Alyona passes on some offputtingly squirmy 'green beans' and loads her tray up with mashed potatoes (no gravy, it had some suspicious bits floating in it). The protein options are basically gone by the time she gets there, but whatever, it's all the same nutrient paste underneath, right?

She spots Liath at a table and heads to sit by her. "Hey. How was orientation?"

"Basic. You'd think they'd cover more, but then again, the people who are going to live have the basics already dealt with. Better not to waste everyone's time."

"Seriously, imagine getting your kid a Scholomance slot and then just not telling them anything. If you wanted them to die that bad, just leave them outside and let someone else in!"

Liath nods. "I don't know what's up with the UK letting in any old independent. We earned our slots. And we have to keep earning them."

"Yeah I went on a water run with some British kids earlier and they were all independents and they really didn't seem very prepared. One of them tried to take toilet paper out of the bathroom."

"It's just that kind of time waste that'll come back to bite you in here. Did any of them seem like they were competent enough to adopt?"

"None of the Brits, but there was one Canadian girl that did a pretty tidy shield on a drain after I washed an ooze down it. Her name was Elizabeth." Alyona looks around the room and then indicates Elizabeth Kirsch. "She says she's got her eye on Toronto but I think she's worth us keeping an eye on."

"We need someone maintenance track. Also I want tutors for more languages - French, Spanish, Italian. Keep an ear out for me, if you would?"

"Hmm, I think she said she had French? I can ask her about it later, we had talked about maybe swapping Latin spells sometime." She lets out a frustrated hmph. "I'll definitely pass any Italian or Spanish tutors I find your way, but I don't have any leads on maintenance yet. And we really need one, I super do not have time to do a maintenance shift, I need to be spending all my spare time in the language lab." Maybe some enterprising artificer will appear in one of her classes tomorrow.

"I talked to a potential Spanish tutor earlier but she didn't seem interested. I'll definitely keep my eyes peeled."