"I'm also not sure how it'll taste, I do have blood but I do not fundamentally run on biology."

" - Gosh, okay.  And, uh, is bleeding even something you can do?  You seemed pretty - tough, before."

"I can be injured if allow it, it just stays shallow and heals fast by default."

"Well.  If the taste is so extraordinarily bad that I absolutely can't stand it then we'll have to figure something else out?  I'm not going to not give it a try on the risk of that alone."

"How much does this increase the options of what magic you can perform, here?"

"Not at all?  If I'm understanding you right."

"It gives me my own pool of magic but you can do the things you listed for me without it and they will still work?"

"Yeah.  Less than if you do them yourself, maybe?  Not the teleport, like I said.  And I guess there's other things it's useful to be able to do yourself whenever you need, like shapeshifting or temporary but more powerful cognitive boosts.  - You might actually be able to get further with the sims than me, in the short term."

"Oh? Why?"

"So, when I do magic, some of that goes towards doing whatever the thing is, and some of it goes towards making me better at doing that thing in the future?  And there are limits on how much better I can get at once, before it gets aversive.  And sangrades - that's the word I guess for people with their own magic who aren't vampires - can't get better, magically, at doing magic, so there's no aversion and they're using all of their juice to actually do the thing.  And I don't think I've done enough to be at the point where I'd outpace that yet."

"Huh. ...times like this I wish I could consult Ancora."

"It would be nice in some ways."

"I'll think about it, I'm not in a terrible hurry."

"Yeah, 'course.  Did you want any of the things I can give you now?"

"Sure, I'd try out the magic nootropics if that's convenient."

"What aspect, they're separate.  And permanent or temporary?"

"I would prefer to try them temporarily before having them permanently installed in my brain, and, oh, let's say attentional capacity."

"There you go."

The amount of space in Cam's head is: more.

"- neat, thank you. I was so disappointed when I couldn't install that the way Elves do on their chips."

"Oh, yeah, that'd be convenient.  I think this one should last you a few hours."

"Maybe I'll see if it makes me better at any of my usual activities." He picks up his violin.

She settles in to listen in quietly-excited anticipation and after a moment makes the face of someone having heard a bad pun.

He winks at her, once, and plays the offending tune.

It's easier than usual!  He could play it faster than he would have been able to ten minutes ago even though he's not actually any quicker; he can hold more of what's coming up next in his head and prepare well for it.  It feels like maybe he could accompany himself on another violin if only he had the arms to play it with, at least if the part were relatively simple.  As it is he could probably sing along with more complex arrangements than he's normally capable of.

Judy golf-claps when he finishes.  "See, I hadn't considered you might be a giant nerd."