Is... That the guy who's extremely good at killing mals? Huh. Phenomenally unlucky to kind of lucky, the supply cabinets are still really full. She's making... Another knife, apparently. "Don't worry, I won't abandon you," she tells her switchblade.

Over there, an Asian looking girl she vaguely remembers from the whirlwinds of meals and orientation. Somewhat similar situation to her, maybe?

"Hey," she asks Ribo a respectful distance away. "Want to work together? Or next to each other, anyway. I've got a metal affinity, could come in handy later."

"Sure, I'd be happy to." She indicates another seat at her table.

Great. Some sort of lookout and possibly future friend, unlocked.

"I've never really made anything from scratch before but I think I'll learn fast. I fixed TVs and toasters and bikes and stuff, before. Sometimes. 'Cause nobody could afford new ones, but."

Carve a wax shape, huh? She's heard of metal casting. Sounds dangerous. And she knows things about knife shapes. Something simple, hard to screw up, with a full tang. Here's a block of wax to start on. 

"I haven't worked with electronics much. I'm taking a class I think might be related though." Ribo's multi tool is animated wire and is making quick work of the carving part.

"Consumer stuff is like- Some of the time it's one little resistor or capacitor that costs five bucks that's busted, fix that and the thousand dollar TV works again. It's just that most people don't bother. And sometimes it's more than that and I can't do it."

"That's really cool. It sounds a little like medicine when you put it like that. A lot of the problem is figuring out what specifically is wrong."

Riley plans to arrive early to study groups, and late to morning classes. It's the best way not to court disaster, while he's still a squishy freshman. He's- not really sure what to make of how relaxed the atmosphere is. He waves at Wendy- it costs nothing to be friendly with fellow indies. That girl is definitely an enclaver, although he's not sure of most of the students that he doesn't recognize. He'll have to remember to suck up to her and her friends later.

For now, Riley will thank his mother and God that his potion gives him something of a buffer against random mal attacks, and look for a spot near a larger cluster of students. Not too close to Enclave Girl, but maybe near the girl with the magical multi-tool.

He goes to sit near Ribo.

"Impressive," he says to Ribo. "Was it a gift, or did you make it yourself?"

"A little of both, Mother commisoned an artificer to help make it but I had some input on the design. And I don't think it would work nearly as well if not for my affinity."

"Hey again Riley."

To Ribo: "You can't leave a guy hanging like that. What's your affinity?"

To Wendy: "-hey. Fancy running into you here. Made it to class okay?"

"Oh, my affinity is Wire."

"Ooh, wire? Fancy. And yeah, I sort of followed along right after people so it was still clear. An actual group to go with wouldn't be bad though."

"We can set something up once we have a few more people- Ribo, are you interested?"

"Sure, it's always nice to make new connections."

There's a commotion by the cabinets that Orion Lake resolves, and then Julia shouts out about plaster and sand.

"Oh, I need that for the casting thing, once I finish the negative - Is it a negative, it feels like a positive since the wax has the shape I want the knife to be? Anyway." She asks their little table. She waits to go retrieve some materials until Popular New York Girl is moving on.

"I'll go with you, she mentioned there was wire too. Hopefully she didn't take it all."

He obviously wants to offer to go with them, but-

"Should I wait here, make sure our workspace stays clear of mals?"

"It's still early in the year, I don't think we need to worry too much."

Riley takes that as permission to abandon his post and go hunting for supplies with them.

She has no idea what all is good stuff, but she wants metal things. Since her affinity is metal. Some barbed wire carefully wrapped in bits of cloth from the other cabinet in particular. Plus everything the knife-making assignment says she needs.

After lifting and lugging things for the enclave girl, Riley returns with- some sand, some sawdust, and the leftover copper.

"Good work back there," he says to Wendy. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were like any other indie kid."

"Learn fast or die," she says with forced cheer. "Now to make a knife."

"What about you, Ribo? Find any good wire?"

"Not the best stuff but steel, copper and tin. Also some of the barbed wire. I'm not sure what I'm going to make yet."

"Good haul. You're not making the knife like the rest of us?"

"I meant after I get the knife done. This wire isn't going to help much with the knife."

"I don't suppose I can get future assignments early? This stuff is cool."

"I think you could probably ask an upperclassmen but you could also just make up your own assignments."

"You can work on whatever you want if you finish early," grumbles Riley, as he tries to rethink his knife-making strategy.

Ribo turns her focus back to her work. She's finished carving the wax blank and she packs together a mold from sand and a bit of wood. She carefully nails together the wood frame and then she's off to one of the furnaces to heat and alloy the bronze.

After concluding that he's not even making marginal improvements, Riley goes to replenish his supplies.