It's a pretty small enclave group - a tall, serious looking older girl, a very small, skinny girl, a tall, surprisingly healthy-looking boy, and a skinny kid somewhere in the middle of their heights. They are an enclave though, clearly, based on the power-sharers around their wrists. 

This girl notices him edging in their direction first - though the tall boy might have seen but ignored him, busy watching for mals as he is. She offers him a friendly smile, opening the conversation to spare him some of the awkwardness, "Hello! Angela Starr, Montréal. Do you need something?"

She has the barest discernable accent, which some people she'd met might be offended to hear called French. Her English is perfectly fluent, however. 

Oh thank fuck, someone who isn't completely lost. "Alexius Marcus, call me Alex if you like. Jacksonville." He can't really call it an enclave even if he did get a hand-me-down power-sharer. "Just testing the waters, for now. I'm going alchemy track if you know anyone who might want to trade for potions in bulk, later in the year. I've got an eidetic memory recipe that I can get to last about ten days for me and five for anyone else, it has good retention even after it wears off." 

"That's an interesting spread of effect," she comments, "But it definitely sounds useful!" For anyone besides her, anyway.

They don't actually have an alchemist, at the moment - they will next year, when they'll be getting a whole spread with Aria's year, but for now it's just two artificers, an incanter in creative writing, and (technically) one in languages.

Speaking of him, "Alex? That's my brother's name," she waves vaguely at the tall, vigilant boy, "We might have to work something out there," she adds, amused.

Alex's attention is pulled from watching their surroundings for a moment, while he looks the other boy over. He nods to him, and then his eyes dart to the kid in his shadow, and then away again to return to guard duty. 

"I don't mind going by Alexius. Bonus points for appending 'the Great' for further disambiguation." He smiles at Angela, nods politely at his fellow paranoid Alex the Vigilant, and turns to shadow-kid, who seems less distracted. "What about you?" 

"'Alexius Marcus' does sound like a name that might have 'The Great' tacked on," she agrees, "It sounds like the name of a Byzantine Emperor." Not that she'd read many books on those, she hadn't wanted to pick up a second language by accident.

Shadow-kid, meanwhile, seems a little surprised to be addressed. They (he? It's not always easy to tell, at this age, but their bone structure looks masculine?) raise a(n unshaven) brow at Alexius, but nod back slowly, "Zed," they introduce themself. Just at a first glance, their gear looks noticeably lower quality than the other two new inductees, but they are wearing a power-sharer.

"And she's Sara," Angie completes the list, gesturing to the older girl, who has since stepped away some to talk to another junior nearby. "The two of us are Artificing, Zed is in languages," technically, "While Alex-ei," she tacks on the rest of his name, "Is creative writing. Sara has a few contacts in the alchemy track, but it can't hurt to have more. When do you think you'll have some for trade?"

He chuckles. "My dad's Greek and pompous. It's a thing. Maybe I'll be an emperor myself one day, who knows. I plan to start brewing tomorrow or day after, I want my memory potions for classes so they'll be available then. I can also do healing, those will probably be popular, but they're less effective if I'm not injured when I make them. My affinity's weird like that. I also know a bunch of personal spells and a really good envelope shield -" here referring to one that hugs close to the body rather than bubbling outwards - "if you happen to know Greek or Latin, especially. And I should get more of them later." 

"We know Latin," who doesn't know Latin, from the North American and British spheres, anyway, "I wouldn't say no to some spell trading. My affinity's movement, so if you have a need for speed..." Or honestly a lot of less obvious effects, her affinity stretches nicely. 

"Your affinity..." Personal spells, envelope shield, memory potions that work twice as well for him, and healing potions which work best when he'll need to use them, that's pretty wide spread, and yet...

"Things that affect you?" 

"Right in one. So if you've got any selfish movement spells, that'd be nice. 'Put up a shield and run away really fast' happens to be a great strategy for dealing with anything one can't outright kill." It also neatly sums up his plan for graduation, if he doesn't find a solid alliance that offers better odds. Simple, straightforward, and hopefully foolproof. (As if). 

