“Oof. Well, maybe if we had somehow met as children we’d have had loads of fun running around causing mischief.”

"You'd have been right convenient to have about on so many levels."

"Commune spread out enough that the mundanes didn't keep the mals off?" 

"I got somewhat fewer at school but I was a very tasty child."

"--Checks out. Well! I am very very glad you survived in my absence!" 

"Cheers."

They enter the cafeteria. Lucia looks over at the New York table, sizing them up, trying to decide if she should do this now or later. 

...

She hadn't realized what a relief it would be, looking at New York and being able to think them rather than us. She had never been planning to stay--but she hadn't been planning to burn her bridges behind her. It feels like shackles have been taken off her ankles. 

She had probably better take the initiative, here. 

"Save me a spot in line? I'm going to draw a line in the sand with New York now, get it over with." 

"I will stand in line and take credit for your ability to cut in line whenever you damn well please."

"Perfect, thanks!" 

She stalks over to the New York table. 

Chloe rises to greet her. "Lucia! You left your powersharer in the--" 

"Put that away," Lucia says, so coldly that Chloe can't help physically flinching. "It's a valuable piece of artifice; it would be a waste if I had to crush it underfoot to make a point." 

"Lucia..." Chloe says, half-concerned and half-pleading. 

"Don't Lucia me. Magnus tried. To kill. My friend. Because we were sitting with Dubai!" 

"You've been--" 

"Todd Quayle poached someone!" 

"Don't act like the rest of us are mixed up in that!" 

"Has he lost his graduation alliance." 

"I don't know!" Chloe throws her hands up. "The seniors don't exactly put looping the juniors in at the top of their priority list!" 

"Then guess." 

"...Most of his alliance isn't from New York, anyway," Chloe said, instead of answering. 

"It has the valedictorian in it. Which means New York's single guaranteed spot. The rest of the seniors could revoke it, say that being on Todd's alliance will not earn that spot. Or they can't, because Todd's parents are that powerful. Do you think either of those cases look good for New York, Chloe?" 

Chloe closes her eyes, a look of immense restrained discomfort on her face. "You could bring these things up privately, instead of airing New York's dirty laundry in public," she hisses. 

"No, I can't," Lucia says coldly, "I'm not with New York anymore." 

"Lucia--" 

Lucia raises a finger quickly enough that Chloe jerks backwards, even though its path was only intersecting her personal space and not her person. "What part of Magnus tried to kill my friend do you not understand?" 

Chloe sets her shoulders as a flush rises in her cheeks. "Magnus will face consequences."

"Yep. Magnus gets to explain to everyone who cares that he's the reason I left," Lucia says. "I mean, it's not true, not really, but people do love someone to blame, don't they? And they can't blame me, not really, because they can't punish me for it." 

"Do you realize what leaving like this would do to New York?" Chloe snaps. 

"Yep. I will be leaving you guys in a way better position than, oh, most of the other enclaves, let alone the independents," Lucia says flatly. "You think Todd deserves to live more than Mika? That Magnus deserves to live more than El? That you deserve to live more than Luisa?" 

"...Lucia, you can't save everyone," Chloe says quietly. 

"That." Lucia jabbed her finger at her ex-clavemate. "That's why I'm leaving New York. Because maybe I can't save everyone, but I can try, and I will never stop trying. Because I care, and I will never stop caring. And I know I can't tell you people not to try to talk me into coming back, because the overlap between things I think will actually deter you and things I trust myself to follow through on are pretty much nil. But if I find out that anyone's gotten hurt, or you've tried to hurt anyone, in the process of trying to get me back, I will tell everyone--" and then she leaned in closer to the New York table and says something in a low enough murmur that nobody outside New York hears it. 

But people outside New York can see the way several of the New Yorkers drew back, eyes wide, and Chloe yelps, "That's slander!" 

"It's only slander if it's not true," Lucia says flippantly, turning to leave. "Which that is! Food for thought, hmm?" 

And then she joins El in the line. 

"Cinematic. Complete with the part where nobody else got to hear what the not-slander was." El has gotten past the fruit cups and snagged a spare for Lucia.

"Oh, you already know it." Ooh, fruit cup. 

"Ah, that one. Very juicy. Nuclear."

"Plus bonus irony! I bet at least half of them think it's why I like you, even though I have already explained to them the reasons why that doesn't make sense." 

"They all know, then? Huh, I sort of would've expected it to be quiet."

"--I mean, I expect them to think that now," she clarifies, "assuming they believe me about it not being slander."

"Ah, gotcha."

"Honestly, I don't really care, as long as they're sufficiently sane and/or cowed by the threat to not do anything else especially awful." 

They finish getting food and sit down. 

Representatives of a large number of non-New York enclaves immediately attempt to sit with them. 

Lucia puts her head in her hands. 

"Buzz off! I'm saving that seat for - and that one too! - AADHYA, LIU. Yeah, hi, Nkoyo, you can sit there. - shoo! I mean it!"

"You rang?"

"I'm invoking you as a shield against the parasites."

"Happy to oblige."

"Hi Aadhya. How's the sirenspider shell treating you." 

"Turning it into a harp, thank you."

"Sweet." 

She closes her eyes, takes a slow breath, holds it, and lets it out again. 

"Liu! I'm not actually very good at tact, how's being cured of maleficer-ness treating you."