It's disappointing they don't get to just have Sadde legally own the planet but as consolation prizes go getting to bring her pet home is a pretty good one. Here is Isabella's small but shiny apartment in Manhattan!

Sadde feels very flattered to be considered, as a prize, comparable with a planet.

And: small but shiny apartment! "Ooh, this place's nice."

"Seeing the future: it pays the big bucks."

"Imagine where you'll live once you can see a week into the future."

"It'll probably have as many as ten extra square feet. I don't need all that much room and this is Manhattan."

"What, no lavish mansions with large pools and fountains with cherub statues?"

"In downtown New York? Not so much. I mean, I guess I might live somewhere else at that point."

"You could telecommute," she suggests.

"This is in fact viable with good precognitive range."

"Yeah. On the other hand smaller places do have the advantage of being easier to take care of."

"Well, with cherub statue money I could hire help."

"True. I wonder what we'd do with such a big place, though, we're just the two of us."

"Yeah, probably not worth it considering the opportunity cost of money."

"I think I skipped that econ class."

"Opportunity cost is what else you'd do with the resource you're spending on a thing. Money's very fungible - did you take that econ class?"

"Yeah."

"So you could always spend the money somewhere else, so blowing a bunch on rent is high opportunity cost because you could also give it to charity or, I don't know, buy art."

"Yeah, smaller's probably better."

She starts exploring the place.

Kitchen, small but neatly organized. Living room with comfy squashy furniture that wouldn't hurt much if you tripped into it. Bedroom; queen size bed. Bathroom; the shower curtain has clocks on it.

"This is adorable why are there clocks on your shower curtain?"

(Also: queen size bed~)

"Gag gift from Alex. Because I see the future, you see."

"I need to send Alex a thank-you note."

"For my shower curtain?"

"Yes, it's adorable and makes sense."

Isabella giggles and kisses her. "I have stamps around somewhere."

"Are you gonna get a calendar curtain when you can see days into the future?"

"I'm not sure there's that much variety in the world of novelty shower curtains, but maybe?"

"Bet there's places that do custom curtains."

"Hm, maybe. And a calendar one would last me for quite a lot of range extension."

"Mmhm. D'you have a target range you're aiming for?"

"I'll probably move on to something else when I've got twenty-four hours."

"Any plans on what?"

"More optimizations, probably, and maybe more full-featured communicative telepathy if I haven't got that via practice effects alone."

"Oh, cool! I should probably start thinking about how I'll go about stuff after I can fully deage and heal—us."

"What're your favorite candidates?" Bella asks, tugging her pet sofaward for cuddles.

Ooh cuddles.

"Well, probably a way to just stop aging altogether, if that's at all possible, or maybe enhanced resistance to diseases and injury..."

"Should be doable."

"Which would, you know, scale much better than active healing and deaging." Snuggle. "If not yet enough to turn everyone immortal."

Scritches. "Not quite. Bit of a production to assembly-line the entire world population."

"Mmhm... Now what would be really cool would be, like, an engineered virus or something that does it. Non-contagious, voluntary only, but that can scale much better."

"Oooh."

"Even if it doesn't deage anyone, just stopping it gives people much longer to get somewhere they can get that."

"And if it can be reproduced in petri dishes without further mage intervention it scales real well."

"Exactly! I think it shouldn't be impossible, aging is programmed in, if there was a way to make it stop..."

"You'd want to be sure it didn't have weird side effects though..."

"Yeah... And messing with DNA is. Messy. Could have all sorts of long-term problems."

Nod.

Snuggle.

Kiss.

Ooh kiss.

(They're not in Renée's place anymore, aaare theeeeeyyy...)

They're noooooot. They're in Isabella's apartment and Isabella is surrounded by nothing but her own possessions and she can do what she likes.

As far as Sadde's concerned she can always do what she likes.

This is a correct opinion for Sadde to hold and she should be rewarded for her accuracy.

Ee! Sadde likes being correct and rewarded for it.

Then Sadde will have a marvelous couple of hours.

Will they eventually get to the queen size bed?