He's happy to compare notes. In rough order of usefulness, his Latin and English spells include: the envelope shield, a personal antitoxin, skin-toughening ("redundant with the shield and more mana-hungry, but faster to cast in a pinch"), a spell to set broken bones and one to staunch bleeding ("Hebrew's the fastest but I've got a longer one in Latin, and one in Mandarin that also helps oxygenate"), a couple stimulant spells ("exactly as dangerous as drugs if abused, but really wakes you up"), a few spells in English that do technical and specific things with the gut microbiome, hair-growing, tooth-growing, and a handful of other minor body-modification spells. He's got more spells in increasingly obscure languages, but sticks to the established commonality for now. 

"Growing hair takes a lot of protein, but it's otherwise safe, and if you can nix poison you can afford to eat well. Artificers love buying wizard hair so it's an investment." He's already spotted one freshman doing just that. "The tooth-growing one is safe but hurts for days. No one else I've met could convince their molars to hold mana for them, but maybe someone with the right affinity could pull it off. Most of the other modifiers are really dangerous to get wrong," he adds. "I include them for completeness but I wouldn't recommend it unless you know what you're doing." 

He'd love a spell for faster movement, and anything useful in combat even if it's not perfect for his affinity. And he's happy to listen to recommendations, as well. 

They have speed spells! Her favourite is in French, but she has two in Latin (one gives a bigger boost for a shorter time for a larger chunk of mana than the other), and one in English with the shortest incantation. She also has a few sneaky litle spells in Latin to convince others' eyes to pass over you, and an (English) spell to encourage your throws to land where you mean them to, and a personal ward (in Japanese) that redirects harmful things around it. 

With those listed out, she takes over mal watching so Alex feels at least less uncomfortable interacting with a stranger in a hostile environment, if not actually comfortable.

Alex is the one with most of the combat spells, courtesy of his own affinity, though he can't bring very much to mind that directly affects the caster rather than the enemy. A spell for improved reflexes he'd worked out for Angie, it's in English and somewhat embarrassingly worded but you can't let that stop you in the Scholomance (and no one has to know he wrote it); a French spell for incremential self-healing; a few other, less used healing spells, in all five of his languages, of varying utility and mana cost. 

He knows a fair number of other spells, of course, though many of them need to be sung - can he sing? - and a large fraction of them work best accompanied by a sword or at least a large knife (he pats the hilt of his own sword as he states this). He has (in Latin) a general all-purpose scorcher spell, a solidifying spell (fucking non-coporeal bastards), and a spell that targets specifically reptilian mals, for some reason. 

He details these quietly enough to avoid being easily overheard, and his gaze keeps being pulled away as movement catches it while he speaks.

"What're your languages?" He asks Alexius, with a little more focus, after all this has been listed out. They should have traded earlier, probably, but it's a bit late for regret now. "We have English, French, Latin, Japanese and Zulu. Zed has more, though not the Japanese. Arabic," he tacks that one on, seeing as it's so widely spoken.

They really know how to look out for one another, huh. Alexius approves. 

He has French! And more spell variants are great. Alexius is particularly interested in speed, reflexes, the throwing thing (ranged attacks! In his affinity! Sorta!) and the ward, as well as the scorcher and solidifier. "More healing spells are never bad either, we might even have a few of the same ones." He's got a mini machete that he guesses is sufficiently swordlike. Lotta swords around here, now that he thinks about it. 

Alexius speaks English, Greek, Latin, Spanish, French, Arabic, Russian, Mandarin, Hebrew, and Sanskrit. "I would only have the first four if it weren't for all the memory potions, they friggin' work." 

The envelope shield is the only one Alexius considers major arcana. It costs more mana than a bubble shield to repel attacks, but it can stay on for a long while for only a trickle as long as you're gentle with it, and it fits and feels like a full-body onesie complete with gloves. With it on, you can open a toolbox without losing anything but a chunk of mana to a mal. "I have a fair amount of sneaky spells too but they're mostly in Spanish, it was my mom's affinity. I've, uh, also got a contraception spell in French, not that it's wise to need one in here." Alexius is currently infertile by choice anyway but someone is going to want contraception. 

Haggling? 

Haggling! 

They don't show any interest in the contraception spell - everyone in Montréal goes in for (usually) reversable sterilization before they arrive at the Scholomance - and sadly none of them know Spanish, but a few of his earlier offers do interest them. The antitoxin, for one, and the envelope shield, and Alexei wouldn't mind going over their healing spells for any gaps, upgrades, or differently advantaged ones. 

