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Cam studies. He studies madly. The next week elapses with him having very little sense of individual days. He doesn't want anyone to know anything special is up, so he goes to a movie with Renée and to a friend's house after school to play Nintendo games and Charlie gets his weekly phone call and he shows up to his classes and gets his homework adequately done. But other than that he studies. He wants to be fluent in this thing inside three months if possible. It's easier than Spanish, he's motivated, he can use it in everyday conversations as he asks passing animals and convenient plants how smart they are (dogs: smarter than goats; squirrels: about goat level; his friend's hamster: dumb as a rock; shrubs: way dumber than trees; indoor potted rosemary: just a step above grass) and chats with Grace, he's basically dropping himself in an immersion course with some inconvenient English here and there so he can interact with humans. He thinks three months is ambitious but reasonable.
He's not actually doing that many spells. He does wheedle tofu into tastiness on a nightly basis, and when he feels a cold coming on he looks up a spell about that, but he wants to know what he's doing before he gets going on what he most wants to be doing, because he wants to be doing big things. He swore to oppose death. He meant that.
Today he is preparing to oppose death in his backyard. It's threatening rain and he doesn't want to be all the way down the street with Leafy if the clouds open up. The jerk tree doesn't talk to him if he doesn't talk to it and it's perfectly serviceable as something to sit under, anyway.
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lifes_sake
Jellybean rolls his eyes and takes a cookie.
lifes_sake
Renée gives Jellybean a bit of a sharp look but doesn't remark on the eyeroll. "What are you planning to do, Cam?"
"Plans haven't solidified yet, really, but options include starting a business to sell useful magic stuff, that seems like one of the most promising avenues," Cam says. "I'm thinking magicked medicine or food or both, but in the shorter term it'd probably take fewer resources to set up something like a computer repair shop and command all the devices to behave and get startup funds that way. Or I could win the Randi Prize. Is there some reason not to win the Randi Prize? Why is it still sitting there? Do you guys know?" These last questions are directed at Matilda mostly, Jellybean secondarily.
"Plans haven't solidified yet, really, but options include starting a business to sell useful magic stuff, that seems like one of the most promising avenues," Cam says. "I'm thinking magicked medicine or food or both, but in the shorter term it'd probably take fewer resources to set up something like a computer repair shop and command all the devices to behave and get startup funds that way. Or I could win the Randi Prize. Is there some reason not to win the Randi Prize? Why is it still sitting there? Do you guys know?" These last questions are directed at Matilda mostly, Jellybean secondarily.
"This world's categorized as generally hostile to magic," says Matilda. "I guess nobody wanted to cross that."
lifes_sake
"I was thinking I'd show up invisible and ask for the prize in unmarked bills," Cam says. "I don't really want James Randi to be a huge part of my life, but I would like his million dollars, and I'm sure he'd be fascinated to see me win them."
"Go for it," says Matilda.
"I wanna watch," says Jellybean.
"I wanna watch," says Jellybean.
lifes_sake
"I don't see why you shouldn't, if you be invisible too," Cam tells Jellybean. "Mom, this would involve me going to - Grace, I can't remember -"
"California," says Grace.
"California."
"Grace?" Renée asks.
"I condensed all my notebooks and into one, which talks, and I named it Gracenote," says Cam.
"...Oh," says Renée. "Gracenote. That's cute!"
"California," says Grace.
"California."
"Grace?" Renée asks.
"I condensed all my notebooks and into one, which talks, and I named it Gracenote," says Cam.
"...Oh," says Renée. "Gracenote. That's cute!"
"It is adorable," says Jellybean. "I want to hug it."
lifes_sake
"No!" says Grace petulantly. "Nobody but Cam. I'm Cam's."
"You realize that might be impractical at some point," Cam says. "I can't think of a good reason for anybody else to be handling you right now, but something might come up."
"Well, if you say so, but I don't want Jellybean to hug me just to hug me," Grace says.
"Okay," says Cam.
"If you made them all one, why are there two?" Renée asks.
"The other's my wizard manual," Cam says. "It's disguising itself."
"You realize that might be impractical at some point," Cam says. "I can't think of a good reason for anybody else to be handling you right now, but something might come up."
"Well, if you say so, but I don't want Jellybean to hug me just to hug me," Grace says.
"Okay," says Cam.
"If you made them all one, why are there two?" Renée asks.
"The other's my wizard manual," Cam says. "It's disguising itself."
Jellybean hugs Matilda instead. Matilda ruffles his curly brown hair.
lifes_sake
"I'm going to have to learn this language just to follow your conversations, aren't I," remarks Renée.
"I can translate for stuff if you need me to, but yeah, pretty much," says Cam.
"I can translate for stuff if you need me to, but yeah, pretty much," says Cam.
Matilda and Jellybean both giggle.
lifes_sake
"I think I'd like to meet Matilda's mother. And Jellybean's family too," Renée says.
"You are wrong," says Jellybean, with a weird bright mock-cheerful note in his voice. "You do not wanna meet my family!"
"You can meet Jenny, though, if you want," says Matilda, smoothing her hand down over Jellybean's hair in a comforting gesture.
"You can meet Jenny, though, if you want," says Matilda, smoothing her hand down over Jellybean's hair in a comforting gesture.
lifes_sake
"...Why don't I want to meet your family, Jellybean?" Renée asks, suddenly very much a concerned kindergarten teacher.
He grins. It looks more like baring his teeth than anything.
"'Cause my dad's dead and my mom's boring?" he suggests, still brightly.
"'Cause my dad's dead and my mom's boring?" he suggests, still brightly.
lifes_sake
"Boring," says Renée, not impressed with this assessment.
"I'm guessing she doesn't know about magic," Cam says.
"I'm guessing she doesn't know about magic," Cam says.
"I haven't talked to her since I left home," says Jellybean, shrugging. "And I probably never will again."
He grabs another cookie and stuffs it in his mouth.
He grabs another cookie and stuffs it in his mouth.
lifes_sake
"Do you live with Matilda and her mother, then?" Renée asks tentatively.
Jellybean nods. He cannot answer out loud, because of the cookie.
lifes_sake
"All right then," says Renée. "Then I'd just like to meet Matilda's mother, that will do. Where do you all live?"
"New York," Matilda supplies.
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"What were you doing all the way down here?" Renée asks.
"Visiting me," Cam says, before either of the others can reply. "The wizard manuals tell us where to find other wizards. I showed up in the book recently."
"Visiting me," Cam says, before either of the others can reply. "The wizard manuals tell us where to find other wizards. I showed up in the book recently."
Matilda raises her eyebrows at him.
lifes_sake
He glances at her but doesn't conspicuously acknowledge this.
"That's nice of you to come by and introduce yourselves, then," Renée says. "Did you meet each other by both being wizards too, or did you know one another before?"
"That's nice of you to come by and introduce yourselves, then," Renée says. "Did you meet each other by both being wizards too, or did you know one another before?"
"We went to school together," says Matilda.