That's one of the surfaces in this apartment, yes.

She loves her dom. Very very much.

Good. Her dom loves her back.

And after all of the surfaces have been tested: "I'm starving. We're going out for dinner and you may choose between ramen, burgers, Chinese, and weirdo vegan food."

"...what's weirdo vegan food?"

"Fake tuna salad, lentil curry, imitation duck, they've got a variety."

"I am actually tempted."

"I didn't put it on the list because I hate the place."

"I mean I'm more tempted because you called it 'weirdo' than anything, it's just so my style..."

"Is that your pick, then?"

"Yep."

"All right. Go get dressed," says Isabella, punctuating this remark with a swat to Sadde's rear.

She giggles and goes to do so with a "Yes, ma'am" and more than a little bit of... the reverse of stripteasing, whatever that is.

"I was wondering if you'd pick that habit up again," clucks Isabella, pulling her own clothes on.

"If you want me to stop..."

"I didn't say that. Do go on."

She does! She must make her dom happy.

And she does!

And eventually they are both in clothes and Isabella puts Sadde on her new leash and leads her out.

Eeee new leash!

"Are there any other habits like that you'd like me to pick up?" she asks casually.

"Oh, I'll be sure to let you know if I think of any." Down goes the elevator.

Down goes the elevator! Are they getting to the restaurant by car or on foot?

Foot! It's down two blocks. This is Manhattan.

Ooh so she can see Manhattan on foot after amazing sex and everything is great and glowy and beautiful—especially her dom.

Manhattan is a lovely busy jumble of density and traffic. And it has a weirdo vegan place called Hail Seitan, tucked away in a basementy sort of area.

"This place is so me," she giggles when she sees the name.

"We'll see if you like the food, although since it's not megafauna - or fauna at all - I bet you will."

"Yes, a complete absence of megafauna is just what I need in food right now."

In they go. There is an appetizer sample platter, which Isabella orders, that and tabouleh and the fake duck for them to split. There's a bench along the wall with gaps in it for kneeling subs and they snag one of those spots.

The kneeling switch will only squee telepathically about being fed in an actual restaurant again.

How very restrained. Pets for the pet.

The appetizers are yummy and there are two of each thing! Sadde gets a spring roll and a tiny ciabatta bites with guacamole on and hummus in pita and a spinach pakora and a jalapeno popper with imitation cream cheese and a fake chicken finger in honey mustard sauce.

[Oh my god this is so good there are so many foods.]

[You're so cute.]

[Thank you! But it's true, there are so many, this is lots of foods!]

[With more on the way.]

[This is way more types of food than I ate all of this past year.]

[Good thing you heal or you'd be so malnourished.]

[Dunno if I would, though, maybe the combination stuff there was nutritionally complete for humans, like I think potatoes and milk?]

[If you eat nothing but those you have to eat ridiculous quantities and you'll still be molybdenum deficient, actually. They come close though.]

[...it's so hot that you know that. The molybdenum thing.]

[I have an eidetic memory and I read Wikipedia at work.]

[It's still hot.]

[I think the way I know it should be hotter than just randomly remembering it from somewhere!]

[Good point, hotter.]

[Of course.] Pat pat.

The main courses arrive and Isabella feeds them to her pet.

Omnomnom best Isabella.

[Have I mentioned I'm kinda envious of psions? Because I'm kinda envious of psions.]

[It's come up. What is it now?]

[Well, all the everything, but this particular time it's the Wikipedia thing. I have a pretty good memory, but eidetic would be so cool.]

[It's great. I have a co-worker who wants me to come to pub quizzes, but, uh.]

['But, uh'? Somewhat ethically dubious?]

[Nah, not especially, but I feel like the pub environment loses something if one doesn't drink, and I wouldn't drink even if I were 21.]

[Oh, right, people'd want you to drink and there's that age thing, right.]

[And everybody else would be drinking! I'm just not seeing an upside here.]

[You'd have a really really easy time winning?]

[It's a pretty meaningless contest.]

[Yeah. Maybe quizzes at places other than pubs?]

[Is there a non-meaningless-contest you have in mind?]

