Wei Wuxian is getting water for Masozi.

"Excuse me, can I fill this up?"

Peter weights the pros and cons.

- He's got a smaller container than them; letting him cut in front would minimize total waiting time.

- If they let everyone with a smaller container cut in front of them they'll never finish.

- There aren't going to be that many people coming in with small containers.

- If they let him cut in they'll have to heave the half-full container out of the sink to make room and then heave it back in again and that will suck.

"Can you wait until we finish with this jug and then you can go before we start on the next one?"

"--uh it would be good if I could cut in because my friend is sick but if it's too much of a pain he can wait."

Okay they're not going to make a sick kid wait for water because they're too lazy to lift a bucket, first come first served doesn't mean you can just be an asshole. 

"Yeah, alright. Here, John, can you get that end--"

John is already getting that end but he has further questions. "What's your friend got; does it look contagious?" If this kid's whole enclave is about to come down with something he wants to avoid them.

"We think food poisoning."

"Yikes."

"Better than what happened to that other freshman."

"Ouch, yeah, that's a point, are you totally sure it wasn't the serial killer?"

Fuck. Politics. 

"We're pretty sure it's not the serial killer."

"Alright, well, be careful--wait, that's a Shanghai power-sharer, right? Be extra double careful, I heard the killer's after Shanghai in particular."

"Hang on, you came in here alone, do you want me to walk you back to your friend's room? Peter, you can babysit the buckets, right? I'll be like two minutes." Why is everything in this school the problem with the wolf the goat and the cabbage except the wolf is a maleficer who's probably getting deadlier with every kill.

"Yeah, if I don't have to go near any drains I should have time to shield." 

"My enclavemate has a healing affinity, she says it's poison so we're assuming it's food poisoning and not, uh, someone trying to murder him although to be honest that's also a really irritatingly likely possibility because we almost had a war about him."

"Wait, the sick kid is--" wow there is no politically savvy way to finish that sentence. "Either way between the mals and the serial killer you shouldn't be walking around the halls alone." Really the mals alone would be sufficient but the serial killer is much more likely to start a war and therefore much more of John's business.

"I'm just running down to get some water, it'll be fine."

"Kid, if you do something that's fine nine hundred and ninety-nine times out of a thousand every day, you'll be dead by the end of junior year."

"I am literally just walking to the bathroom!"

They look at each other and switch to very quiet muttered Latin. 

"John, the first year does not be your responsibility."

"If Shanghai boy to die and Americans to see him last they not to say that."

"Who is being knowledge of that??? If any person is seeing him they is seeing him alone, that is being the whole point."

"Peter!"

"He is not wanting help. Us cannot be forcing people to be making smart thoughts. Us be wanting to look like person who is stalking? Not!"

John sighs and says in English, "Look, just fill up your jug and go."

"...wow you guys are terrible at conjugating verbs."

Peter and John get bright red ears. "Well, you're terrible at not admitting to eavesdropping when people are whispering."

"I would like to note that we are all ostensibly here to use the faucet and yet none of us has been using the faucet for multiple minutes now."

"Fine. I'm getting my water." He does. "Also, Shanghai is way less easily offended than New York about stalking, just saying."

"We approve of this trait and will refrain from stalking you regardless." They wrestle their water jug back into the sink and set about filling it again.

"I can probably sell you Latin tutoring!" he says cheerily as he starts to leave.

"As if we'd spend time getting fluent at speaking a language we can already read when we could be getting spell-competent in ancient Greek or, what've you got again?"

"Survey says 'more Mandarin' but it's a fair cop, honestly. Characters for days. Relatedly I'm'a do some flashcards; make sure we don't die and stuff."

"Roger that."