(Maya thinks she'd probably like to stay, seeing as how they offered.)

Theo also says goodbye to the driver and then walks up to his house's door. "What did you want to talk about?"

"Mmostly wanted to, like. Touch base, check that everything's alright—especially with you," looking at Tyler. "And then probably go for a walk because I'm tired of being cooped up all day."

Tyler gives him a bit of a look. Sort of bored and slightly confused. "I think I'm okay."

"Okay, good. Erm, I also kinda wanna get to know you." Pause. "As opposed to figuring you're Theo plus alterations. You weren't exactly super talkative today. Or yesterday. Which is a personality trait I guess, but."

"I can probably be more talkative."

"Nnnot exactly what I was going for, here."

"I'm not sure I have overmuch in the way of memories yet, ones that are my own and my own experiences where I took choices that are mine, and I haven't properly deconstructed my head because it's difficult to do that, shocker, and I have been guessing at what I think and should think by trying not to go with my instinctual response to things because it's typically not mine."

"What does it mean for your instinctual response to not be yours?"

"Cached thoughts from him," he indicates Theo, "that I have not yet successfully cleared out, because apparently the Twin did not fully modify me to fit my personality and whatever, it just screwed with the personality and left everything else as it was."

"Ah. ...well what's wrong with just dealing with cached thoughts after you use them and notice they're there?"

"That I have to notice they're there first and my first response is not what I would want to respond with. So I'm usually quiet."

"Right, I mean, isn't it much easier to just let your first first response of a given kind be something you would not want to respond with, and then fix it for subsequent times if you don't like it, than hunting them in your head?"

"I've been hunting them as I form responses in my head, too, just trying not to say the first response aloud unless I'm sure I agree with it?"

"Ah. I see. So it may turn out you're not super quiet?"

"… I think it varies depending on who's around, mostly."

"Awww are you shy?"

He gives Sadde a look. "I am pretty sure I am not shy."

He grins. "Alright. Well—is there anything I can do to help?"

"I don't think it's too different between being spoken to and just listening to conversations, and in either of them I can mess with my cached thoughts but if I'm in a conversation I also need to think of a response quickly. So it might be easier to do more observation than interaction for more complicated things." Shrug. "Introspection is probably good, like this."

(Theo has grabbed a drink and let his dad know they're back and also here's some lemonade or cola or squash, juice, whatever, for the other two.)

(He thanks Theo but doesn't want to drink anything.)

"So thaaaat was a 'no'?"

"I think that was a no, correct, unless you can think of some way to help with those things."

"Could throw hypotheticals at you, run through memories with Theo and see how you'd react differently, try to help you extrapolate from those differences?"

"It might help to have someone to bounce that off, yes, instead of trying to do it in my head."

"Wanna do that now or should I get out of your hair?"

"I'd rather get my head more straightened out sooner, so now would be preferable."

"We can sit somewhere and talk, then—where are you gonna stay, anyway?"

"I stayed here Thursday and I'm pretty sure – our father – is not going to throw me out or anything." Shrug. "I expect we are okay for money."

"Yeah, probably."

"What about space? Is there a spare bedroom somewhere I failed to notice?"

"… Apparently?" says Theo. "There's my room, dad's room and then there's a smaller room between the two. Sorta opposite the bathroom?"

"Huh. Alright I guess. Anyway, will you want writing implements or where do you wanna do it?"

"I'll fetch pen and paper," says Theo, going to do as such.

"Might as well just do it in the sitting room," says Tyler, shrugging. He walks through the archway to it and sits on a sofa near the drinks.

Sadde takes a seat as well.

Theo brings two pens and a pad of paper! After placing them down in front of Tyler, he pauses, then asks, "Should I maybe not be here?"

"It might be easier if you weren't here. Maybe. If I'm going to criticize something you did."

"On the other hand he has your memories, too. And if you're gonna criticize something he did, and it's a sound criticism rather than a matter of style or opinion, I think it's helpful if he hears it?"

"It might make it less about him though?"

"… Probably not too much, and it might be good for you to hear criticism."

Theo opens his mouth as if to say something, pauses, squints at Tyler a bit, and then shuts his mouth.

He does nod, though.

"Okay, so... Should we start with memories? Maybe Theo can start us off? Or maybe I should since you two can post-process while I'm not around."

"Yeah? Chronologically, see if I'd make different calls, or just analysing things?"