It transpires that a lot of the sword spells are in Japanese, but he has a few for trade, sure. The nicest ones are pretty mana expensive, of course, but he has a force multiplier, a sharpening spell (which is actually more maintenance than combat, really) and one that heats up your blade, though overuse of that one can damage the weapon (which is why he rarely used it at home, and expects to roughly never use it here). 

Does he know how precisely the stimulant spell matches, say, Adderall in effects? 

Their reflexes spell is somewhat long, but it's efficient, and Alexius is welcome to any two of it and/or any of the others in return for the antitoxin and envelope shield. They're also, definitely, interested in the memory potions, if they work as well as he's suggested they do. 

"Do you have any recipes for... Growth," Alexei asks quietly after outlining this, his eyes lingering on Angie, who's chatting with Zed a short way away while they keep watch on the room and the crowd. She really is very short, and perhaps distressingly skinny (but then again, a fair number of the freshmen are). 

He's just gonna have to learn Japanese, isn't he. He'll swap the antitoxin for reflexes and he thinks the envelope shield ought to get him speed and solidifier, or at least both speed variants? It's a really good spell for a freshman.

He'll also gladly do swaps of minor healing arcana to round out both their lists. 

He can't sing very well; his affinity helps cover him on personal spells but he'd struggle to use songs with a blade. Reluctant pass on those for now. 

Stimulants are generally more reliable than Adderall but not necessarily more potent. They have a target wakefulness and usually hit it pretty precisely. This one feels like a modest dose of caffeine for 3-6 hours and costs less mana, and this one lasts until you stop feeding it mana and is more finicky and flexible - "start small and dial it up from there, you don't want the side effects of pushing it too hard, and if you run out of mana at the wrong time you will totally pass out and wake up with a killer hangover." He'll swap one of those for the throwing thing, and he'll throw in the other one if they'll add the solidifier to the envelope shield trade.

Quietly, "Growth as in height, muscle, and such? In fact I planned to use one myself after induction, they do work, but they are also some of the more complicated spells I know and they really fuck you up if you do them wrong. Like, Jekyll-and-Hyde bad. I could maybe find a potion for it instead, save myself the mana, and sell it to you in a week or so? It'll be costlier than the spell but much safer, and if we find more buyers I'll drop the price." 

He can have the reflexes and... yeah, the speed and solidity is fairer, and Alexius seems to be dealing in good faith, so Alexei lets the better deal go (also, he likes what he's seen so far of him, and if he doesn't have a way to deal with spirit-types Alexei doesn't want to stiff him out of one). 

Sadly, he's actually going to pass on the stimulant ones - they don't sound like they do exactly what he was hoping they might, and they have their own solutions for tiredness. 

The growth potion, though, "I'd be willing to go in on that," he nods. "What would you want for it? I can throw in the throwing spell, and the other combat spell," he lists, "And Angie's an Artificer, she made these," he motions to his earrings, "They enhance your senses, takes a little getting used to but they come in handy. Does your affinity play oddly with artifacts?" He's never heard of an affinity for self, and isn't sure what exactly it would extend to. 

"Thanks, the solidifier is going to be an ass-saver one of these days. I hope the shield does its part for you, too. 

"My affinity is worse than useless for artificing, because it actually makes it harder for me to mess with stuff that isn't me. Potions are a stretch, and not a perfect one at that, but my affinity cooperates because they do ultimately end up inside my actual body. On the other hand, I can use artifacts just fine, I plan to do a lot of trading for enchanted gear. And I'm also willing to deal in mana-hours, it's the closest thing to a currency we have here. 

"As long as we're playing alchs and arties, wanna raid the supply rooms later?"  

"We can dip in the Montréal pool," Alexei agrees, it's not the largest in the school, but it's not a puddle, either.

"I might be able to get Sara," he tilts his head towards the older girl off to his right, still chatting with another in her year, "To take care of part of that enchanted item deficit of yours, along with Angie. They can both do enchanted gear."

"And we'd be up for a supply run, yeah, we need to head down there at some point anyway. Sara'll come with us - she's a junior - but I think we could do with a few more people, going that far down in the school." 