[Not really, just trying to imagine a way to get the positives without the negatives, I'm pretty sure the point of these quizzes isn't to actually be challenging or anything, they're just innocent bonding experiences.]

[Sounds lovely for nerdy extroverts!]

[Yeah, that.]

She rubs her cheek on Isabella's leg.

Pet pet. [D'you have room for dessert?]

[Yes, definitely.]

So Isabella orders them coconut-based fake ice cream.

Which she presumably cannot hand feed her pet?

Not once it's melty. When it's not she'll chance it.

Eeeee best dom. And tasty ice cream.

It's true!

And after they have departed the weirdo vegan place they can go for a stroll around and Isabella can point out locations that are useful to know (subway stops, other good food places, nonfood stores of various sorts) and then they can go back up to the apartment.

Sadde is not used to New York winters! But still enjoys the stroll immensely, not the least because eeeeee Isabella.

"I will probably need more than exactly one jacket to survive this winter, I think."

"Is it not warm enough?"

"It's reasonably warm? But we did buy it in Arizona, I think there are probably things that will hold up better to be found here. Also, variety."

"Okay, I'll give you some spending money and you can go get one while I'm at work tomorrow."

"Thank you, ma'am. And for that matter I should possibly find a job myself."

"Sure. I'll get you enough to cover a laptop and you can go hunting."

Squirm.

"Pet?"

"...laptops are kinda expensive."

"Were you planning to look in newspaper classifieds?"

"Or find a library and use a computer there," she shrugs.

"If you'd rather. I can afford a laptop for you, though."

"I'm not sure to what extent I should... get rid of this feeling?"

"What feeling is it exactly?"

"That I should not impose on you too much when I can obtain the same results I want with some... effort of my own? It sounds kinda silly when I put it like that. It's, uh, I should get rid of it to some extent, the decision to run from your mom's place was fueled by that and was definitely a bad decision."

"Yes it was."

"But on the other hand the decision to just lounge on your couch all day and mooch off you feels like a bad one, as well."

"Pet, I suggested you job hunt on the hypothetical laptop. I will not begrudge if you also choose to play Bejeweled but seriously."

"No, I know, what I mean is that this would be the other extreme of the thing, so. I want to know where in that spectrum I should put myself."

"I find it really unlikely that you of all people will lie on my couch doing nothing productive for any psychologically unnecessary amount of time. It would be reasonable if there was a psychologically necessary amount of time, you've been stranded on an alien planet all by yourself for entirely too long, but I don't see a need to command you to make yourself useful when your personality will inevitably cause that sooner or later. It's okay if this involves more working on magic than earning money, too, I make enough."

She sighs. "I love you. And I love it when you're all reasonable."

"Good." Smooch.

Smoooch!

"So I think I shall accept the laptop since it's bound to be useful beyond job hunting, in general."

"Good. I don't like loaning mine out." Hair-ruffle.

Giggle.

And they can stay up snuggling and contemplating magic for a bit, and then go to bed in the nice big queensize. Isabella has an alarm; it goes off at seven-thirty and she kisses her pet before hopping out of bed to get ready for work.

Mmm her pet doesn't actually have to get up, as such; however, he does want to spend as much time around her as possible, so he gets himself (slightly more) awake and sits up, rubbing his eyes and yawning.

"If you put on pants and do it quick enough you can come with me to the bagel place."

Well there's a good incentive if he's ever seen one.

Pants! ...and also a shirt! Because it is cold! And jacket!

He is in fact quick enough.

"Good boy." Kiss. And out to the bagel place across the street and she gets them both bagels. She has to eat hers pretty briskly; gotta catch a train.

That's alright, still a few minutes more time than he'd've gotten if he'd stayed in bed.

"Have a lovely day. I'll be on and off pingability, keep trying if you need me and I don't answer right away." Kiss. "Here's my key and my card for purchases, I expect you home and ready to let me in when it's time until I can get you your own key. I love you."

Kiss! "I love you too, ma'am, have a good day!"

And she ruffles his hair and descends into the subway.

