“Larisa’s doing a ward for your room!” Raleigh says brightly. “And, here, I’ve got a screwdriver! Uh, Larisa wants the scrap wood from your drawers, if that’s all right?”

“Yeah, of course!” Shannon can’t see what choice she has. Really, it seems like a senior-level ward spell ought to go for a lot more than that. Did Raleigh finagle some deal for her in private? Why? 

It seems silly to complain about people helping her not die, though, so she just starts taking the drawers out of her desk. 

Raleigh continues to be very cheerful and helpful! 

Larisa finishes her spell in a couple of minutes, grabs the wooden slats taken apart so far, and leaves without a word.

Disadvantage of having neighbors who are wards and healing geniuses respectively: Annie, if she doesn't do something about it fast, is going to be the tastiest kid on her hall. Probably she should tell Daria that the month and a half of mana in exchange for a ward is a go. She pokes her head into Daria's room to say this, a minute later.

Raleigh makes friendly chitchat with Shannon the entire time that he's helping her disassemble her drawers. He's pretty good at it, and there's only the one screwdriver, so he ends up doing most of that while Shannon just stacks up the boards and collects the abandoned screws in a little pile. 

"- You can keep the screws if you want," he says brightly. "Trade them for something you need. Larisa's got loads and she didn't ask for them, just the wood." 

Making conversation is so tiring. "Uh, is she artificing track, then?" 

"Yeah! She's always complaining that her affinity isn't for weapons. As far as we can tell, it's for - defensive fortifications? Anything that keeps mals out. I mean, she's good in a fight too, but she had to trade to get that axe of hers, her enchanted weapons always come out weird." 

"Huh! Well, being able to ward her room must be pretty good, anyway." 

"Yeah - I bet her room is the safest place in the entire school, by now - well, second to her little brother's room, she always does his first when she gets a new spell..." 

"Wow! That's really sweet of her." 

Raleigh shrugs and looks kind of uncomfortable. 

"- Right, that's all for the drawers," he says finally. He eyes Shannon's desk, which minus drawers is basically just a weirdly-shaped table. "Ugh, I think dismantling that needs more than just a screwdriver. Maybe you can keep it for now? You'll want to check the underside of it regularly, some mals can sort of hang there out of sight..." 

"Uh, right, thanks." 

He pats her shoulder. "No problem! Oh, and you're alchemy-track, yeah? Want me to help you redirect your gas line for a burner?" 

.....Does he just want an excuse to keep hanging out in her bedroom. It can't be that long until curfew, surely...

- Shannon takes a deep breath and reminds herself that it's her room and she does not, actually, have to let a boy hang out in here all evening even if he's from a rich enclave and she owes his family a debt. 

"Um, thanks for the offer - maybe another time? I think I want to - get settled some more before bed." 

"Oh! Right, of course." Raleigh looks sheepish. "I'll let you do that." 

And he pats her shoulder again, and looks like he would maybe like to offer her a hug, but maybe he sees the look of aaaaaaaaaah in her face. He doesn't offer. 

As soon as he's out of sight, Shannon ducks over to look for Annisa. Is her door open? 

Yep! She has her shelf up, albeit crooked, and is now doing woodcarving with her scraps for the mana and the woodworking practice. 

"Hey! Um... Vibes?" 

"My read is he totally likes you? But he wasn't pushy about it, so that's encouraging."

"...Do you think I should, um, go for it? I - my mother said I shouldn't say yes to a date if I don't like a boy back, and I...can't tell if I like like him? He's - nice? I think I'd want to be friends with him, I just..." 

" - I'd go for it? But if it's going to affect your judgment or leave you really sad if he dumps you or is a rapist or whatever, then maybe better to steer clear? You have a good affinity, you can almost certainly make it in your own right."

"- Right. I...think I should go for it." It seems really cowardly to run and hide the first time a boy likes her, even if she's incredibly confused about why he likes her. Also it'll help her survive and her mother would approve of that even if she wouldn't approve of Shannon jumping right into dating a boy. 

...Also she's still feeling out of her depth. "So, um, what should I...actually do? He hasn't, like, asked me out or anything, should I just - be friendly to him and wait to see what he does? Or do I need to be more assertive than that?" 

"All I know about American flirting is from movies. I think you tell his friends you think he's cute, and ask to borrow his jacket if he has a jacket, and - be friendly in an attentive way? Like, noticing if he's tireder than usual, complimenting him on a good supply run haul.... maybe touch him sort of incidentally while you're walking?"

"I don't know who his friends are! I guess I should try to find that out? ...And yeah he was touching me incidentally, I guess. He patted me on the shoulder a few times for no reason and he sort of looked like he wanted to hug me but he didn't."