"Chronologically, and both, I think. So, when we met, go."

"I would have tried to be less conspicuously shocked and mistrustful?"

"Eh, I think it was pretty reasonable to be mistrustful, but I meant more like, would you have tried to do the same things? To draw me out, given you wanted to figure out who had the card."

"Drawing you out of the crowd at the bus stop? … That was actually unintentional, had Windy out by coincidence."

"Really? Huh. Would you have done something different to draw me out, then?"

"By the time he got there it had already happened, but no, it would have been quite a good idea had he actually thought of it intentionally."

"And how would you have conducted the subsequent interaction?"

"I'm not sure I would have thought of it but probably by talking to Kero and making sure he wouldn't do anything… I wouldn't want him to. Agree on things we should both do beforehand and things we shouldn't do, such as going around and potentially revealing things the other person considers a potentially useful secret."

"These pronouns there were very confusing."

"I'd want Kero and me, were I in this hypothetical situation, to agree on a plan of action and not end up accidentally sabotaging the other in a way we didn't realize was sabotage?" Pause. "Meaning I'd want Kero not to reveal drawbacks of the cards to you just because you petted him."

"He was nice!" Kero protests.

"– I'm sure he was, unlike Theo, but Theo was sort of understandably not nice."

"Sort of?"

"You probably could have at least made more of an effort to pretend."

"I'm not sure pretending to be nice is very nice."

"… I think it's nicer than being actively hostile?"

He looks at Theo. "I don't think I've ever seen him be actively hostile?"

"I guess it depends on what your threshold is for 'actively hostile', but he at times was definitely not a fan of certain things and people."

"… I usually didn't do anything about it, though?"

"And you get credit for that, but like, could've been nicer. I guess it could look like manipulation but it's probably better than looking surly and getting frustrated."

"It's very much not a crime in any reasonable moral system to think unkind thoughts, and I personally would prefer people to let it be known they dislike me than pretend they like me."

"Sure, with you it works. With some people it just makes them not act in your interests and potentially do stupid things that could be detrimental."

"Well, sure, but it's still better they do that while believing true things than they believe untrue things."

"I think we might differ here."

"How exactly?"

"I would prefer people know true things, we're the same there, but if they would sabotage your plans for some sort of irrational reason were they to know more then I don't necessarily feel I should tell them more."

"That would require me to believe myself to be much more rational than I think I have any reason to believe. On the other hand, I do see a point in not going out of my way to inform other people of things."

"I wouldn't go advising actively withholding information that people request, especially if they know more about a situation than you do, no. But if they would work much more effectively if I didn't let slip a few rude comments when I could get by just fine without, and they then use their abilities to achieve something I want and they don't dislike, I'd rather not make negative comments about them. So I can get what I want, added bonus of not burning any bridges."

"—I wouldn't advise making negative comments about anyone, no, but again I've never seen Theo actually do that so I thought the hypothetical here was more 'act like you do not particularly like a person' instead of 'actively be a dick to them'?"

"… He pretty clearly does not like Kero? Has made remarks to that effect before, I'm pretty sure? – Sorry, Kero."

"...I don't remember him ever being mean to me. Maybe a bit sarcastic."

"Perhaps I'm just using a different definition of 'mean' here? He got annoyed when you didn't volunteer relevant information, expected that you'd do that, maybe called you useless once or twice?"

"– I am pretty sure I didn't call him useless."

"I'm not useless! ...and I don't remember him calling me that."

"You're not useless," Tyler agrees. "You're very helpful when we ask the right questions, so thank you for that."

"Anyway, we got sidetracked. What else would you have done differently, when we met?"

"I want to say something to the effect of 'been more thorough and effective' but I probably wouldn't have been, not enough, in that sort of a scenario."

Theo looks like he might be slightly offended. "More effective?"

"More composed and this having occurred after I got more information, is what I mean, but you were somewhat restricted in ability to do that. Plus it happened right after you caught the Fly, so," he shrugs.

"I mean, 'thorough and effective' are adjectives not verbs, they don't really say what you'd have done differently."

"Yeah – but I wouldn't have been them at the time anyway, probably. Like I said, would have if I had the chance tried to speak to Kero more beforehand and know more about the situation and be on better terms with him, then mostly I would have acted the same but hopefully from a better informational standpoint?"

"Eh. And would you have told me stuff as—fast, or much, as Theo did?" Pause. "Would you have played with Change? That was quite endearing."