And he returns to the apartment and brushes his teeth and sleeps for another couple of hours, because that is not a luxury he has had in a while—try going to bed and waking up on schedules other than the sun's when you live in the wilderness.

He then takes a shower (another luxury) and puts clothes on and makes his way out.

[Good morning again, ma'am!]

[Did you go back to sleep?]

[Yeah. Sleeping in is something I haven't done much in my life.]

[It's cozy!]

[It is!] Down goes the elevator. [How's your morning going?]

[Nothing too exciting. Various precogging I'm not allowed to discuss.]

[Right, classified. Can you at least discuss it in broad terms, like something for the NSA, or related to the stock market, or...?]

[Nope, sorry.]

[Oh well.] Out he goes. [Now to find my way around New York to purchase a laptop.]

[If you get lost find an intersection and tell me where you are and I'll give you directions.]

[My wilderness survival skills will surely help me find my way here.]

[Sure they will.]

[Do you have suggestions about the best slash closest slash whatever place to buy a decent laptop?]

[You want a Best Buy or an Apple store?]

[Best Buy.]

So she gives him directions for how to take the subway to a Best Buy.

And he makes his way to the subway, checks a map, and starts following the directions.

[See, nothing like two years starving when you're ten and another year all alone on another planet when you're seventeen to teach you how to read maps properly.]

[All the numerous maps available in those situations.]

[Fuzz-fuzzes are very good mappers, hadn't I mentioned?]

[Hadn't come up.]

[Yup, I would've gotten lost all the time there if it weren't for them.]

[Thank goodness for the fuzzes.]

[...we should name that planet.]

[I'm surprised you didn't come up with anything while you were there.]

[I'm not very good at names!]

[I've been thinking of it as the megafauna planet...]

[I've just been referring to it in my head as 'there' or 'the planet' or 'the other planet.']

[Pity 'Titan' is already a celestial body.]

[Mmm, are there any specific cool titans or giants in mythology we could reference?]

[Prometheus is a moon too. Mnemosyne?]

[Which one is that?]

[Mother of the Muses, her shtick is memory.]

[Wow that's a great name I love it it is now law.]

Isabella giggles across the connection. [I love you.]

[I love you too. Okay I'm boarding the train so I'm about to lose reception except wait no I'm not because this is my awesome uberpsion dom's telepathy not a mobile phone.]

[Guaranteed no dropped calls unless I have to suddenly precog a thing, and then service will be restored in under five minutes.]

[How many things do you usually have to precog per, like, hour or day or so?]

[Varies really widely. Sometimes I know in advance, if something's going to happen at a certain time, and then I make sure I'm ready thirty seconds in advance; sometimes I suddenly get notice to look for some thing right away. Sometimes I'm working in increments for hours, sort of like when I helped you find the portal.]

[That sounds interesting and cool and augh I am so curious about it all! Why is my magic not the kind where I get cool secret stuff!]

[When you're a healer you get fun with medical confidentiality, how's that?]

[That's just not the same.]

[Why not?]

[Everyone has medical secrets! Or, well, information that is technically medically sensitive even if they don't make a secret of it.]

[So? Don't you think everybody would want to hire a precog for something if we were cheaper?]

[I do, but the fact that you're not cheaper means you get the juicier secrets, all the conspiracies and schemes and plots.]

[I often don't actually know what I'm predicting. I only predict things I'm going to experience, so if someone makes up their mind to tell me 'the test was successful' they don't have to tell me what the test was.]

[Okay yeah that makes sense and is somewhat deflating.]

[Sorry, pet.]

[It's alright. Guess I'll have to join a conspiracy to know about its secrets.]

[What kind of conspiracy would you like to belong to?]

[A conspiracy of people figuring out all the best way to use appropriately motivated and specialized eclipsed in large scale prosocial projects.]

[How big does this conspiracy have to be?]

[I'm not too picky.]

[Then I have good news for you.]

[Is it that we are the conspiracy.]

[And here I thought I was the precog.]

Mental giggle. [We're not really a conspiracy, though! It is totally not a secret what we're up to.]

