Hmmm. Not really his strong suit but it's a counterspell, so sure. The Mandarin thinkspell is a bit longer and involves some repetition; he writes it out in careful penstrokes and trades it over. "Does it work on active magic?" Maybe he can use it to end one of his own spells early if they're somehow inconvenient. 

"Yes, that's when it works best, no-selling something somebody else has just cast. If you undershoot the counterspell mana compared to what they're putting in - you don't need to match it but you need like forty percent - then it'll leave extra bits uncountered but still get a chunk of it."

"Sorry, I meant ongoing magic. That's handy, though, if you're quick enough." With his affinity working against him there it'd probably cost him more mana than the target spell, but that could be worth it, and he might just be fast enough with all the boosts he can in theory layer on.

"I have a different thing for disenchanting artifice but I wrote it myself and it doesn't work very well yet. I don't have anything for dismissing a persistent effect that isn't an artifice but I can see why you'd want one, if you can't usually dismiss your own spells on yourself? I'll put it on my list of ideas for composition."

"I can sometimes coax them into ending early, and ones with variable duration tend to cooperate with what I want of them, but yes, outright dismissal is a work in progress. It's not a huge problem because I generally want more good things, not fewer, but having a bit more options to control the more dangerous ones is always nice." 

"I'll see what I can do." She has a list of composition ideas already with several items on it and adds this one, writing at half the height of the lines in the notebook.

"And do please let me know if you find a way to tweak that potion to behave for everybody. I can add a disclaimer to my fine print, 'for best effect, take with bribed Bella.'" 

"Ha! I already drank the first one but next time maybe I will have some suitable way to analyze it."

"I suppose I could invite you to watch me brew it if you promise not to memorize and sell the recipe. Once I start recruiting other alchemists the cat will be out of the cauldron, of course, but by then I hope to have plenty of other wares on offer." 

"I'm not nearly alchemist enough to watch a brew and make it myself after that and then drink the results when it's got a mercury base but I would be happy to have a look and see if it can be nudged."

"Nudging would be the idea, yes." Eidetic memory would go a long way toward letting an experienced alchemist poach his recipe, but he supposes she wouldn't have eidetic at the time if it's ten days after his last batch. He can't completely rely on her being an inexperienced alchemist, alas, but it's enough. "Unless something truly momentous throws off my plans, I'll start the next batch on Monday the 13th just after curfew ends." 

"Before breakfast? That's early. And... dangerous."

Hmmm. "It's not too bad this early in the year, but yes, it's gonna get worse over time. My original plan called for securing some additional malwatching in exchange for potions" he nods towards the vigilant juniors, "but now that I've made my impression at breakfast, I suppose I could shift the brewing to before dinner instead and save risk that way. If others are going to be reluctant to work early in the morning, so much the more reason to switch. I'd have to go a few hours without eidetic memory, but I can deal." 

"Before dinner I am much less reluctant! Though ideally it'd be more than a two-person party."

"The malwatching service is still on the table. And maybe some folks from my supply run group will want to join in exchange for early potions. Not gonna take any more risks than I have to, I need my full attention on the brewing." 

"I can ask Suze but I don't really see her going for it, truth be told. - I met a Boston girl who might be all over it, though."

"I do love meeting new people." There have been a surprising number of non-assholes in the freshman class, it's refreshing. 

"I don't see her right now, there's just, fucking thousands of people in here, but I'll try to sit next to her in Maleficaria Studies and I can bring it up then."

"You were asking about spells? I've got a French force spike one for mal-killing or use as an awl or knife - it's variable-feed and focusses all the power on a tiny area. A French force shield one for combat, which synergizes with the force spike one, an Old English poison detector, a Mandarin rip-apart hex that detonates if you give it enough power, the standard English wake-up ward, and an English/French bilingual keep-awake developed by my older sister Rose that's good enough to substitute completely for an hour of sleep each night for a month, or for up to three all-nighters if you need it all at once. It hurts after you're past eight hours sleep debt, and has progressively worse backlash past sixteen. It's more gentle if you stretch it."

"Well, we do have ten days." 

To Lily: "The keep-awake dovetails nicely with my affinity, that'd be my first choice. I bet Yolanda would jump on it too, if you offered. I'd like the force shield and maybe the spike as well. Hear anything from my list that you'd like? If you have Latin or Greek I've got a few more." 

"I like the sound of the keep-awake if you want any of mine."

"I don't have Latin yet but I'm going to be learning it, so I'd be interested in your Latin selection. Of what you've said so far I'm most interested in the mind ward and the slightly faster thinking."

She looks over at Bella. "I'd trade for your counterspell."

She copies out the flowchart again.

Lily writes out a four-verse alternating french/english poem that only rhymes if you pronounce it in quebecois on a piece of her graph paper, and snips it off with her scissors. "Here you go."

Shannon is in a pretty good mood when she reaches the cafeteria; even the sad, picked-over state of the food lineup isn't enough to touch her cheerfulness. She has ALCHEMY LAB on her schedule! 

Marcy seems to be at the Boston enclave table, which is scary, but - ooh, there's Bella! Shannon wanders over. "Hey."