"Mind ward for wakefulness, thinkfast for force shield, and...for the force spike, I have on offer in Latin: solidifying incorporeal mals, fast-cast but mana-intensive skin-toughening, generic personal antitoxin, hair-growing, tooth-growing, a few other minor body mods, and the envelope shield I used during our supply run. That last one I'd like a bit more for, it's my favorite." 

Oh, another potential customer. He smiles at the new arrival. 

"Hi Shannon! - I just realized I was so excited about the potions I didn't ask anybody's names, I'm sorry!"

The new potential customer smiles a bit nervously at him. "Hi! I'm Shannon, from Vancouver." 

"Alexius Marcus, some generous souls append 'the Great', affinity for the self, Jacksonville. Purveyor of fine spells and potions. Pleasure to meet you, Shannon." 

"I'd like the incorporeal solidifier, please. And my name is Isabel Lillian Amber, but I go by Lily."

“Huh, affinity for the self? That’s not one I‘ve heard before! What do your potions do?”

Alexius writes down his swap-spells for Lily. "Good choice." 

"These potions in particular will give you eidetic memory for five to ten days with no side effects, with good retention that gets better if you study right after the effects wear off. I make them in as large a batch as I can every ten days, I always get the maximum duration myself but my affinity doesn't do squat unless I actually drink and benefit from what I brew. Currently going for six mana-hours apiece, or make me an offer. Mana-hours are approximately one hour of an average freshman's mana-building effort, as measured by a bunch of teenagers in Jacksonvile a while back. It's cheap as these things go because I'm trying to impress people, it'll go up later. Lily here has banked some credit because her shielding bracelet is nice." He pats the bronze-and-tigerseye affectionately. 

Lily's pet maleficer is sitting two tables away STARING in between devouring the cafeteria food with obvious delight. 

"Do you reckon your friend over there is going to actually attend any of the classes you read to him?" murmurs Bella.

"I don't expect so. They have him down for basic literacy. I considered doing his homework for him since it would be easy, but then I remembered he would have to copy it out longhand. Which would require him to actually know how to write. So..." 

She leaves the implied disaster unspoken.

"Plus it would be a lot of outlay for a... dubious asset, like, I don't want the kid to die but there have got to be people it's cheaper to save."

"Yes."

Alexius overhears this, and yikes. There are unprepared freshmen but illiterate and truant is a new standard of fucked. "He could trade me for a potion maybe? That won't do enough in only a week but it would help. Or you could, I did say you have credit with the bracelet, and get him to pay you back. Then again, if he doesn't even plan to attend I don't see how even permanent eidetic memory would do the trick." He wants to ask more but there's a potential customer to butter up so it'll have to wait. 

Would Shannon like to barter for a potion...?

"I'd rather save the credit for myself, thank you. I don't think any amount of potions will cure his attitude."

Eidetic memory potions, hmm? How would that interact with meditation mana generation? Might be good, might make it less effective... he could just exercise, being in better shape is valuable anyway. Also, interesting indies and possible minor enclave. 

"Memory potions? Did I miss the detailed pitch?"

"I should have handy little instruction cards, shouldn't I. Maybe once the price goes up." He repeats his description of the potion's effects. "I'm Alexius Marcus, by the way." 

"Theun Jansen. You ever do meditation for mana? I think this will either make it substantially more effective or substantially less, not sure which."

"I've never gotten a lot out of it. I don't think the eidetic memory actually matters that much, though? It might be distracting at first but you should acclimate quickly. I did, however, discover that sufficiently difficult card games and such work nearly as well as exercise, and some remain just as difficult when you can count cards. This weekend I'm going to try snagging a library or reasonably safe empty classroom for group poker, Codenames, Mao, and such." 

"Oooh. I owe Suze and can pace and embroider when I'm stuck in my room."

"Interesting! I don't think I can offer a reading room, but if I remember Mao right you might be able to interest some of this year's Boston crop, they could offer it."

"I'll reach out. They probably have a deck of cards already but I can trade use of the Codenames notecards I'm going to make. 

"I got a stupidly high mana rate the first time I played Mao, at least until I ragequit. It's perfect for newbies and builds character." 

"Character. Yes. Definitely not 'obnoxious trolling', that would be undignified." (Theun is now pretty sure he is remembering the right game.)

"The graduates said so, it must be true. Builds the ability to tolerate intense frustration, at least. You interested in a potion, Theun? I've also been doing a fairly brisk trade in personal spells." 

"Oh my god you play Mao? I love that game! Couldn't justify a pack of cards for it, I don't get as good a rate off it as situps, but I would love to play."

"I am, but six hours would drain me to the dregs at the moment. Any types of spell you'd be interested in trade?"