[Mnemosyne was temporarily a secret!]

[Granted.]

[We'll think of another secret thing sooner or later, I bet.]

[Being a benevolent conspiracy kinda gives the wrong incentives for that, though, I think.]

[Oh?]

[Well, naively benevolent conspiracies would want more people joining their ranks and helping and stuff. It's the principle behind charities!]

[Depends on how useful new people can be, and whether not being secret is even helpful to getting ahold of the useful people as opposed to random schmoes.]

[But word-of-mouth can be pretty limited.]

[Secrecy is like the opposite of word of mouth. If you wanna recruit somebody, talk to them, don't hope your friends know their friends.]

[Right, yes, that's what I meant. It's even worse! We're just two, what are the odds we'll be serendipitous like that again?]

[...you know there are other ways to become aware of people?]

[Well sure but that requires them to already have done notable things.]

[True...]

[I mean, if it being public attracts enough random schmoes that sorting through them all takes longer on average than it would to just wait for whoever to become notable then being secret is probably the best idea, but...]

[Filtration of schmoes could be a major time sink! Besides, we can recruit without completely blowing our cover if we know what skills we're in the market for.]

[How do you mean?]

[I mean, I could put out an ad for a PA or something.]

[Oh, that makes sense.]

[I try!]

[You know, this is actually starting to sound tempting.]

[Hm?]

[Creating a conspiracy!]

Giggle.

[Now what kinds of skills does one need to successfully manage one...]

[Good question. - Don't miss your subway stop.]

[...oops.]

[Dang, should've looked ahead sooner.]

[It's just the previous one, I'm getting off the train now.]

[You'll get used to subwaying.]

[Definitely better than bussing, that's for sure.]

[It is!]

[There are trains all the time! I'm already boarding the next one! Subways are such a good idea.]

[So you know what side you're on when the subway people war against the cab people.]

[...I had not known there was such a divergence between people here.]

[I'm being silly, lovely.]

[Well! It was a totally plausible thing people could diverge about!]

[I'm sure someone would be willing to have a stirring argument with you about it.]

[What's even there to argue about, though, subways are obviously superior.]

And now he's off the train and out of the station and there should be a Best Buy somewhere nearby...

Over there!

In he goes!

...there are so many electronic things.

Yup!

[Ma'am I do not actually have any idea what kind of computer to purchase.]

[Have you tried asking a Best Buy person?]

[Um. Good idea.]

He looks for a Best Buy person.

They exist! In uniform!

"Excuse me," he walks up to one to say.

"Hi there, how can I help you?"

"Hi! I wanna buy a laptop but I'm, uh, kinda lost, and haven't ever had a computer before."

"I can help you out, what do you want to do with it?"

"Mostly read stuff online? I'm not looking for something super fancy or anything."

"How portable do you want it?"

"Um, one sec."

[Do you often carry your laptop around with you?]

[I usually bring it to work.]

"I'm not sure what the possible ranges on portability are but enough to be brought to work seems reasonable."

"Well, there's various sizes and weights, and you'd trade off some screen space for something easier to tuck in a bag and carry fifteen blocks," explains the Best Buy guy, and he shows Sadde a range of laptops, which he may pick up.

Sadde has very few preferences about screen space, and ends up picking something based on price and not being so small he has trouble typing.

It is very cute and tiny. It costs money.

He has Isabella's credit card! He will even succeed at not feeling too bad about spending her money!

And now he has a laptop.

[I'm thinking maybe I should've gone shopping for a warmer jacket before the laptop...]

[Bit nippy?]

[No, but the laptop's box is kinda unwieldy and now either I go back to your place to drop it off there or bring it with me.]

[Ah, yeah. Do resolve to tell me at once if somebody mugs you for it.]

[Resolution made. Any good places to buy jackets?]

[I'm afraid I've never paid much attention to clothing stores. You might have better luck just wandering around until you see a coat you like in a window.]

[I suppose I can just walk back to the apartment and see what I find instead of taking the subway.]

[Sure. Bit of a hike but that I bet you actually do get better at surviving in the wilderness, hiking.]

