"Can we stop by my room? I didn't bring my bag with me."

"I suppose, where are you at?"

"263, it's that way."

To 263, then.

Annisa has her bag but will dump out her French and syntax textbooks so as to have more room for shop supplies.

She heaps most of the things in her pack onto her bed when they get there, and casts a protective ward that should take the place of the pack's wards for the next hour or two. "Sorry," she says to the objects arranged across her bed. "I need to get some things that were less important than bringing you in, I'll put you back in safe as soon as I can."

In a year or two Franklin is going to have a backpack that weighs less than the stuff in it and is twice as big inside as outside and can only be opened by people he authorizes and it's going to be great.

And down the stairs they go! Annisa knows she shouldn't really like school because she can't afford to get distracted and die but she really likes school! It has such neat people! And they hang out with her because she is part of the Group and can make them knives! And now they get to go to the shop and -

"So if I do make a forge in my room would anyone want to time-share on it?"

"Potentially, depends on how many metalworking projects I get."

"I don't know what I'm going to get in shop yet, yeah."

"I'm probably not gonna make that much stuff out of metal if I can help it? I'm much better at textiles, and I'm okay at wood. Armor's metal, though, how about you, Franklin?"

"Kevin is going to make me a forge and I will definitely think about selling time on it." Even though that would involve having people in his bedroom. "Marcy is going to get one too and she'll definitely sell time on it."

"Huh, I would have expected you guys to consolidate on one forge? Do you both plan on doing a lot of late-night forging?"

"More like a lot of forging generally and we don't want to deal with scheduling at curfew or other times." Also Kevin wants to mess with pipes four times instead of one time and nobody's going to try to stop him.

"I've mostly been focusing on textiles too but that's because it's easier to bring supplies, who knows what I'm going to get in shop. Maybe it'll assign me armor too."

"What's your affinity?"

"Wards, mostly anchored ones."

"Would Kevin mind if I helped him do the three of yours in exchange for learning how to do it so I can do mine?"

"Wards is a good one. Kevin probably wouldn't mind and I can pass on that you asked."

Annisa knows enough to be very wary of anything that even sort of looks like owing a favor to enclaver boys but it'd be worth it for a safe forge where she can make knives in all her free time. "Thanks."

Franklin keeps walking, blissfully unaware of any gendered implications of anything.

The workshop is technically all one stunningly expansive room, though there are enough dividers and drying racks and section divisions that in practice it's important to know which door you want to enter through for your class; some helpful people have painted numbers in places. It's brightly lit, and warm, and smells faintly of ash and iron. The enormous furnaces in the center are roaring distantly. 

Oh man if she didn't put a forge in her room she could just come down here to work -

- and then she would die. 

But she's here now! And by senior year maybe she can be here all the time!