Homeroom again. Teresa is trying to get out of a "Personal Vehicles" shop class which seems extremely useless and probably difficult. No one in her room had a great alternative, but there are other rooms. This one contains her favorite puzzle.
"Hey, Theun. I'm trying to get out a crappy shop, you have anything good Thursday afternoon?"
"Mmh? Oh, hey. Yes, actually. Clan Politics during the Fall of Rome last period, language credit for Vulgar Latin and Late Latin, good chance it has things that were rarely written down. You might like the Wood and Derivatives lab, too, that's Thursday before lunch."
"Hoping for pulp and paper in that one? I might go for it, shop last semester thought I really liked the cane and kept giving me more woodworking. Clan Politics sounds good."
"You did really like the cane. You do like it, you literally just twirled it absent-mindedly and smiled about it."
"That's what you think, it's all part of my cunning plan. When do you have Incantations? I've got it after Mals and Monday lab."
"Yes, yes, you're a devious mastermind who will rule the world by the time you're thirty, we know. Same slot. Math any good?"
"Just Geometry, Thursday morning double block. Tuesday morning is my Comp, also a double."
"Same slot for Geometry. While you're composing, I have shop, which I would swap out of except that it's Leatherworking... so I'm probably going to risk it. I'm going to need that for bookbinding, later. If I have to delay it until end of next year I'm going to be in a bind. ...Ugh, no pun intended."
"I'll let it slide, this once. Seems like a tough call, but one worth taking some debt for, if you have to. Hire a maintenance track guard, maybe?"
"Eugh. Yeah, probably. Anyway, I don't think I'm going to make changes, I don't have any other shop or lab and the lit and rest of the history are all inoffensive, so I can just keep this."
"I'm going to check other rooms, then, see you."
Three rooms down, she found Marino. And he'd already turned in his revisions... and was also in Leatherworking.
On the one hand, he was, actually, pretty good if a mal attacked. Because he was happy to burn malia recklessly about it.
On the other, it was looking increasingly likely that he wasn't even going to make it to sophomore year without needing to be put down.
Teresa did not, actually, owe Theun warning about this.
He was, in fact, the best informed person outside Pisa on the subject of Marino being an idiot.
However.
...She rushed back to his homeroom.
"Theun. Don't send in your revisions yet."
His hand had been hovering over it, just about decided. There was only a couple minutes left.
"Uh, why?"
"Remember a certain conversation we had about embarrassing secrets?"
Teresa has not, in his experience, been unnecessarily coy when there was reason to hurry. Which means she thinks she's being necessarily coy.
He gets up, walks over quickly.
"Explain. Quietly, if you have to."
"Leatherworking is going to have... problems."
"I really don't have time for this, spook. What problems?"
"Embarrassing problems. Like the time you lied to your little brother. I am not going to elaborate, here."
Lied to his brother... Oh. Problems, Pisa problems. Marino.
"Your problems cropping up faster than you expected? This is... very fast."
"Probably 30% it has to be dealt with this semester. 50% next semester, 10% after that, 10% it resolves itself without help. Do you really want to run those odds?"
"Fuck. No, but... I think I have to. Unless you think I'll get pulled in even if I keep my head down."
"I don't think there are any mundie kids with a reason to take Leatherworking, so you're probably not going to white knight for it... so, okay, you can steer clear. More likely than not."
But she doesn't like it. He's not the most useful friend she's made, but he's the most interesting.
"Yeah. So I'm gonna go for it. But... thanks. For letting me know. If you need some lookout duty, let me know."
"Luck. I better go submit mine."
"Luck."