"There's a cooldown?"

"Yes. The vast majority of the powers Lilim have only function for a limited amount of time or number of uses in a day. I take it the shadow neglected to mention this?"

"Not a word of it. I'd asked about the downsides - but not of the powers, I suppose. Ugh. Well, nothing to be done for it now."

She gets out of bed to go to her desk to draw cards.

Computer, or schedule book? Schedule book, or computer?

...

The computer could have anything on it, Yvette hasn't actually owned a computer before. She's used them, of course, and there was a family computer before - well, before, but it wasn't hers. So it's quite hard to figure out what she'd do if she just. Owned it, could do anything with it, could expect complete casual privacy.

She thinks of the past and of login information, and she draws cards.

The deck seems to guide her hands. She draws, and draws, and draws. The resulting diagram covers the table, then covers it again. The edges of the cards are sharp against her skin, and bitterly cold - but there are yet more left to draw.

Slowly, a pattern emerges. Across a hundred different card backs, letters and symbols appear.

"XgYZ.blm45token%"?

What a sensible password.

She retrieves a notepad and pen and writes this down in case the cards decide to disappear randomly, and then attempts to log in with this password.

The cards sit where they've been left, thrumming gently. Frost is forming on some of the denser concentrations of them.

With a cheerful chime, the computer confirms Yvette's password and allows her access.

Excellent! She smiles.

"And then I just clean up the cards and can use them again tomorrow?"

"Yep! If you touch them and mean to dismiss them, they'll disappear. You'll feel a faint nudge when they return to your right hand again at midnight."

Dismissal poke!

"Straightforward," she says, pleased. "Thank you."

"It's no problem. Do you have any other questions, or would you rather I left you alone to investigate your past self's filesystem?"

"I have lots of other questions, but um, I'd honestly prefer finding my brother be the priority, I just don't have any idea how to do that on my own."

Ishmerai steeples her hands. "Well, the first thing is probably to ask the family's network to look out for a lilac-eyed guy who's not an Umber Demon."

Nod.

"... Would they react badly to a lilac-eyed non-Umber demon in some way?"

"It's unlikely. They do occur occasionally. There might be a minor scandal in the Umber community over who's bastard son he is, but he should be old enough to be unambiguously not a Lilim, and therefore not worth really bothering too much over."

Nod. "All right. Then - how do we do that?"

"Someone will have to talk to the parents. Shall I go do that now? That would probably be the fastest way."

"If you don't mind?"

"Not at all."

Ishmerai leaves, giving a brief glimpse of the hallway outside as she goes.

Yvette smiles a little, and then goes to shake the computer down for its secrets.