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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
He says a word in the Speech that means, concisely, 'the self-defining'.
"Don't try it," he adds with a crooked smile.
"Don't try it," he adds with a crooked smile.
lifes_sake
"Not going to," Cam says. "If I were going to try to work with something ultra-short along those lines I'd go with 'the self-seeing' or 'the self-knowing'. How'd you figure out that'd work for you?"
Jellybean grins.
"I tried it."
"I tried it."
lifes_sake
"Well, that could have been a disaster, lucky you," snorts Cam.
"It felt true," he says.
lifes_sake
"Is there some useful intuition here I should be cultivating or is that also just you?"
"I've never heard of anyone else with a name that short," says Matilda.
"Or did you mean stuff feeling true in general? Yeah, I think that's just between me and my name," says Jellybean.
"Or did you mean stuff feeling true in general? Yeah, I think that's just between me and my name," says Jellybean.
lifes_sake
"I meant about stuff feeling true," Cam says. "But not getting my hopes up about a name less than nine paragraphs long is also important. Does co-casting split the same effort evenly, or unevenly, or does it cost more overall but less for every individual person, or is it more efficient energywise but also more time-consuming, or what?"
"Depends on the spell," says Matilda. "My intuition based on experience is that the bigger the spell, the more you win on a co-cast, and on tiny spells you lose. But I wouldn't say that's accurate to every case. For this size spell, it should come out about even on efficiency and cost much less individually."
lifes_sake
"Okay. Let's compose this thing." Cam flips Grace open to a blank page, and technical discussion ensues.
Followed, presumably, by group casting.
Followed, presumably, by group casting.
Group casting has a much stronger sensation to it than casting alone, or maybe that's the strength of the spell. There is a real sense that something is listening, although it's not clear what.
Matilda and Jellybean are incredibly powerful.
Matilda and Jellybean are incredibly powerful.
lifes_sake
"Cool," breathes Cam, when this is all over and he's warded up. "Is it just me or was something, er, listening to us?"
"That happens," says Matilda.
"Usually it's whatever you're casting the spell on," says Jellybean.
"Sometimes it's probably the Powers," says Matilda.
"Usually it's whatever you're casting the spell on," says Jellybean.
"Sometimes it's probably the Powers," says Matilda.
lifes_sake
"How many of those are there, anyway? What are their ostensible specialties besides Iggy's and the Whisperer's?"
"They don't always like to be singled out," says Matilda.
"You might've noticed the manuals have about jack on 'em," says Jellybean.
"You might've noticed the manuals have about jack on 'em," says Jellybean.
lifes_sake
"I did notice that. So they're all in very snug cahoots? Or they're worried someone will learn enough to name them and do stuff to them?"
"Definitely the snug cahoots," says Jellybean. And the two of them look at each other, and smile.
lifes_sake
Cam snickers.
Renée calls them to dinner.
Dinner is macaroni and cheese with spinach in it, and side salads, with the remaining cookies for dessert.
Renée calls them to dinner.
Dinner is macaroni and cheese with spinach in it, and side salads, with the remaining cookies for dessert.
Om nom nom!
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