And how about her general excitement about magic, will he get that too if she wads it up in a ball and lobs it in his direction?

+Oh, that's cute,+ he says, and tosses back a little ball of 'cute!'.

Bella laughs. +This is neat. What kind of range limitations are there?+

+Probably a higher mana cost if you're trying to talk to somebody in a different dimension, but as long as I'm not in a different dimension, it shouldn't be a huge problem.+

+So you can hang out here and I don't have to worry about explaining to anybody why I have a deck of cards in my pocket, that's good. Not that it'd be that hard to explain, all I'd have to do would be learn a neat card trick or something, but still.+

+You could learn some pretty great tricks with me,+ he giggles.

+You mean we could cheat and do actual magic instead of stage magic,+ Bella snorts. +Is there anything making you better than an ordinary Bicycle pack for standard card tricks?+

+I look way sexier?+ he suggests. +And if you fuck up the trick I can fix it while nobody's looking?+

+You are pretty snazzy-looking, I'll give you that.+

+I am. This form's actually based on a magician's deck I saw once. It was so hot.+

+I'm not actually sure how literally to take that considering that you are yourself a deck of cards,+ observes Bella.

+...Somewhere between just-kidding-around and, like... I feel about looking like this in deck-of-cards form the way I'd feel about wearing really gorgeous clothes in my human-shaped form. You know?+

+I suppose, although I didn't previously know you cared much about wearing nice outfits while human-shaped.+

+I have never actually done it, I've never really had the chance, but I've definitely thought about it. I just like looking good,+ he says cheerfully.

+Is there a staff form equivalent?+ asks Bella.

+It doesn't customize nearly as much, so... only kinda? I like how I look in staff form, though, it's pretty cool.+

+I wasn't paying a whole lot of attention at the time, but yeah,+ Bella agrees. +What other stuff that I might not expect a deck of cards to care about are you hiding?+

+Uh, how do I know what you expect a deck of cards to care about?+

+By default, I expect decks of cards to care about no things at all, but you're full of surprises.+

+Okay,+ he says. +Well, I care about stuff. So there you go.+

+Fair enough. Go us, caring about stuff.+

Brilliance giggles.

+How old are you, anyway?+

+I'm not totally sure,+ he says. +I think maybe four centuries? But there were definitely some stretches where I wasn't counting.+

+Did you ever just talk to people? Like, not try to get them to wield you, I gather you haven't been doing any of that, but never talking to anyone for four hundred years sounds rough, especially since I have a hard time imagining how you'd entertain yourself otherwise - play solitaire with yourself?+