Teresa has someone interesting in most classes that she's trying to figure out, and in two of her classes it's still the same guy it's been since day one. He's hyperaware but at people, or something, and it's a puzzle. She wants to solve it. So, after Roman History:
"Hey, Theun. Walk with me to lunch?"
"Oh, they are twins? I saw them going around with the matching outfits, they seemed well-prepared. But I haven't spoken to either directly yet."
"Ah, so this is the right track. Also, you're a poor liar, but I already guessed that, you don't hide your emotions by default and that's necessary to lie well. Right, so... spells. Nothing with substantial trade value, so... oh, you gave someone a basic wake-up ward. Maybe a straightforward fire or shock spell for obvious mals. For a pittance, maybe free. Stupid, because you might be able to trade your variant to someone, but not very stupid, because you wouldn't get much. And they'll be complete dead meat without it, and with it they'll have a chance. And now I've figured out part of the puzzle that is you."
"Well, you certainly did show off."
She's scarily good at this. Damn. Was this whole thing a manipulation? He feels like he has to assume it was.
"I nailed it, didn't I? I knew I was close, but you are absolutely acting like I nailed it. Clearly, you should spill the rest of your secrets to save me a few minutes figuring them out."
"Yeah, you pretty much did. You are scary, to be honest. And not just the part where you're a polite maleficer."
"Thank you, thank you, I'll be here all year." She mock-bows. "Well, anything unusual you're looking for in people to meet? I have been assembling a picture of all the most interesting people in our year, I might send someone your way."
"Hmm. Well, anyone who wants their books warded for privacy. Or wants help understanding historical language shifts, at least for anything in the Germanic family or ancient Latin/Greek, I'm quite good at that. Haven't gotten to any of the modern Romance languages yet, though. I need Mandarin vocabulary tutoring. And anyone with ambitions to change the political landscape after school is someone I'd want to meet, one way or another. Or the rest of the landscape, actually, I met someone who's investigating whether agglos can be starved or poisoned or rendered incapable of reproduction, to see whether mals can be controlled, anyone else like that."
"Bella, New Orleans. You might also introduce yourself to Alexius from Florida, he's a very ambitious alchemist who discovered his experimental trials outside weren't as thorough as he thought. Zed from Montreal has a very powerful 'finding' affinity, his best trick can't find things for himself but it's potent."
"Well, Zed and Bella and I all bought Alexius's potion - an eidetic memory thing that works perfectly for him, but fills in the gaps in other people's memories with falsehoods. He took the failure badly but owned up immediately and came out of it looking fair and... honorable, I think is the best word. Bella was the one who caught the problem, and fixed it, she has a metamagic affinity and cancelled the effects."
"...it usually is. Yeah. We thought he already understood the drawbacks, he knew it wasn't as good for people other than him. But it turned out it was worse in several ways, not just duration. I think he's got potential, assuming he lives, and he probably will, most personal defense is in-affinity for him."
"Well, we're almost to the cafeteria, now. This conversation was great fun, thank you for taking me up on it."
"You're not so bad yourself. Except for the part where you're terrifyingly good at reading people. I will definitely be avoiding pissing you off."
"Oh, don't worry, I have pretty thick skin. Also, I still haven't solved the puzzle, so I would hate to end my fun prematurely by cutting you off. See you around, Theun."
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