"Why would I walk with you? I do not actually like or trust you. I told you this already."

"You don't like anyone in this class. And it's not big enough that you can tag along with a blob of students headed lunchwards. And I'm offering."

That's... all true. Dammit.

"...I guess. Why do you keep pestering me?"

"You're a puzzle. People aren't often puzzles to me."

She starts walking, and gets a yard or two from the door before continuing.

"Like, you enter a room and you're assessing all the people in it for threats, or something. Why?"

"I literally have no idea what you're talking about." He is maybe checking people for whether they seem like enclavers? Not consciously most of the time, though?

Wow, he's either a great liar or believes that. And he gives away a lot when he's looking over the room, she'd be shocked if he's a good liar. Has he not noticed?

"You do, though. I saw you when you walked in today - you scanned everyone sitting, and were twitching with little reactions as you did."

"So, you think you know what I'm thinking better than I do. For some reason."

He tries to picture it in his head, with minimal success. She could be right?

"Well, I am very good, and very well trained - my family needs to read the room, politically, and Uncle picked me out to be this generation's expert. Some people I can tell what they're thinking easy, but mostly only very boring people. My cousin Marino, Rebecca the Pajama Girl, Orion Lake. Not you, I'm noticing some things you aren't but you're still a puzzle."

"Orion fucking Lake. Is 'boring'?"

"Well, psychologically boring. He really likes fighting mals, and finds everything else tedious. He doesn't mind being a hero, but I don't think he particularly likes it either. Simple man."

"You know what, sure, if you say so. Didn't pajama girl, like, immediately seduce a New York boy and then right afterward make an alliance with Sacramento? She seemed incredibly innocent but that was a master manipulation right there."

"I'm pretty sure, but yeah, that was impressive. I think she half got lucky and half was just so innocent that nobody could fake it on purposes, and 'not a threat at all' is hard to get in here and what both of them wanted."

"So she manipulated people masterfully by... not being able to manipulate people?" Pull the other one.

"It's kind of like being terrible at lying. It's a disadvantage, but if it's obvious enough, it creates an advantage as well. And she did get lucky - the boyfriend is a guileless sheltered boy who was happy to acquire a pretty girl and trusting enough to take her innocence more or less at face value. And with Sacramento, she loves music, and Sacramento's damaged goods is a lump but I hear music is his affinity and his favorite thing - and he can still muster some interest in it, and she drew him out of his shell. So for both, she was both safe and valuable."

"I can... sort of see it. You seem like a pretty good liar yourself."

"Well, I haven't lied to you yet. I don't lie often, and I never break promises or deals, it's not worth it long-term."

"True enough. I've broken... one promise since I was eight, I think. And it was one my brother didn't actually expect me to keep, polite lies."

"Okay, I have to know what it was, don't leave me hanging."

"Nah."

"Seriously? Fuck you. I bet I can figure it out, grill your whole enclave until I work it out. Embarrass the shit out of you in the process, too."

Okay, taunting her is kinda fun.

"Maybe. Explain your boring cousin to me and I might save you the trouble."

"Hmm. Okay, a condition: you don't go spreading it around. Enclave solidarity, right, because he's not like Lake, it's not going to be complimentary, and I don't want to hear "Calloconti's been badmouthing her cousin to randoms." anywhere else. You can act on it, maybe even pass it on as long as you pass it off as something you figured out yourself. And you tell me the fake promise, this is worth it."

"...Don't spread mine around, either. No one's going to ask, it has no practical consequences, it's just for your curiosity, so I promise it doesn't need the qualifiers. But if you add that? Then, deal."

"...Sure, deal." She extends a handshake.

He accepts it.

"So, Marino. He thinks he's hot shit. God's gift to women, going to do well at everything, superior to everyone who isn't a Pisan." Because they teach that, because they kind of are, but that's a different story. "But he's an impatient idiot. Yeah, he's hot, incautious girls might go for him... but he's shit at everything important."

"That's... not a comforting personality for a maleficer to have. I know your enclave - families? - is pretty stable overall, but impatient and superior..."

"Family, singular, we consider ourselves one big one with three branches. And you are clever. Good. Oh, also his affinity is blood. Now, spill."

"Eugh. And we already have a serial killer."

"There hasn't been a Pisan who killed more than one outsider in the Scholomance since the school's fourth graduating class, when the norms against maleficing got properly established. We always catch them after one. Sometimes before one. Come on, spill."

"...Yeah, okay. I hope you have a plan. So, the promise was "Don't do anything stupid." "I won't." And that was...less than a month ago, and lasted about an hour."

"So, at induction. Yeah, I wouldn't hold that against my honesty either. What stupid thing did you do?"

"Guess."

"What, you want me to show off?"

"Maybe I just like taunting you."

Oh, he is a fun puzzle. Should she show off? Eh, it couldn't hurt.

"Okay, so, you dislike everyone. You don't seem to particularly dislike me, which is slightly odd. You emphasized you don't trust me, which is also a little odd, mostly people don't trust much in here anyway. You're an enclaver and an American, and you really don't like New York, which means you're close enough to them that familiarity breeds contempt, so eastern. I don't think you're Boston, they have a very specific vibe, like military. Chicago isn't a possibility anymore. So that leaves... Toronto, Montreal, Philadelphia. No accent, so not Montreal, and Toronto had that nonsense with the suicide and you don't sit with them. So Phil, then, and I vaguely remember they have German influence, which matches your name."

"The city's nickname is 'Philly', not 'Phil'. And it's Dutch influence."

"Noted. So, Philly, at least a little more trusting than most people inside, dislike New York more strongly than most. Did something stupid before dinner on induction day. Probably, you trusted someone more than is smart. But that would be... pretty egregiously stupid, in most cases, and you seem clever. So, something mildly stupid... You paid attention to Pajama Girl rumors, so either you like gossip or you were interested in her for some reason. Hormones? Well, that might be a good reason to not dislike me, I am hot."

"Might be your cousin is contagious."

"Oh?"

That... no, it doesn't really appeal. Intellectually, yeah, that is a hot girl flexing to make her boobs stand out, he's pretty sure that's what "sexy" is supposed to look like. He doesn't really care.

Note to self: Teresa had an early puberty and practice at tempting boys. Try to keep that in mind for when he starts being susceptible to it.
Reply to self: Keeping that in mind probably will stop working when he starts being susceptible to it.
Reply to reply: Okay but try, right?

"Yeah, okay, not hormones, I knew that but it seemed fun to test it anyway. So... she's mundane-born and vulnerable. White knight complex probably doesn't show up pre-hormones either, but... Hmm. I think you're kind of a softie. Or have a thing for mundanes. Maybe both? But if it's either of those... that would mean you gave one of the Chicago fallout crowd a stupidly good deal. Not things, things would be stupid enough I think you'd resist the urge. Information, something big enough you'd feel like you definitely did something stupid, but small enough you'd be stupid enough to actually do it? Scholomance orientation knowledge everyone with resources has already; that's got no trade value except for what a mundane could give you, which is minimal, you weren't harvesting hair - I met the twins who were, they're some of my favorite discoveries so far. So that's arguably not even stupid, and the version of you I'm picturing wouldn't feel like you'd broken the promise."

"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."

"Huh, I think I want to meet them, too. Name?"

"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."

"Where'd you find these people?"

"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."

"If it sounds too good to be true..."

"...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."

"See you around, Teresa."