"Change is fun," he responds. Then he pauses, frowns a little, and amends, "The concept of changing and improvement is fun. Change the card is useful."

"So would you or would you not endearingly play with it?"

"Possibly? I think it would be less endearing than you're imagining."

"I think you underestimate how cute you are, but alright."

"I could probably try being cute if I wanted to but I didn't think I was personally that generally cute."

He gives Theo a look, then looks at Tyler again. "I know you didn't."

"I'm sure I'm just passively cute, at least in your esteem, and it's a little annoying," says Theo. "But I'm not usually called cute."

"But you pout and – fuck I am cute aren't I, ugh."

He giggles. "I don't understand what you two have against being cute, being cute is my whole schtick. Well, and charming, and smart, and hot, and good in bed, and generally awesome."

Eyeroll. "Being cute is not my issue. Being cute and not realising it, that is."

"Yep. Anyway, how about that restaurant place afterwards?"

"… The superspeed incident thing? I have no idea why you guys didn't poke that, like, it could have been really useful even if it was on the fritz and that's still something we should look into."

"Well, it's probably something like regular sorcery being expressed weirdly, but you're right."

"Probably," he agrees. "But it's nonverbal and possibly useful since it was done accidentally. It at least suggests that sorcery can be done much more flexibly than we've been doing so far."

"Mmmmaybe. I'm not so sure. I've been able to do mine purposefully since always and it hasn't been too flexible."

"… Well, we might not be able to tap into the flexibility with our current understanding but if the superspeed can occur nonverbally, we might be able to do other things like that too?"

"Granted.—do you have the superspeed thing?"

"I am not totally sure," he responds. "I'd test but Theo might be embarrassed."

Theo looks confused.

"...why?"

"Because it'd involve me jumping up from the sofa or something, then trying to run about to see if that worked, and gosh, if it failed that might just darned look so embarrassing or childish and I'm in his body, so."

Theo sighs.

He raises an eyebrow. "I'm sure he'll be fine."

Tyler shrugs, then tries jumping out of his seat quickly. Turns out to be 'fast for a regular human' in speed, and then he tries running a bit.

… He probably does not have it, from these results.

"Can you try to do the same, Theo?"

He does! And it doesn't kick in straight away, but it does in fact kick in to make him blur slightly and move – maybe double the speed? He really shouldn't be blurring for how slow it is, but even so.

"That is kinda hot," he opines. "Anyway, so guess you don't have the blurry thing."

"Probably not," agrees Tyler. "Unless it's somehow easier with the staff, but I think that's contrary to what Cerberus said?"

"The staff makes card magic easier and other magic harder," he agrees.

"Oh well."

Theo takes his seat again.

"And after that?"

"Then – there was socialisation?"

"Which we can test real time and don't really need to hypothesise about."

"I didn't like the jumping to get the Jump, but you were somewhat more limited in materials back then."

"That... was not a very bright move, you are correct."

"You had – what, the Fly, Windy and Change? I'm not coming up with any amazing alternatives here except 'grab it before it had the chance to get anywhere', but you weren't expecting it so that's not doable."

"Maybe use Windy to trap it or—well we didn't know how to do sorcery then, yeah."

Shrug. "I find it kinda ridiculous how that never activated accidentally."

"We don't usually call upon gods and elements to do things?"

"Any idea when people get the aptitude to do sorcery, Cerberus? Is it from birth or do they get it some certain age…?"

"I don't know much, but Clow was born magical and there are sorcerer clans."

"When you say born magical, is that just a fact you've learnt or did it actually manifest, or…?"

"I wasn't there when he was born."

"Yeah, I mean – how do you know he's been magical since birth? Were you just told that, or do you know of him actually doing magic when young…?"

"I think everyone in a clan does magic when young..."

"I'd expect at least some of us to have jokingly called upon an element, or acted it out in a play or something… I guess maybe not?"

Shrug.

"– Anyway, after Jump was… Easter holiday and then the Shadow? Or Easter holiday might've been before, I don't recall."

"Shadow on my birthday, woo."

"Easter holiday first, then, with Jump. I think we've covered that one, unless there was anything else you'd have done differently?"

"Nothing I can think of."

"How about the following week? Would you have noticed I was flirting before Theo did?"

"Well he didn't realize it until right up at the tease, and then he assumed it was insincere."

Theo admits nothing.

"I'm pretty sure I would have noticed before him and I wouldn't have been so nettled."

