They are exceptionally soft.

Would he like to know some things? Would he like to let Z see some things in his mind?

He would! He would like that!

Soft.

This is what a computer is. This is what a corporation is. This is what the United States are, more or less, from when Z lives. This is what a credit card and a bank account are, and what advertising is, and what the police are, and all sorts of other things. This is not the emotion about them, just the information.

This is what a sim is. People use computers to have experiences that aren't happening in real life – here are some memories of that happening. But fake people are hard to make, so when nobody wants to be something complicated in a sim people use a Cranium.

A Cranium is the kind of squishy pod that Z was in. People take brains out, and put them in the Cranium, and then the person only lives in sims and not in a real body anymore. Lots of people use Crania to stay alive after they would have died, and take jobs being people in sims to pay for electricity and brain-food. They don't have as many rights as a person in a body, but they have a lot.

Sometimes, if you commit crimes, you can avoid dying or being in torture-prison by letting someone take your brain out and keep it in a Cranium. A brain with no documents in a Cranium doesn't have any rights at all. Z was one of those.

...oh.

No wonder she's confused.

"...you have old lady magic?"

"I think so?? I don't understand a lot of things. Because I'm a lizard."

"That's a good reason."

He giggles.

"...I don't think they've figured out direct abstract information upload yet. So–uh–"

The clouds wiggle encouragingly.

The clouds are very tired, though. Making tendrils is not easy – actually, it's really hard – but the clouds got very excited.

"...we'll let you get your rest, hon. Thank you."

The former(?) lizard pats the clouds. They're good clouds. Soft, helpful.

The clouds are so pleased!

...she pats one next to her before she stands up.

"Aww, cute."

Honey ushers them both gently out of the cloudscape, and the curtains close once more behind them.

He hugs Z, because that's a thing he can do now, because she's here and huggable.

She is so appreciating all these hugs. And returning them!

"So...I've got some questions."

"Fire away, honey."

She edges in behind the bar. Her dress morphs and shifts from a sparkling red gown to a somewhat more practical black cocktail dress.

Magic is real.

"–uh–where is this, exactly?"

"Cozy," he mumbles into her shoulder. This does not answer her question at all, but in fairness, it wasn't intended to.

What, cute.

She pets his hair.

"We're in Vision, hon. Little pocket dimension just outside the conventional spacetime continua. There's many more like it, but this one is mine."

She pats the bar affectionately.

"I put together the bar so she doesn't have to go to the trouble of keeping this all stable."

"She's... good clouds," the dragon man contributes, nuzzling Z's shoulder.

"She is."

Okay. Pocket dimension. She can work with that.

"And, uh...you turned him into a person?"