"Yes."

"He's going to say 'fuck you, Masozi, that is nowhere near enough food and you are going to starve to death and then where will we be?' and then you're going to do that thing you do where you hide behind Wei Wuxian and look like someone's about to murder you. So I will be in charge of determining if you're eating enough food."

He's hopefully going to get used to Jiang Cheng at some point? Masozi nods, though. Being yelled at isn't pleasant even if he can repeat on loop in his head that it's not indicative of his life being in danger. 

- yeah okay if he does that a lot, Marian should probably bring it up with Wen Qing later during their shift? Not that Marian is even slightly qualified to - what, give this kid therapy for what's presumably a horrifying and upsetting backstory? 

"Uh, right. I'd better go talk to the other tables. See you later, Wen Qing?"

She leaves. 

Masozi sighs and starts unenthusiastically eating the rest of his rubbery eggs. 

"That's just Jiang Cheng. It's how he says he likes you."

Masozi smiles very tentatively at Jiang Cheng, and then ducks his head and goes back to trying to make himself eat the food. 

After the shouting has calmed down, Luca decides that waiting until lunch is not necessary. His Mandarin is better than his manners, but he has the basics - approach the table from the side for petitioners, bow to Lan Xichen and the two flanking him. Most enclavers could openly request to sit, or even sit immediately, but Pisa probably shouldn't.

"Good morning," he says in English. "You're... Pisa, right?"

(He doesn't have a power-sharer.)

(Neither does he, technically, though he has something like one.)

"Good morning. Yes, my name is Luca Calloconti. My cousins asked me to speak with you regarding the, ah, news." He gestures toward where Holden made his announcement. "May I sit?"

"Yes, of course."

"Thank you. We assume there's a search, and of course you're a natural group to coordinate. We're willing to help; we have as much interest in catching the killer as anyone."

Fuuuuuuuck who are these people he really needs to pay more attention to the Anglos

"We're interested in help from anyone who wants to offer," Lan Xichen says noncommittally in the hopes that Meng Yao will tell him who these people are.

They seem - more confused than he'd expect. Would they know...?

"Ah. We have some expertise. As you may remember, my enclave is all experienced in the - sane - use of malia. This has some benefits when hunting for less stable maleficers."

That exists???

"Of course," he says smoothly, "and the existence of a less well-regulated maleficer leads to all sorts of-- misunderstandings. For a while, New York even thought the maleficer was a Shanghai ally!"

If Pisa is what their representative says they are, they should talk to Masozi to clear up his misunderstandings about malia, he would be very interested. Lan Xichen should ask around about this-- Hitomi might know more, or know who to ask about it. But this is a longer term plan for the maleficer is caught. If New York catches wind of Shanghai talking to sane maleficers they're going to assume Shanghai is planning to use malia.

They either had forgotten about Pisa or didn't know. Better not presume more, though.

"We noticed their commotion, I'm glad the confusion was cleared up. I'd assume you'll be leading a search? My senior cousins have more discernment for distinguishing maleficers from a distance than most. Sadly, my cousins here are only spell-competent with Mandarin, but they do want to help."

"We have to coordinate with New York but we're planning to sweep shop classes, so with luck we find them within week. Jaipur is already flagging people they think are suspicious, having second eye on that is good."

"You both have unique perspectives," Meng Yao says, "with Jaipur being very anti-malia and yourselves using it."

Subtext: Please don't talk to Jaipur.

He nods to Meng Yao, "They certainly think so. I might have hoped that our traditions would reassure them eventually, but at this point, they clearly feel their own traditions forbid it. Sweeping the shop classes makes sense and I'm sure our seniors will be happy to assist."

Subtext: Yeah we know about Jaipur, and, therefore, Luca is leaning toward you not knowing much about Pisa.

Yes, Meng Yao's lack of omniscience here is embarrassing for everyone involved.

"Anything you happen to come across is very valuable."

Luca nods. "You'll see them later today, then. If Shanghai needs anything else from us in the future, don't hesitate to ask. Our reading room is" - he gives directions. "If there isn't anything else at the moment?"

"Not at moment, thank you."