"Would you have done anything about it?"

He shrugs. "Probably not?"

Sigh. "You two."

"I don't see why you're grouping me with him here."

Theo gives Tyler a look.

"If you could see why I'm grouping you with him here I probably wouldn't be."

"He didn't know about it. I wouldn't have acted on it. I'm not sure what the common ground is except, like, 'appears to be oblivious'."

"Appallingly terrible at communication?" he tries.

"… Not responding to flirting is not necessarily being 'appallingly terrible at communication'."

"Mmmm, not indicating your feelings on the matter kinda is, and also, like, this is not exactly the first example since you started existing a couple of days ago of you being bad at communication, it's just another instance of it."

Pause. "I know I haven't been the best at communication since I started existing, yes."

"And your counterfactuals seem to indicate this might be a pattern," he jabs. "Which is to say that, as advertised, the Twin makes a copy with a difference, not just a completely different individual who happens to share a face with the original. Shocking, I know."

"Counterfactuals plural or just that one?"

"Just that one, I suppose."

Tyler shrugs. "I might be bad at communicating, then."

"Mmhm. Let's hope I can do something about that that's not just reminding you of the conversation we had because, a, I actually had this conversation with Theo, and bee, you seem thoroughly immune to my charms, to my chagrin."

"The conversation being that you want me – him – to tell you things?"

"Not exactly tell me things, more like, in general, talk to me, because as his boyfriend I'd like to understand what he's feeling even if I cannot do anything to help."

Nod. "I am pretty sure we're talking about the main things right now."

"Yeah, which is nice. And, for the future, when someone flirts with you and you notice and are not interested, it'd be nice to them to tell them so."

"… When you kissed him you acted like it was all a joke, so I was assuming the flirting prior to that was mostly as a game."

"Mmmmno, it wasn't, I'd kinda been assuming by the not-kiss that he wasn't interested, what with all the ignoring the flirting thing going on. It hadn't occurred to me that he could have failed to notice." He grins at Theo.

Theo grins back! … A little.

"I don't recall the specifics of how much you flirted with him before that but I think it might have been clear from how I acted that I wasn't interested? And if not I could just tell you."

"Yep, just telling me would've been preferable. Like I said, I'd assumed he wasn't interested—incorrectly—and kept at it just because it was funny and he hadn't expressed an active dispreference for it."

"Mmh."

"Anyway, Shadow."

"I feel like a lot of these things, I might be inaccurate and only say I would have recognized them in retrospect. But like, standing by the bakery door while looking for the Shadow and then loosing your grip on your torch? Not the best move."

"Well sure but I was thinking more about differences in actions instead of outcomes."

"And with a few of the actions I'm going 'in retrospect that was a horrible idea' but were I actually there at the time I don't know I would have noticed."

"I suppose," he shrugs. "So, how're we doing for mental cleanup?"

"I am realizing I'm probably not as different from Theo as I first thought. It seems like there are lots of differences but that's after knowing the inside of his head and not the outside of mine."

"Can you elaborate on that?"

"I know lots about his head works, I know quite a bit about how mine works, I can see all the differences and it seems like there are a lot. I then look at how mine works and how I think yours works and it again seems to be a lot of differences. So it seems like we are very different. I expect that if I saw how I acted outwardly and saw more of how he acted outwardly and compared those and compared how I act to how you act, he and I would act a lot more similarly than you and me."

"Hmm... What exactly are the internal differences you see between your head and his, then, and why do they not translate to external ones?"

"I don't know what the inside of your head is like but I'm expecting it's even more different than his is and I just don't have a good guideline, is my point, but anyway – he seems less focused on his surroundings, he seems like he looks at people's faces a bit more, he seems far more charitable in how he talks about people in his head and doesn't seem to expect that over half the population is going to get themselves killed if not looked after properly and also he thinks about sex way more than I do."

Theo raises an eyebrow.

"I like charity, charity's good, tends to be more accurate. I also like the sex part."

"Uh-huh."

"You could stand to be more charitable, too, probably," he suggests. "Anyway, if the differences are of that... kind... I'm not sure there will exactly be many situations where you'd actually do anything different than him, and your intuitions seem like they won't be getting out of hand anytime soon."

"I'm not sure what you mean about my intuitions."

"I mean that you were worried about having instinctive reactions to things that you hadn't thought through and that weren't how you'd want to react but that's apparently not the case."

