"Peal sent back the list of magic interaction results!" he tells his wife. "Highlight is that demons basically can't make anything and we should probably get some planets turned into breeding colonies for various scarce kinds of magical creature if we want to be in a position to meaningfully scale up potionmaking. Space Arda folks observe that daeva will take meticulously good care of magic animals if traded breeding sets, might be the best way to do some of the ones that are dangerous and not likely to do well just given their own planet and no supervision. They have a panel of kinds of mind-affecting magic to try against Occlumency on somebody who is not you."

"Somebody who is not me sounds like the ideal subject. Is Theodore all over the magical creature breeding program?"

"I have no doubt that it is already well under way, stewarded by six of him."

"My alts are probably all going to visit now they know I am a them."

"Oh good! Your alts are an impressive lot."

"And we like having alts and it seems obviously incumbent on them to do the visiting so it will seem so to them too."

"Why is that, because it'd be a pain to know when to visit them without interrupting all the empressing?"

"And because it's the same total time investment but they might run into each other here and that is also fun."

"I think I get most of what I get out of meeting my alts by reading all their research notes. And until I have what would we talk about? - well, I know what we'd talk about, I would say 'I have the best wife' and they would say ' - yep, you sure do -'"

"I love you. Should we actually be setting up single mes with yous - it's only happened the once while Timothies have two and a half of me -"

"Are there single mes? I am sure they would adore yous but it might make more sense to, like, propose they collaborate on a project, we really haven't the faintest idea how to carry on a romance and won't be motivated enough to plead with Timothies for cues until we have noticed how smart you are - knowing it isn't the same thing, it's hard to describe -"

"There is the Elentári one with free will but I don't know if he considers himself married still or not. Dunno about the Space fork situation either. There's a difference between knowing and noticing?"

"Yeah it's like - if there's a genderswapped Alessadro Volta somewhere I would happily, uh, acknowledge in the abstract that I bet we'd get along? But I wouldn't be especially moved to go and meet her. If I met her and then she - explained things in a way you can only explain them when you really understand them because you have a really good mental map of the concept space you're navigating, something like that, then there'd be a sort of moment of 'oh yes yes this I want to be around to see this person think' and it's for that specific person, I don't think it's for the template."

"Awwwww. I will keep that in mind if we encounter an Alessandra Volta and an unambiguously single you. - Ithil's early enough in the timeline to probably not have that one married."

"It sounds like she would have serious competition for boy Bells if any showed up. I suppose there are Voltas to go around - I don't even know if he's married, I was just trying to think of someone smart I hadn't met -"

"I think he is. Alas, poor Curufinwë Amilinyë."

"Bet it's something of the last thing on her mind with all this magic. I, uh, expect mes mostly have no idea what they're missing."

"It's probably kinder that way." Kiss.

"Yep." Kiss.

"I'm coming up on the end of my reading assignments and I still don't know the best way to handle Azkaban. There are some inelegant ways but they are that."

"Yeah I glanced at that too. Finding all the dementors will be a hassle and then it looks like there's no shortcut for going and grabbing 'em one by one and I didn't see great options for better wizarding prisons either unless someone's passionate about the subject and cares to wish one up."

"There's subtle artists. Which is, well, a strict improvement over Azkaban."

"Strict improvements on Azkaban are so easy. Have any of them tried blocking a wizard from magic use -"

"No. Shouldn't be difficult in principle but maybe we're weird."

"Occlumency might be somehow protective against subtle arts."