This morning he's sitting with a mixed group of European kids, including some French ones, and they are not particularly happy with Yvette's presence, and made even less so by Scorpius's reply of "Oh, ma chérie, I would love nothing more. Where should we meet?"

She beams at the French kids, and winks playfully. Yes, hello. "I'll have just finished up in Language, if you want to cavort through the corridors of our lovely school by yourself to get there. Elsewhere is also fine, if for some reason you aren't utterly insane."

"You wound me, Yvette! What have I ever done to give you the impression I'm not insane?"

"Don't worry, you haven't! I just thought it fair to give you a sane option, so any last bastion of sanity within your head could weep in despair. Have a good, non-deadly breakfast."

That last part is to everyone at the table, but it's hard to tell how sincere it is, because: Yvette. But take heart, those who do not believe she has good intentions! She's leaving now. She has other things to do, like swap history assignments with Liu. It's just more efficient if they both write about things they already do know, and then hand each other the papers to turn in. Rather than some nonsense like "do" "the" "assignment" "properly" and research about an enclave they don't know about, as the assignment states. Bad for their mutual knowledge of history? Definitely. But she can learn history after she's not in a damned death school. Hey, the school doesn't care how you get the assignments done, just that they're done. This sort of thing is very normal, here.

Not to mention how the sadistic school made that count as a language credit by making Yvette's and Liu's assignments require primary sources in languages they aren't respectively strong in, but coincidentally Liu is strong in the languages Yvette needs and vice-versa so it works out tidily.

And Scorpius is, in fact, by the language hall when Yvette's class is done.

"What a delightful coincidence to run into you here, chérie," he says, cheerfully. "Say, I've been looking for a dance partner; might you be interested?"

"Oh, but I don't have anything to wear," she drawls, but yes, yes, off mal hunting they shall go. She waves to Liu as she goes.

"You know this will be more efficient if you try to keep the bodies intact, and sell bits of them," she says, after they're properly alone.

"More efficient? It'll certainly take more time."

“I’m not so sure. But even if it is: which is better, Lake, killing all of the mals personally, or arming your classmates to defend themselves properly?”

"That's not a bad point, but on the other hand carrying a ton of stuff interferes with the actual killing very quickly."

“Not everything valuable from a mal is heavy or cumbersome. A backpack would do wonders without getting too much in the way. Barring that, I bet you could find people that’d be happy to trail after you and carry things. Perhaps a ‘you keep what you salvage’ sort of situation.”

"...I'm good with the backpack but I am not bringing other people with me. You're an exception due to being a weapon of mass destruction but I am not bringing people with me."

“…. Right. Of course. Sorry.”

He looks away for a second and takes a deep calming breath then buries that.

"Anyway, how've you been, how was your weekend?"

She will absolutely let him retreat from his trauma. Good job, Yvette, he even told you about the inciting incident, and you still managed to trip into it.

"It was good! As you'll see, my athame has a handle and a sheath, though I still want to put in some work on both, I don't know that they're quite worthy of her yet. But I did get some alchemy credit for curing the leather, it's why I'm free to cavort around with you now at all, really."

"Oh, that's exciting," he says, starting to lead the way to wherever his instincts say they should go. "...out of curiosity, and you can tell me to fuck off if you'd rather, but what exactly does it do?"

"My athame? Mm. She is very sharp and deadly, and excellent for cutting reagents and herbs - she enhances the power and freshness of living things that she cuts. Among other things that we might end up seeing this morning."

"Huh. And that was in-affinity?"

"It was a bit on the edge, but yes, close enough."

Which is to say, she doesn't want to talk about it, got it.

"Well it's gonna be fun to see it in action. Speaking of action," and he gestures at one of the seminar classrooms over yonder, door slightly ajar and unlit from the inside despite the other nearby rooms being lit.

She does not, no.

"Quite."

The action in question is nothing really to write home about, some kind of scuttling, many clawed things that might not even have a proper name. Nonetheless, there are a number of reagents she can pick up and pack away. The claws, mostly. She could go for the teeth as well, but they'd be a pain to pull out. Without mal studies having told her what the choice bits are, it's probably not worth the time investment when it could turn out to be near worthless. But claws are quick and easy, especially with her lovely and sharp new friend.

Weak mals like that prove more exception than rule, though; as Scorpius observed the other day, even when accounting for it being so close to graduation the maleficaria they run into are often bigger, stronger, and more numerous than usual. The sirenspiders and the mimics and that enormous shrike are in good company with everything they run into while on the hunt, creatures both named and not.

Even Scorpius has to break a sweat with them, though it's the kind of sweat of a nice invigorating run more than that of a fight for his life.

Yvette continues to be mostly support in this hunting quest, but she's very good support. The maleficaria get their escapes cut off, disrupted at key moments to make an opening that hadn't been there, shoved together for his tidy finishers, and her knowledge of specific types of maleficaria and their strengths and weaknesses eclipses his. This includes the best ways to kill them, which often makes the whole thing go faster, but it's particularly useful for grabbing choice bits off of them for use elsewhere. She'd kind of gotten ripped off when she traded away the larger-than-normal shrike beak, in a bid to get her athame treated properly sooner rather than later, but it is becoming increasingly clear she didn't have to worry too much about that. Her satchel is going to be very, very full by the end of this expedition.

Also? She's having fun. This is fun.

It is. If she pays attention she might catch Scorpius straight-up grinning while slaughtering the maleficaria before he can catch himself and school his expression lest people think he's psycho or something.

No, no, that ship has long sailed for her, she's just leaning into being seen as kind of psycho, now.

But speaking of things that are kind of psycho: just what the hell is trying to kill Scorpius? Most mals just run, either immediately or when they realize who he is. Even the stupid ones seem to have gotten it into their tiny equivalent of brains that facing Scorpius Lake means death, and there really aren't many stupid ones. Whereas this bit of... what is this, animated bits of metal swarming together? Whatever it, or they are, they're making a beeline for him like it's on a quest for revenge. Which is really very strange, unless for some reason it does have a grudge against him in particular.

".... Lake," she says slowly, after they're good and dead and no longer wiggling with malevolence. "Have you been not keeping up with your homework."