The Jacksonville mana supply is more of a drained swamp, really, but Alexius has plans. 

"I'm in no hurry." 

"Let's shop around, then," he agrees. "Let us know if you run into anyone you want with us, we'll be sticking around this area. Good doing business with you," he adds, which is completely true. 

A pretty Asian girl walks in his general direction, eyeing the two of them carefully. 

Alex is back to watching the nearby proverbial rafters but Angie can field the pretty girl for him.

"Hi!" She greets, "Angie Starr, Montréal. Making the rounds?" 

"Yep! Yolanda Park, indie."

"Where from?" A name like that, she could be from anywhere in the anglosphere. 

"NorCal."

"That's - North California?" She gives a thoughtful nod, "Very different from home, I kinda wish I'd been able to visit before the mals got bad. Never got further south than Chicago, though."

"Ah, Chicago." Sigh. "Yeah, it means Northern California. Where're you from?"

"Montréal's in Quebec - one of the Canadian provinces, in the east. Did something happen in Chicago?" That was sure a sigh. 

"--Ohh, you haven't heard about Chicago yet."

"I have not heard about Chicago, yet," she agrees.

Alex's attention is drawn away from his watch.

"What happened to Chicago?" And does it have something to do with the really odd number of badly prepared people he's seen wandering around, particularly since he started keeping half an eye on Alexius? 

"Have you noticed the muggleborns."

Muggleborns, that'd almost be funny in any other circumstance, except how incredibly unfunny their situation is.

"The confused kids are new blood? Yeah, there's a lot of them. Little hard to miss."

"Chicago's gone. --The enclave. Not the whole city. The whole city isn't gone."

"...the enclave is more than enough, I'd think," Angie says, shaking off her shock much quicker than Alex does. "Do we know- how, who? If a bunch of new blood got in, it must have been recent-?" 

"There were a couple survivors, they left a couple hours before induction and everything was normal, they came back and the entrances didn't work. No idea who did it."

"God, that's- terrifying. Who could do something like that? That's going to upset the whole northeast! And those poor kids, who even benefits?" 

"I have no idea. If we find anything out for sure it'll be next year."

"What an awful wait for the remnants here - wow, what's even going to happen to the seniors? Where do they come out, with the enclave gone?" 

"I do not know. Probably somewhere, if the enclave is floating in the Void somewhere the school couldn't find it to scoop up the new freshmen so it probably can't find it to put the graduates back in it."

"Mm," she shakes her head, sighing. "Well, with the horrible gossip out of the way..." She glances at Alex, who has at least overcome his shock to return to glaring at the ceiling, "Shall we return to lighter conversation? What's your track? We're artifice and incantations." Her voice is, in fact, lighter, though she's not so bouncily cheerful as she was before.

"Which kind of incantations? I'm creative writing."

"So is Alex, though our clavemate," who has... Wandered off to speak with Sara, apparently, okay, "Is Languages. Have you written any spells before?" 

"A few! Mostly in line with my affinity. Personal buffs."

"Personal buffs? Really! That's interesting - I think I know someone you should meet, actually, if you're interested in spell trading, his affinity would dovetail nicely with yours! I'd think it might be good for that in general, actually, I know a lot of speed increasing spells that fit my movement affinity well, and Alex's is combat, so some buffs can fall under his, too." 

"And what's this person's affinity?"

"Self, full stop, from what I gathered. We've actually set up a supply run with him, later, so he'll be back if you want to meet him, or just take part in that." 

"Ooh, I'd love to go on a supply run if that's available."

"You have anything good for combat? It's the first day, so we're not likely to run into too much trouble, and Sara - our cousin, she's a junior - is coming with us, but being ready to stab anything if she and Alex aren't nearby can't hurt." 

"I can punch things like a boss. Uh, by which I mean I have martial arts experience, and spells to boost strength and reflexes, and enchanted gloves in case anything I punch has caustic blood."

"Sounds like you're in then," Angie grins, and then pushes that down to a smile again, "We'll be sticking around here, if you want to wander a bit, just keep an eye out - we're going to leave whenever we judge we have enough people, maybe two to four more? We'll try to collect you, but if you get to far away from us, well, there're a lot of people in here, you know?"

"Good to know."