Marino shows up soon afterward, from a completely different hall. He nods to his cousin, then takes a chair at one of the big tables and sprawls over it.

Virgil isn't late, but he is one of the last to arrive. He slept later than he meant to; he can already tell that his bad days are going to be bad, in here.

He picks a seat at the same table as Teresa, not making eye contact with any of the other students at the table. This ends up leaving him staring into the table itself, as though it might contain the secrets of the Scholomance.

Ennis arrives towards the end too; he got turned around. He has a compact mirror in his pocket and takes it out to flip open and closed, hoping to conjure his schedule.

Not fascinating people-watching. But the one near her seems sad more than bland.

"Hello. Teresa Calloconti. Languages track, probably composition. You?"

Pisa. Discomfiting but she's not going to rip his soul out of him in homeroom for no reason. "Ennis Reilley, Manchester, alchemy track."

"Ah, the old school. You have a good affinity for alchemy? Mine's not useless, but not a standout any direction."

"Cosmetics. Yours?"

"Spells with lots of repetition. Reciting the incantation several times is easiest, but it can go beyond that."

"Sounds potentially versatile."

"There isn't a ton of kick to it, but yes. Cousin Marino" - she tips her head in his direction - "gets much more boost in his specialty, we tested it... Not that I'd trade, 'blood' isn't much good unless you're happy to jump off the deep end."

"- wouldn't imagine it was, no."

"We have adequate amounts of frog blood for him to use," she says, "he's not doomed to insanity like he'd be as an independent. He should be in alchemy, though I'd forgive you if you didn't choose to make friends."

Warning freshmen away from him without looking like Pisa's abandoning its own: probably going well so far?

"Might be completely different sections." Ennis glances at his desk; there it is. ...risky slot but he's going to keep it, if he can make it through here without being a complete drain on his enclave it will be by trading and to trade he needs supplies.

-oh look, there's a schedule. Incredibly appealing distraction from the terror at trying to make conversation- something he's failing at so far.

Hmm.

"Does anyone have something good on Monday mornings? I have 'Freaks, Oracles, Jesters: The Malformed as Spectacle in Western Culture' and the 'Portuguese-language poetry survey' but I'm not sure I want either of those."

"I have geometry first thing, double, and then lab."

"Okay. Thank you."

He's not sure if it's worth aiming for geometry over the poetry class- poetry might involve more memorization? Virgil is good at that. He's worried he'll have too many opinions about the poetry, though, and that'll be frustrating...maybe he'll just roll the dice and see what the Scholomance gives him. Poetry is probably a bad idea.

Teresa looks down and sees she has a schedule. "My Monday morning is the language track's two-hour lab, Freshman Comp, then Roman History. The latter two also on Wednesday and Friday."

Six hours a week on 'Ancient History of Maleficaria', eugh. Is that likely to be a good spell source? The rest is pretty good so probably she shouldn't risk it.

"-I want my artificing classes too badly to change anything else," Virgil says after he's already gotten rid of his poetry class.

"Think you'll get any good Latin spells from your Roman History class? We could trade what we learn, kind of a- study group? I have a class on Hispanophone writing, that might have Spanish spells, if you speak that...and insults and mockery in antiquity, classics would probably have Latin or Greek."

"That's probably a good call, I think I'm not going to risk moving my shop and lab either. I don't have Spanish, but trading between my History and your Mockery sounds intriguing. Though, what time does that meet?"

"Monday, 8:45. Why, think you can get it?"

"Was hoping. I have a two-hour Ancient Maleficaria class three afternoons a week, so I am in the market for other options. But I think I'll stick with language lab, too many ways it could rearrange if I asked for yours."

"Yeah, if you're language track. I can just give you my notes, if you're interested in what we learn there."

"I'd take them, just not sure how much I'd pay for the privilege. We can trade spells and I'll see about the rest."

"Could I get in on the spell trading too? I have the Hispanophone writing class, plus another on Cervantes and one on 'early modern continental drama'."

"I probably won't want anything from those unless you get some Italian from covering the commedia del'arte. I'm sure I'll have Spanish and French by graduation, but I don't now."

"If Santa Muerte, Pray For Us: The Holiness of Death in Southwestern Literature has any Spanish spells, I'll let you know."