He shrugs. "Currently I am mainly suppressing them. They are somewhat frequently off-base."

Tyler sure seems to act differently from Theo, thinks Theo! He will pointedly refuse to remark about how Tyler apparently considers him wrong in lots of ways, well done him.

"Frequently? Like what?"

"To use a lot more words in my sentences, unnecessarily. Things like 'like' or – 'Well there are a few things actually but the main one was just that I use a lot of words to say the same thing and it doesn't really convey anything extra?'"

"Ha. I see. Well, I don't have anything against 'like,' these thought pauses are useful, but Theo is quite verbose, isn't he," he says fondly.

"'Like' is a useful word, if you're saying something such as: So I was like 'it's not my fault' and he was like 'you're grounded'." Pause. "Or, y'know, something more in character."

Theo smiles at Sadde.

He giggles. "But pauses like 'like' or 'um' or 'uh' or 'ah' are actually pretty useful signals in communication and don't really detract from communication, I think. I'm pretty sure I read some paper or other about that."

"Fillers, and no, I wouldn't want to get rid of them, but I'd still prefer not to use them."

"Fair, I guess. Okay, so Sword."

"Makes me want to try it out. I think I'd look great with a sword. – The actual fight, I think Theo was the real-world equivalent of genre-savvy by trying to appeal to the side of you still within, and after that failed he actually attempted to assess the situation properly, so, gonna have to say he did okay that time."

"Aw, thanks."

Snort. "You're a very serious sixteen-year-old," Sadde remarks. "I agree you'd look great with a sword, for the record."

"Maybe I should also take up martial arts."

"Desire to exercise shirtless?"

Tyler smirks.

"...wait, what was that, I'm very interested in that."

He keeps smirking.

"What."

"That was a smirk. I'm pretty sure you're acquainted with them."

"Yes but I want to know what you're talking about that involves shirtlessness and can Theo do it too and can you two do it?"

(Kero has long since left the premises.)

Tyler laughs. "Should I stop being such a tease?"

"You could, like, actually follow through on the teasing, that'd be a good replacement for it."

Shrug. "I was thinking of learning it for the utility, actually. Knowing how to use a sword could help use the card, knowing how to do martial arts could help in general if we encounter more cards."

"But doesn't using the card kinda automatically give you knowledge of how to fence?"

"Yeah, but the cards are limited by your magical potential so presumably it doesn't give you all of it and you don't have practice without it so it might be somewhat overwhelming and it would probably be preferable to know some techniques anyway." He rubs his eye a bit. "Plus I want to learn to use a sword."

"Hey, remember when I said you were adorable?"

"Nope."

"Yes, well, you are."

"Thanks."

"Hmm, I don't think there are any major things you'd have done differently, then?"

"More general prep work is the main thing."

"Hm?"

"I would have queried Cerberus on a wider variety of things beforehand and tried to practice using the cards for more things, which you eventually got around to but didn't do all that much towards the start."

"Fair enough. Do you have more questions for Kero, now?"

"None are coming to mind right now, but I haven't thoroughly tested what my limits are with the cards or even what some of them can properly do – things related to a concept is broad, my magic capacity seems likely to differ from Theo's because he's the Cardcaptor, and some of the things seem like they could be useful as passive defences – the Lock could be used to keep things in your bag, like other cards, safe."

"Oh, we could test stuff like that, yeah, good points."

"The Shadow – conceptually it might help with stealth, in general, the Glow could help with the opposite, attracting attention, though it might not be able to do that without bright lights, and – I think but am not certain that the Twin won't work on the cards?"

"I think Kero might've mentioned that the Twin can't duplicate magical things."

"… Do people not count as magical for these purposes, then? – I should be asking Cerberus this."

"I have a feeling the answer is a shrug."

"Why do you call him 'Cerberus'?"

"Because he seemed to object some to being called Kero. And I don't know him all that well."

"You know him fairly well. He doesn't know you because you're two days old."

"Seems weird to treat it as though we're familiar enough I can use nicknames he maybe doesn't like."

"I guess. He hasn't really objected to it since the first day, though."

Tyler shrugs.

"What do you want to do?"

"Right now?"

"Yeah. And in general, I guess."

"I don't have strong opinions about right now. Long-term I think it's similar to yours – try to collect the cards to avert catastrophe, use them and sorcery to hopefully benefit society."

"Okay, how about weak opinions about right now?"

