"Uh." He swallows the bite of eggs he's chewing. "Hi Karen. It's like— language rhythm? What's the context, if the context is poetry then it just means meter." 

"The context is that I have a class called Latin Prosody. So, uh, if the tutoring offer was serious then I think I am going to need to start on that fairly immediately."

"Oh wow that's not great. Offer was serious, we can start this afternoon after our last classes, do you have that today? — actually what else do you have." 

"Hm. Uh, today is Freshman Maleficaria Studies, which I hear is good because you learn spells to kill mals in it, and then Intro To Lab after that, and then Ancient History of Maleficaria, which will hopefully be even more about killing mals? And then on Monday I have Intro to Shop, and then History of Mathematics, and then 'The Magical Feminine in Medieval English Literature', and then more Ancient History of Maleficaria, annnd... on Tuesdays and Thursdays I have Language Lab, Medieval Debate Poetry, Latin Prosody, more Language Lab, Formal Logic for Spellcraft, and Freshman Composition. And then Wednesdays the same as Mondays except with more Maleficaria Studies instead of shop." She passes him her schedule in case that makes it easier to interact with.

"Freshman Maleficaria is about that, don't sit in the front row if you can possibly avoid it there's an animated mal that goes around and sometimes it goes a little more real than you'd like—" 

He takes the paper.

"—wait, shit, you have shop first thing on Monday?" 

"Yeah, is that bad?"

"Yes. Yes, that's bad. 

—shop is on the lower levels of the school, which means you're closer to the graduation hall and more mals get in— has anyone told you how graduation works yet it was on my list but I'm not actually sure what you've already been told— and so you really, really don't want to be the first person in multiple days to go in." 

"Well, that does sound kind of bad.

"Uh, someone said that graduation was more like a mad dash from the exit to the - I'm not actually clear on to where, another exit? And that there were a lot of mals there and you had to try to run through before they caught you. So I guess I know about that much about graduation."

"The senior floor drops out from under you and you have to make it to the door. About half the people who make it to graduation survive it, on average, and only about half the people who come in make it that far at all."

Looking closer at the schedule. "Language lab you'll be fine, it's sitting in a booth doing immersion learning, I can help with your homework along with tutoring, and medieval debate poetry I think I'm also in, medieval English literature might require Middle English which I don't have but I can probably find someone who does, the only things here that look really bad are the shop class and the languages you don't have, which is kind of the entire thing I promised to help you with." 

Nod. "Okay, so - I guess I just have to focus on learning Latin really fast? And also on - wait - " a half of a half is - " - only twenty five percent of people make it out of here?"

"Outside of here it's about five percent. I'm really, really sorry." 

"Wh - "

She has a lot of questions but cannot actually think of how to put any of them into words. She's finding herself doing population math. Technically speaking, you can hit replacement like that, if everyone has an average of, uh, eight kids... does everyone here have seven siblings?

This is not the important thing to be thinking about. She mentally adjusts her model of where she is from 'Rebuild' to 'Rebuild, on Insane Mode'. She can't remember whether she ever beat Rebuild on insane mode. - this isn't the right thing to be thinking about, either.

" - okay. Are there - what do I need to know about the shop class."

"You're there Monday morning, which means nobody will have been there all weekend, and anyone who can possibly have switched out of it will have so you'll probably be pretty close to alone. That's bad because it means you're much more likely to be attacked, but it also means you'll have the best possible supplies, the storage cupboards refill over the weekend, and not a lot of competition for them. You can't take things you're using in class out, they turn very bitey, if you want something for personal use you have to get it on your own time.

You will probably be okay this coming Monday, the first few weeks are always the safest, but after that I honestly would not even go, it'd be safer to get someone else to do your homework in exchange for you doing an equivalent amount of theirs, the school doesn't punish cheating." 

" - okay.

"How does doing someone else's shop work even work, don't you... have to do it in the shop?"

"Yes, but there are work periods after lunch you can do it in, so it doesn't require you to go at the most dangerous possible time." 

" - okay. So - I could do my own work at a different time? I guess? If there was anyone else in there? Is there a way to get assignments if I do that?"

"I... am assured that the answer is yes but I don't actually know what that answer is, it's been six years since my oldest brother graduated."

- right, if you were hitting replacement by having eight children apiece, then the space between the siblings who come out -

"Uh. Right then. Maybe I'll ask around and see if I can figure anything out. I guess - I at least know what we need to do about the Latin. I guess."

"Yeah. That's-- the reason I'd even go at all, the first time, is to figure out how getting assignments and turning them in works.

I'm really, really sorry."

"It's okay. - which, uh, I guess is to say that it's not, at all, but I'll figure something out or I won't be in the twenty-five percent." - that's not actually even a tiny bit reassuring, whoops. "I'll, uh, talk to some people I know about it and see whether they need anything on the homework front. - do you need anything on the homework front? Also what, uh, actually happens if you don't do homework, I was kind of assuming that you just didn't learn anything and couldn't make it through graduation but it sounds like it's maybe not that?"

"--right, yes, that was also on the list. It comes to life and attacks you. Including the essays." 

Absolutely none of this okay and he doesn't have anything to say that would make it even remotely closer to okay so he's going to move on to the next practical question. That, at least, he can say useful things about.

"I will probably wind up needing things on the homework front but it's not obvious what, yet, I'll get back to you about trading when I've gone to all my classes at least once." 

"Cool. I am - not sure that I'm going to actually be any good at anything, but we can hope. - is there anything else I need to know right now that is going to cause horrible problems if I don't know it later today. Just. Out of curiosity." Actually she's pretty sure that's not what 'just out of curiosity' means but it sounds like she said that anyway. Oh well.

"For today — uh, I think I said don't sit in the front of maleficaria studies? Check under desks and chairs before you sit in them, don't sit near the vents if you can avoid it, don't take any food that the years who eat before us haven't touched, don't be the first person or the last person in a classroom. And treat everything in Intro to Lab like it's at least as dangerous as bleach." 

She nods, and then decides she doesn't trust herself to remember it, and writes it down on some of her very limited paper supply.