"Well, that's only England, right? I - kind of think England should stop, or - everyone else should stop them. Of course, if all those spots go to New York instead that's not really any better."

Raleigh spends a minute looking around the cafeteria. He doesn't see Bella but there's Marcy, unsurprisingly sitting at the Boston table. Raleigh heads that way, trying to gauge if they have any extra table space. Boston is generally on good terms with Sacramento, though Larisa did let slip that right now Sacramento back-owes them quite a lot of favours. As one of the people who may end up expected to pay back said favours, this is pretty relevant to Raleigh. 

(Raleigh suspects that his father would be Displeased by - something - about that entire situation, but he's not sure what, and personally it's not like he minds helping other people out.) 

He tries to catch Marcy's eye and wave to her. 

"I think America's not usually tight on spots, unless you've managed to offend all the enclaves somehow? I looked this up when I was deciding where to emigrate" if I grow up "and it looked like mostly all the qualified kids were negotiating who they'd carry for." 

Well, the table's pretty crowded, it looks like, but also Marcy is talking to some other freshmen he hasn't met yet! 

"Hey, Marcy," Raleigh says, without trying to sit down. "Did you get a decent schedule?" He nods to the other two girls as well. "I'm Raleigh. Sacramento enclave." 

Marcy definitely has time for Sacramento, especially since she heard last night that their upperclassmen are in semi-formal talks with Boston's upperclassmen. "Hi Raleigh! I did, yeah, we're all in Tuesday morning shop. How's yours?"

“Pretty good, all things considered! I managed to swap Algebra II for Algebra I, and then it gave me a class on medieval debate poetry, whatever the hell that is, instead of my extra language lab slots. I think I’ve got lab Tuesday mornings, slot before lunch, and shop on Wednesdays. And then a ton of history, but Shannon says she’s really solid on that so I bet I can trade something for homework help if I need to.”

"Yeah, I'm starting German and possibly also Akkadian and that will either be super awesome or eat my entire semester or both. I'm glad your and Shannon's situations align nicely."

This looks like a scoot over and try to fit the Sacramento enclaver in situation? Annisa can scoot.

Randi smiles and sits down. “Yeah! And Shannon’s really great, she’s so smart…” His expression is a little dreamy. “I hope we have some classes together, haven’t had a chance to sync up after homeroom…”

He stops. Narrows his eyes. Why is Landon headed this way and why does he look so stressed - oh no, is Raleigh somehow in trouble aaaaaaaah what could he possibly have screwed up so badly before classes have even started….

Malak was a little slow on her feet noticing that but, yes, she too can scoot. She will do so in a way that puts some Sacramento space in between her and Annisa and across from Marcy.

Landon marches up to the table, looking very tense and serious. 

He exchanges nods with the Boston upperclassmen, then crosses over to Annisa’s side of the table, his eyes brushing past Raleigh with momentary confusion. 

“Landon, Sacramento,” he says. “Heard you knew something about a freshman enclaver who’d been planning to walk into the void deliberately?”

Marcy notices the scooting and shoots Annisa and Malak an appreciative smile. She's about to tell Raleigh about their speculations about homework effort going into the school wards but WTF someone was planning to what?

Her face goes still for a fraction of a second before she realizes that this is one of those situations where someone who doesn't know anything is supposed to react.

"Who did what - sorry, that's not my business."

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhaahahahahahhah it's not fair it's not - and she has the stuff in her backpack, she can't deny it, she can only -

"Chantal. Toronto, I think? She said, uh -" innocentinnocentinnocentinnocent - "she had some kind of fight with Edmund Pevensie from London about it, and I asked her about it, and she said, uh, that he'd tried to - talk her out of it - and she didn't want that - so I just said, uh, that I'd heard it didn't work, just turned you back funny, and she said we'd see, and I could - check - in the morning - if it'd worked -" It sounds to her like she's lying and she isn't even lying.

Landon looks so unhappy, though it’s not particularly aimed at Annisa.

”And?” he says quietly. 

Landon is clearly too distressed to pay attention to subtle facial expressions, but Raleigh isn’t. Annisa…isn’t lying, necessarily, but he strongly suspects she knows more than she’s saying. 

Also, huh, why is Landon so stressed about this in particular -?

Marcy is failing to track facial expressions because she is so confused. If someone was going to do that why would they come here?

"Her door was open, no one was there. I - still figured it was likelier she'd gotten turned, and wandered off - and I was worried someone'd think I'd, uh, encouraged her, or something, and I was already late for homeroom, so I went to class. Have you - asked Toronto -"

"Did she say anything about why she wanted to do it? I mean, it just doesn't make any sense."

“Hadn’t known it was Toronto,” Landon answers Annisa, “just - some indie freshman showed up at our table and she’s heard a rumour.”

He squares his shoulders. Exchanges a deeply worried look with the seniors’ end of the table. “Guess I’d better go ask around there, maybe someone saw her. Shit - this is exactly what we don’t need the first week of term…” 

And he marches off again. 

Malak is just going to sit here looking upset and not say anything. Sorry Annisa, I know you'd do the same for me.

Raleigh is so incredibly confused! He picks at his eggs and exchanges awkward looks with his new yearmate friends. 

“I don’t get why - it’s not like we’re close with Toronto or anything….”

The Boston upperclassmen are exchanging significant looks. One of them mutters something too low to be made out but which is probably "Fuck." Another one says something in Latvian.

She was worried the enclavers would all band together if they suspected it was foul play and she is NOT LESS WORRIED ABOUT THAT NOW.