"Ask Cerberus about the things I suggested earlier?"

Theo has his phone out.

Gosh, has he been taking notes. Perhaps he has.

"Oi Kero!" he calls.

The bear floats back towards them from—somewhere. He looks like he's been eating. "Hmpf?"

"– Tyler had a few questions and I hope you didn't eat anything you weren't supposed to."

"—what wasn't I supposed to eat?"

"Probably nothing in particular, but if you cleared out the fridge Dad'll want to know."

"I didn't! Just some cake."

"I was guessing you wouldn't go for the pasta, yeah."

"Anyway – questions included: could the Lock be used to keep the cards safe in a bag?"

"No, the Lock needs to be physically located in a lock or something like that to work."

"Bag with a padlock?"

"Oh that could work!"

"Would it do same as at the house, lock the whole bag magically and not just strengthen the padlock?"

"Yeah, that's what it does."

"I will look into getting a padlock then," he says. "Any chance the Shadow conceptually does stealth, or the Glow does – attracting attention?"

"What do you mean, conceptually?"

"I mean, you said they have – sort of domains, if I recall correctly? You can use some cards to do things they're not directly of, though they're not as good as specialised equivalents."

"Oh. Right. Hmm, I don't know... You can use the Shadow to affect things remotely, like through glass or something... But I don't know about stealth."

"Would it be easier for me or for Theo to try? I'm assuming him."

"Yeah."

So Theo gets the Shadow out of his bag and then says the annoying phrase to turn the key into the stupid pink staff and then – "The Shadow, I command you to aid me in stealth."

The Shadow... does not know what to do with such a vague command.

"… I command you to cloak me in shadow?"

It does, and Theo is... shadowy.

He looks at his hand.

Is he at all hard to see or would this only be helpful at night?

This would only be helpful at night.

"Works for if we want to sneak around at night," he says, and wills it away.

Away it goes.

"I think glow can only do the glowing balls."

Theo swaps it for the Shadow anyway and asks that it try to make him seem more noticeable.

Glowing balls!

"Thank you, Glow, that'll be all."

Disappear!

"And – the Twin won't work on cards, apparently you said it doesn't work on magical objects? Do you know why it works on magical people?"

"It doesn't copy the magic, it gives the copy its own magic."

"… Can it do that with copies of objects?"

"All copies are magical."

"I don't think I realised this," says Tyler.

"They don't do anything, but they're magical so they can't be copied."

"Oh, can I also not be copied?"

"You can't," he agrees.

"So can the Twin be used to put other magic into duplicated objects?"

"What do you mean?"

"The Twin makes magic copies of things, making them so they can't be duplicated. I'm a copy of Theo, I can't be duplicated. I also have magic other than not being duplicable. Can you do similarly with copies of other objects, give them magic other than that?"

"Oh. I dunno. I think it's just that when a human gets magic they can use it."

"… Maybe we should look into dumping magic on nonmagical people. Sometime."

"How?"

"Sorcery might be able to put a lot of magic through someone. Wouldn't necessarily take but could work?"

"Oh. I guess it makes sense."

"Anyway," says Tyler. "I'm not sure if I'm the only one to care about this but you know you have exams shortly, don't you."

Pause. "I have French in a week, fuck."

"Eh," he shrugs.

"Then– biology or something."

"I'm sure you'll do fine," says Tyler. "Everyone always says how easy your GCSEs are and how two-thirds of people get lower than a B in English, same for Maths and – gosh actually you know only about half of people get five A-stars to Cs including English and Maths."

Pause. "Let that just sink in for a minute. Half of people don't get passing grades in five subjects including English and Maths, the core ones, and English and English Literature count separately."

"Yes I know that thank you and – how do you even know those statistics?"

"I googled them so I could be suitably dramatic."

"That was kinda hot," Sadde says.

"… The statistics? Or the drama…?"

"Drama using statistics."

"Right."

"– I think I'll do fine in French and German and Maths but that's later on and the sciences probably too but I don't know about English and I guess probably RE will be okay but I– am not sure."

"We could do a study group."

"We have like a week. But that might be a good idea, yes."

"And I'm not actually doing the exams."

"You're not?"

"Money makes problems go away and in this case it's the problem of 'you need GCSEs to get into a sixth form or college'. I'm taking them in January instead with Maya and Juniper."

"Oh, cool. I hate exams, they're boring."

"Last year wasn't great but I – Theo – only had two, so." Shrug.

