(Basil, meanwhile, is collecting all their scrap metal and the other goods he selected from the cabinets and packing it all up to take back to Tony's room, where, knowing Tony, there's going to end up being a home forge setup within the week.)

After Julia gives him a very helpful primer, Riley scampers off to find Tony (and/or Sherlock). Those look like they're probably the twins she mentioned! Riley clutches his remaining copper, tin, and a jar of sand (no wax, because he's used it all up) close to his chest as he approaches Tony- thanks once again to his new favorite enclaver, Julia, for giving him the clue about the shirts. Telling them apart would be a trick and a half if not for that- he has no chance if they ever try to mislead him. He approaches Tony.

"Tony? I'm Riley. I heard you're the guy to go to for help with the assignment."

"Hi, nice to meet you! What's the trouble?"

"Is it bad if I say 'everything'? Can't get the wax right, I think- want me to show you?"

"Sure, go for it."

It's clear that Riley doesn't have any idea what a knife should look like- he's designed the most recent iteration with the correct general shape, but it won't result in a sharp object. Additionally, Riley has created a mold that lacks structural integrity, and may collapse before the metal has finished pouring. He pauses before starting to heat the metal.

"Any tips?"

"Yeah, take a look here—"

People say that being a talented expert in a subject makes you a bad teacher, and to some extent that may be true, but the thing about Tony trying to teach someone how to cast bronze is that he can identify in every case exactly why something is a problem, and what you should be doing instead, and why that matters. He coaches Riley through repairing his mold, showing him how pressure applied at specific angles will bend the wood slightly out of shape and demonstrating the difference made by adding a couple of nails here or taking out a damaged board there and replacing it with a fresh one that's better shaped for the spot and joins to the rest more easily. Then he helps him refine the shape of his wax knife into something that will work better for the purpose, and supervises getting it set in place in the mold and surrounded by packed sand in a way that will correctly receive the molten bronze once they're at that point.

It takes the better part of twenty minutes, so Riley makes sure to leave room for anyone else who needs Tony's help, but- he finally manages to get a knife. It's nothing impressive, but it is definitely a sharp piece of metal- better than his first two attempts.

"-You're a gosh-darned miracle worker. Thank you. That would have taken me weeks to figure out on my own."

"Hey, no problem! I like helping." But this is the Scholomance and you're not supposed to give stuff away for free, so he adds, "What're you good at? Maybe you can help me out if I get stuck on something in a different class. Or help me with a side project, I'm gonna have a lot of those."

"I'm an alchemist. I know more than my fair share of recipes; if there's something you want in the realm of physical enhancement, I have a name you can look up in the library."

He can't brew any of them, and memorizing the recipes would have been a waste of time, but he has names.

"Oh that's cool. I'll look you up if I get stuck on something in lab, how about?"

"A potion of enhanced senses also would not go amiss but I imagine they have tradeoffs, if they can be brewed at our level at all," Basil adds.

"I don't have anything for senses that I can brew, but I came across an old Greek recipe which gives you- it doesn't change your eyes, but it has the same effect as a compound eye."

"What effect is that, exactly? Sounds tricky to get used to."

"Tradeoffs. Supposedly, makes you more vigilant in the peripheral, but you see less detail. I have a lot of things like that- lists of potions that are beyond what I can do. We had a good library back home."

"I don't think I'll be looking into it, but it's good to know the option exists."

"Suit yourself. Thanks again, Tony. Nice meeting you, Basil."

He heads off back to his workspace.