[Yes, the streets of New York hold no terrors for me.]

[Just remember not to slay any taxis.]

[Pfff, taxis. I faced things that could eat taxis-sized animals for breakfast and only screamed a little bit.]

[Yes, but the taxis are much more important not to slay.]

[Wouldn't want to ruin New York's ecosystem, now, it's much more delicate.]

[And they're out of season.]

[Oh, there's a taxi hunting season? I should keep that in mind, wouldn't want my skills to go to rust.]

[But you're only allowed to take down the weak and infirm.]

[How do I recognize those?]

[It's hard. You have to pass a test on it to get your taxi hunting license.]

[Hmm, that sounds like a lot of work, are there other easier ways to keep practicing?]

[You could get my dad to teach you to fish.]

[Well, that sounds like a nice if boring bonding experience that I might take him up on anyway, but it doesn't sound like the same kind of thing.]

[No? Fish are not sufficiently megafaunalike?]

[They're quite unlike megafauna. Surprising, I know.]

[You could work your way up to the really big fish. Tuna are huge.]

[Well sure but fishing them is mostly not moving for a very long time.]

[This is my problem with fishing too.]

[I could do it now that I have this communication channel with you, wouldn't necessarily need to be bored out of my mind.]

[Sometime when we go visit Charlie, then.]

[Do you have an ETA on when it'll be more than just text? Because I just saw this beautiful jacket and it'd be pretty great to show you it.]

[I'll see it when I come home. I don't know when I'll be able to do pictures.]

[Mmhm. I love you.]

And in the store: "Good morning!"

[Love you too.]

"Good morning!"

"I hail from warmer parts of the country and have moved here just yesterday and would like to live to see another summer, and I saw that jacket there...."

"Well, the rack of that kind is over there, just figure out your size and I'll be happy to ring you up. There's matching boots!"

"Matching boots!"

[Matching boots?]

[You may get matching boots if you like.]

[Thank you!] He finds things his size and—[Should I buy more than one?]

[Coats? Why?]

[I'm not sure! Fashion? I am thoroughly lost at this whole 'exchanging money for apparel' thing I do not know how it works.]

[I'm the wrong person to go to for fashion advice! Will it not go with most things you like to wear? Is it not sufficiently unisex?]

[It is pretty unisex and I hear tell that black goes with everything?]

[I hear this too.]

[Then I guess this will be all!]

He pays for the coat.

And now he has another shopping bag.

And he makes his way back to Isabella's apartment.

It is apartment-shaped.

As expected, and no one mugged him, as, well, he's not sure whether to have expected that or not, not being from here and all.

He opens the laptop's box and—

—starts reading the manual.

And then he sets it up and creates an account on his computer and [Do you have emails or phone numbers of the people from school?]

[Yes. Anybody in particular?]

[You know, people I used to hang out with, Janet, Victor, Myeisha... I don't suppose you'd have Jackson's?]

[I actually do have an out of date phone number for him, it's amazing the cruft you pick up with an eidetic memory, but I wouldn't expect it to be the same.] She rattles off numbers and emails for the others.

He writes them down.

[Did he get better?]

[I didn't keep tabs on his mental health. I can tell you he didn't go back to kneeling at people, he was at graduation, and he wound up being friends with somebody who enrolled a little after you vanished.]

[Well that's promising.]

[And he still had the same collar at graduation, I remember that.]

[Oh, I'm happy for him. Might call him first.]

[Sure, pet.]

So he tries Jackson's old number.

The number now belongs to a Hardee's.

He apologizes, hangs up, and starts going down the list of contacts to inform them he's alive, there were problems involving his family and some personal stuff and he had to quite literally disappear, how're you doing, is everything alright...

People are surprised to hear from him. A couple of people don't remember him at all; one of them only remembers him as a girl and has forgotten about the shapeshifting part.

He'll do some small talk where it sounds like it'll be welcome, and catches up with whoever wants to be caught up with. And, most relevantly, he'll wonder about what they're doing right now, whether anything they mention about jobs or what-have-you might sound interesting for him to pursue.