"Yeah I should, like, actually study and not just pretend I care."

"Might be a good idea."

"Study group yep though that sounds good."

He shakes his head and sighs. "Experimenting with—" Pause. "Something's just occurred to me."

"Hm?"

"That thing you said, about putting magic on people. I wonder if we can put magic on stuff. Like, objects. Clow made the cards and the staff and the book and Kero, but... We can enchant pieces of paper, right?"

"Right, and apparently when Theo gets better at magic he can make another staff…"

"Right. So maybe we could enchant other objects. Like, instead of making them from scratch."

".… Yeah," he responds. "Hey, Cerberus, there aren't any cards active, are there?"

"I don't think so."

Back to Sadde: "Got any ideas for things we could try?"

"Not with the cards we currently have. Played with Sword enough to know it's just that, Twin looks interesting to play with but doesn't seem to have a lot of variation, Windy is powerful but none of us have enough magic to have a lot of finesse with it, I cannot for the life of me come up with good ways to apply Jump in anything nonobvious, and we've covered the rest."

"How about objects we could enchant, ways we could do that? I don't have the list of cards memorized, I forget if there are any concepts that are obvious to call upon for enchantment."

"Oh, right, yeah, that. And maybe, hmm... I wonder if we can make the scrolls better somehow. Like. Dump more magic into them or something."

"I think we tried that. I don't remember what happened, though."

"Really? When?"

"I think one of us tried overcharging one and got flames? But that was due to an overexpenditure of mana?" He shrugs. "I honestly do not recall, I just had the feeling we did it yesterday."

"The only time we got flames was when we tried just doing one without mana."

"When we were already out?"

"Yeah."

Shrug. "Probably not too expensive to try again."

"Yeah. Got paper?"

He fetches a couple of sheets off a nearby jotter pad and hands them to Sadde, plus a pen.

So Sadde writes 'Wind' on one and... furrows his brows at it. "I... think it's working, actually?"

"… Continuously? As in, still feeding stuff in, it's not just a as-you-write-it?"

"Yes."

"Any chance you get a mana bar too?"

"—a what now?"

"I was hoping you'd get some convenient complementary knowledge of how much energy you're still able to put in."

"Don't seem to, no."

The paper has not stopped rippling and shimmering like it does when being written on.

"It might end up unusable if you drain all your mana on it. So, maybe don't do that."

"Right." He stops. "I wonder how much better this is..."

"You charged – Wind? … We could try with a flight spell, maybe?"

So he tries that! With the simplest spell they have.

It lasts a bit longer!

"… That seems like it might not be very much gain for what you put in."

"Well I put only a few seconds in, and I got more seconds out of it than I put in," he shrugs.

"Mm," he shrugs. "It seems near-instant just writing it regularly but yeah, okay."

"Yeah. I guess writing it instantly takes some, like, constant amount of magic, and then anything else has to be charged? That—could explain how one'd get stuff as powerful as these cards."

"Maybe we should see if we can charge one up in increments, stop charging and then continue."

He tries that.

Answer is: yep.

"Okay, so not really mana limited – and maybe we should see if I can charge up one you write, see if it's transferable."

"What do you mean, not mana limited?"

"It's not limited to your current reserves of mana, the max you can charge a piece of paper is not your maximum mana, possibly, since you can recharge over time and hopefully dump more in later."

"Ah, yeah." He hands it over to see if Theo can charge his scroll, too.

Theo tries!

Works!

"Two of us should try charging it at once," says Tyler.

Sadde tries charging it, too.

It also works.

"Unfortunately we don't yet know if this is mana inefficient or anything, but this seems like it might be useful for making spells that are actually more useful."

"We should email the others about it and coordinate tests."

"That sounds like a good idea, but we might want to – try thinking of useful results we want, so we can try aiming that direction instead of using mana on whatever test comes to mind first."

"That's part of what the coordination is for—and I mean, I don't particularly have any good ways of coming up with results I want without knowing what resources I have. Like, take over the world, eradicate involuntary death, that kinda stuff, but the intermediate goals are much fuzzier."

"Inconveniently none of us are currently sick and available to be trialled for some healing thing. As an intermediate step."

"Not that that would indicate much of—anything, really."

"… If we suddenly felt dramatically better after a spell aimed to heal us from an illness, I'd expect it to indicate we could do some types of healing with sorcery and give us an idea of what works?"