"We also have 'imprison it in concrete.' Although that was mostly one guy. Or 'bind it to a table.' Same guy, actually, he's on my list of people I want to get with the Rescuer once I get home."

"You think you'll be able to solve the problem resulting in these resorts having been applied?"

Hm. She's not sure what Bella meant by that! Time to apply Backchannel.

Bella imagines that this guy must have been pretty damn threatening for someone to imprison him in concrete and wonders what Kareen is going to do about that!

"--Oh, no no no, he was imprisoning monsters in concrete, and binding them to tables, not having that done to him."

"Ohhhh I see. What did happen to him that he needs rescuing from then?"

"Last monster he ever imprisoned in concrete was a plague guy."

"Eesh."

"Yeah. He was--a good person, and impressively accomplished. His name was Adelard Dekker."

"Cafeteria's closing up. Let's find you that hall."

"Cool." She abandons everything still on the table except her own two notebooks, which she scoops up and shoves in her apron pocket. 

"- actually don't leave the mana lying around? Mals might eat it. I'd worry about the un-sealed food too, same way the cafeteria food gets infested..."

"Oh boy. Thanks." She pulls a shopping bag out of her santa sack, and scoops everything off the table and into the shopping bag. A couple of crystals fall to the floor and bounce; Kareen picks those up and shoves them in pockets. 

"Thanks. It's not conclusive if it's possible to starve a lot of kinds of mals but many of them at least only reproduce when they're fed."

"And regardless you don't want to attract them more than you have to. Like avoiding an ant infestation."

"Welllll their next port of call for supper is us so there's mixed strategies about that. Used to be when mals were rarer you could literally put a bowl of milk on the front step and they'd eat the intentions attached to it and that'd chill them out and they wouldn't eat your family, and you see - any comparable lines of thinking."

"...Huh, like in the folklore about brownies. Interesting."

"It's interesting that you'd have the same on your world. I assume you're pretty sure you don't have wizards? And that this isn't just the Scholomance attached to your own world?"

"I am very sure that my dad and the London enclave would have noticed each other at some point."

"How would they've done it?"

"Well, for one thing, my dad has magic noticing things powers. But in all seriousness, a lot of things have happened that--if you don't believe in the supernatural, you wouldn't necessarily ascribe a supernatural explanation to them, but if you are expecting magic, you go, 'of the magic things that there are, that is probably one of them' and then you investigate because it's in your backyard."

"Yeah, I guess that stands to reason. It's gonna be down these stairs - freshmen are up top, seniors at the bottom - there we go."

"Oh hello, wasn't expecting to see you in our neck of the woods."

"She is going to nap in the dead girl's room!"

"It seemed more comfortable than the library."