Yes. And leaning towards her affectionately as they walk.

Awwww! He's so cute.

Eventually they reach Sadde's apartment building.

Terry follows her up, still hand-holding.

"Mom's at work," she says, making her way to her bedroom.

"And I still don't have a laptop computer so producing C++ code from your pseudocode might be iffy but I can try."

"Well, do you need to? Do the particulars of a language matter much?"

She starts rummaging around her stuff to find the pseudocode.

"Which language you're using can make a big difference. A lot of them handle a lot of things differently, or don't have abstraction, or handle memory differently. C++ is... Almost 'expert mode' I would say? It's easier to make mistakes, but better at producing really really fast and efficient code for high end stuff. But Java is a lot easier to program in depending on who you ask, and unlike C++ it mostly doesn't randomly break sometimes depending on which computer you run it on."

"C++ breaks randomly depending on which computer you run it on? Why?"

"Um... Different computers have slightly different processors or memory arrangements. Java uses a 'java virtual machine' that can do the same stuff no matter what processor it's running on, but other processors are sometimes structured differently. I think the example I heard explained is a 'register error' where processors have a micro-memory called register, and processor B handles it differently than processor A so the instructions meant for A mean B can add two plus two and get two."

"Hmm. Can't you translate the instructions from one machine to the other?"

"That's what compilers are for." He explains compilers, briefly. "But they're not always perfect."

She once again drinks it up. "This is really cool."

At some point during the explanation she's found the notebook with the pseudocode, so she hands him it.

And he starts commentating on syntax and structure as he decomposes parts of it into C++ code.

"So at this point the sensible thing is to code up the first part - user input, let's say, then test it, then code up the second part... The first two operations, and test that, and so on."

"We could use the computer to test it. It's old and slow, though."

"I'll have to install some tools on it anyway. I can do that while we try to figure out the cards if you have internet access."

"Also slow, but yeah," she says, and leads the way to a room adjacent to her mother's where a computer awaits. She turns it on.

While it boots Terry opens to a new page and starts going over what Kero knew about how the cards were made with Sadde.

There was a ritual. It was big and long and used Western and Eastern magic. It involved the symbol behind the cards somehow but Kero was fuzzy on how, exactly. There were drawings and symbols and written words in English and in Chinese. That's the extent of Kero's knowledge.

The obvious next step is to look at the backs of the cards they have. Is the symbol the same on each one? Draw it out nice and big. Is any of it also present on the staff, or its key version?

The symbol is the same on each one, yes, but flattened and somewhat lacking in enough resolution for everything that's written on it to be made out. Both key and staff are completely clear of markings.

"The sun and moon are obviously important imagery. Think we can make out enough of these symbols to see if they mean anything in Chinese, maybe Japanese or Korean or something? This," Point, "Looks like the roman alphabet but I definitely can't read it." 

He starts downloading free versions of C++ compilers and other tools.

"Yeah. They might be elements? There's four of them and we know the four elements are cards."

"Library later, then! I don't trust my google-fu enough to find a chinese to english dictionary online."

"Typing 'chinese to english dictionary' on Google wouldn't do it?"

"We can try but I don't expect to actually find one. At least not free."