"...how do they work?"

"Blasting, shielding, endurance and storage bracelets, as well as various luxuries."

"If you meant my spells, I can detect magic on enchanted items, unless they're hiding or they're complicated. I can detect poison. I can detect mals within my sight. That only helps sometimes. I have old spells, too, one that detects if something is clean, in Cantonese. I have one that can identify what a spell does even if you don't understand the language- that's in Classic Chinese, and it doesn't work on everything."

Angie is so pleased to have facilitated these meetings.

The twins have some little things for trading, but nothing listed interests them too much at this point. Angie's paying attention to Zed's conversation with Matsumoto-kun about the divination spells, though.

"I have a spell for strength, a spell for reflexes, and a spell for speed, right now," Yolanda offers. "Plus another speed one in Korean."

They don't actually want to have this conversation out in front of everybody. And they should actually show Angie and Alex the book first before they show anyone else. If at all.

"Could we meet up again in a few days?" they ask Tomonori.

"Strength sounds wonderful. Speed and reflexes sound suspiciously close to Angie's, have you two been swapping? If not, how do they compare? I wouldn't say no to more variety." He's got more detail on the stimulants, too - one works more or less like a cup of coffee in exchange for a small chunk of mana, while the other is flexible and finicky and needs a constant trickle. He'll gladly swap thinking for strength and the stimulants for reflexes and speed. 

He's also curious about the nature of Lily's enchanted bracelets and what she wants in trade. He mentions his plans to sell potions at breakfast if he gets the supplies he needs. 

"We haven't really gotten to comparing! Not that I wouldn't be happy to. That trade sounds good to me."

Let the swapping commence!

"We can meet up later, yeah," he says to Zed. Tomonori still wants a storage bracelet, but he can't afford one yet.

...no one minds if he jogs into place to build mana, right? Right.

Very industrious of him. "You know," he remarks to Tomonori after the trade is done, "it turns out that it doesn't matter if something is fun as long as it's hard, for building mana." After a quick mal check, he pulls a deck of cards from a backpack pocket. "I know some really difficult card games." 

Yeah. Zed will go back to leaning on Alex. And looking bored.

"That's a good idea. Maybe after we get some supplies."

Hint hint.

"Mhm, let's talk mana gathering strategies on the way down or after, if we're going to do that," Angie suggests, starting off in the direction of the door.

Alex wraps an arm around Zed's shoulders for a moment, squeezing, and then nudges them after her. 

"I'm ready whenever you are."

They start walking towards the doors.

"The spell takes about a minute to get through, everyone should have what they want to find in mind during. I'll start it when we get closer."

Yolanda starts thinking about things. 

Alexius heads that way too. "I can take point if Lily wouldn't mind letting me test out one of those shield bracelets, just for this run. I'm a tad more resilient than the average thanks to my affinity and I have a darn good envelope shield. Will be casting in Latin, FYI."

Lily gets a determined look, and passes over a shield bracelet.

Thinking thinking thinking about school supplies. So much thinking.

Out of the cafeteria they go, thinking hard and watching carefully!

Alexei slips their shield bracelet around his wrist for now, and sets to circling the group with a focus on the back, if Alexius is planning to take point. 

Nia fixes her attention on her list.

Tomonori will focus on his list and look for mals.

He will only see a mal if it is within visual range so it's not that helpful.

Alexius puts on the bracelet, makes sure no one is listening who doesn't want to be, and recites a poem in Latin. There's a faint shimmer around him, indeed looking a bit like a wetsuit, and he grins. "Oh this is nice. I can be the first one to open toolboxes and such. Combat folks, please blast anything that tries to nom me. I'm decent at close combat but more defensively oriented than offensively. I believe the hip young video gamers call this strategy tank-and-spank." 

Onward.