(Also he doesn't suppose any of them would remember Jackson's number or email by any chance?)

Jackson was not very popular, alas. Myeisha is able to dig up an email he sent her once about a class thing and report the address to Sadde, "but he might not check it anymore."

He thanks her anyway, sends that address an email, and after he's talked to everyone...

Tries to find a job.

The job market for eclipsed remains high-paying, vaguely predatory, and diverse.

Anything better than that one job he'd had lined up for someone who can't yet strictly heal a lot more than mildly scratched bones?

If he can't do much yet his options are fairly limited - long term contract type stuff - but he can take somewhat lower paying, erratic-hours emergency response work such that any healing improves the odds of getting to the hospital alive and occasional untested healing can be legally papered over.

He asks Isabella's opinion on this.

[The hours sound brutal, do you know how you'd cope with that?]

[I think on my end it'd be okay? I've never had trouble adapting to different sleeping patterns, and this gives me lots more freedom to do other things in ten years but then I'm not sure it's mildly likely that I'll doing other things in ten years.]

[I mean, flexibility is good even if you might not turn out to need it, that's kind of the point. Can you think about magic effectively while in a screaming ambulance?]

[I think so—I'd probably need to focus on magic or something to distract myself and not dwell on the people I'll invariably be unable to save.]

[Well, needing a coping strategy isn't the same as being able to reliably implement that most productive of same.]

[I suppose. I don't have any prior experiences that translate directly to that, only tangentially. My best guess is I'd be able to deal with it, and it'd wreck me sometimes, but it wouldn't impact my effectiveness at the magic thing.]

[How wrecked a pet would I occasionally come home to?]

[I'm not sure what scale to use, and it'd depend on the case—curled up ball of misery sounds like an extreme that might be reached rarely, most of the time I'd expect to just be in a very sour mood and want to be cuddled and reminded that we're fixing everything ever?]

[That sounds doable. If you want the job go for it.]

[Think I will.]

He looks into requirements for the job and what he'd need to do and where he'd need to go and interviews and stuff.

There'd be a training period. He will have to demonstrate his healing ability. They don't specify in the listing what the interview process is like.

Does he have to call or should he just email? Do they need a resumé, he hasn't really done anything in his life.

Both a phone number and an email are provided. It doesn't actually say to submit a resume, but he could probably safely assume it might be a good idea to have one on general principle.

Probably. For that matter, what is the state of his resumé, he should check that, he didn't actually finish, uh, "high school," did he, can he, like, call someone at Selene and figure it out?

Selene turns out, after some time on hold and a couple of transfers, to have a person whose actual job it is to enable the generosity of generous alumni via services like resume help! He is happy to point Sadde to resources and correspond on individualized detail via email.

Good! He starts writing an email and—

—explains the situation to Isabella, ending with [so I probably need a good excuse for the whole year away I spent, maybe? Should I just say it was personal reasons and hope it works, or...]

[Yeah, probably. You could describe it as magic practice, you did do some magic.]

[I did do an inordinate amount of magic, yeah. Might not fly with them, though, leaving school to do magic when school was basically designed to allow us to do magic.]

[Left school for family reasons, did magic anyway.]

[Guess that works, if they don't buy it emails are asynchronous enough I can think of a better excuse later.]

He sends the email, explaining his situation, wondering about whether he needs to do something like pass a test or some such to get a certificate or how it all works anyway.

(For that matter has Jackson replied to his email?)

The resume person helps him out. There are no formal certs to be had.

Jackson eventually replies to the email! yeah this bounces to my other account now hi

It is good to be helped by resumé person, he is glad of their help.

And in reply to Jackson: Oh, hi! How've you been??

i'm p good you?

I'm good, too! What've you been up to? You still at school?

yeah

How's that going? Isabella said you were making friends, and still had your collar.

wow you did not get any less pretending to be my mom while you were vanished huh

anyway yeah me and Brian are still together

...okay.

I don't think that was any different than anything I asked anyone else I'm catching up with but okay, I can stop asking about your life if you want me to.

its ok

where did you vanish anyway?