “Maybe it’s fine here. There’s ten times fewer mals and there’s other people to help fight them. It - I wouldn’t’ve made it to Johannesburg at all if I hadn’t learned to pull mana from rats without hurting myself.”

"Yeah, I'm not mourning the rats, rats die for worse reasons all the time, but you might want to keep it down to an absolute bare minimum to give your brain a break from it before you start in on bugs and stuff, this is a good time since the mals are low and you can mostly travel in groups. I didn't know that there was technique to it, but I suppose that's not too surprising that there would be..."

Bobbie is pretty sure that taking from rats not hurting anymore is a bad sign. She thinks the serious maleficers start to like it, and "it doesn't hurt" sure seems like a step on the path between "It hurts" and "better than sex".

Masozi takes a deep breath. 

“I - don’t mean any offense, just - I’d be a lot happier doing that if other people here were more careful and better at seeing mals before they jump out? I - it’s my affinity, I can see them even when they’re hiding - but it takes mana and I’ve been doing it all day because I didn’t want any of the other kids to die just ‘cause they hadn’t learned to be careful yet, that’s - not right…”

"Most of us aren't making it out, Masozi, that's very noble of you but I don't think complete strangers expect you to pull malia so you can spot-check for them. Maybe you can get a gig as a lookout with a group that can give you a spare power-sharer for it?"

“Maybe,” Masozi says noncommittally. 

(Why is everyone just OKAY with it, that - most of the kids here won’t get out alive - it feels like some mistake must be happening somewhere, only - maybe there isn’t, maybe it’s just…like that…)

He goes back to scanning the room, and considering plans to search for books in the library that will give him some actually useful information about what kind of bad-for-you maleficing is.

While Raleigh loads all the supplies he grabbed for Shannon into his backpack, she drifts over to Sophie, who seems to be done collecting fabrics.

”Hey. What’re you planning with all that?”

"Oh - the immediate priority is making an outfit for Masozi, since he got me in on this whole affair. But the rest of it... I don't know yet what'll be in demand. I'm a clothing artificer, and I want to get myself set up pretty well."