"You're holding one! And now you've brought catastrophe into the world!"

"Well obviously they do exist, but they didn't, not when I was in that museum, at least not as far as I knew! And it's not my fault that they cause catastrophe!"

"But it's your fault they've been released, and you keep being so unhelpful!"

"Well maybe we should stop shouting at each other and try to–" He's interrupted by a knock at the door.

"Theo, are you okay in there?" asks his dad.

He drops the card and quickly grabs the winged bear, muffling any noises it might make.
"Yeah, Dad, everything's fine!" he says... somewhat convincingly.

Cerberus bites Theo's hand.

"Ow!" he exclaims, trying to be quiet.

"Are you sure you're fine?"

"Yeah, I am! Good night!" he says, and he waits to hear his dad's footsteps before continuing.

"What was that for? I was just keeping you quiet!" he hisses at the bear, dropping him on the bed.

Cerberus immediately flops onto the ground and grabs the card.

Well. Hugs the card. It's rather larger than he is. "Okay! One down, fifty two to go!"

"Hey, no!" Theo says, and tries to grab the card. "Tell me what this is about! Magical cards and a catastrophe – what do you mean!?"

Cerberus is lifted off the ground when Theo grabs the card, still hugging it and wagging his tiny legs, ineffectually trying to take the card from Theo.

Eventually he gives up and floats back down to the bed. "Those cards were special cards made by an amazing sorcerer named Clow Reed. Each card is alive, and possesses incredible powers, but they all like acting on their own, and normal forces are no match for them. So, Reed himself created this book and placed me, the Beast of the Seal, on its front cover."

Theo snatches the card away from Cerberus as soon as he can, and decides to finally put the book down; it looks like he's strong enough to fend the bear off without it.

"So are you the lion from the cover? Why did Clow create them, and why with rebellious personalities? Are they alive?" he asks, sounding somewhat disturbed.

"Yes, I am, it's magic, Clow didn't choose to create their personalities, and yes, they're alive!"

"What, so you can't create magical artifacts without giving them personalities and making them alive? And why would you imprison them all in a book in a library?" And no offense but you don't look much like a lion, he thinks but doesn't add.

He shakes his head. "The more magic, the more alive and the more personality. And they were imprisoned to keep from destroying the world!"

Theo squints at him. "So they're the catastrophe? You mean that none of them happen to be nice and actually want to help? Does the fact that they're magic automatically make them into horrible... people...?"

"Not exactly. They won't be trying to destroy the world, catastrophe is just what happens when they exist and don't have a master. Each of them does its thing, because it is their nature."

"So how do you stop it? Just go pick up a bunch of cards? How long does it take before they actually start destroying things, and why isn't this one doing it yet?"

"If you used this one to scatter the others, then it recognises you as its master; Windy is very agreeable. And the cards will be dormant until they're not, and then they'll be in their true forms, which are not cards, and which you must subdue, capture, and turn back into cards." He stands up. Given his size, that's not much of a difference. "You will have to do it!"

'They'll be dormant until they're not'... Wow, funny, that.

"I didn't exactly use it on purpose." he grouches. "How bad are they when in their 'true forms'? And what do you mean 'its master'...? I don't exactly want to become a slave-master."

"...what?"

"'What' to what part? I picked the card up, laughed at the name, then a gust of wind took the cards; that wasn't my intention. And I happen to have some issues with being the master to a bunch of slaves."

"Slaves? But—they're cards!"

"Yeah, magical cards. Which have been trapped in a book for a long while, and that you say have enough free will to be able to decide to use the magic on their own, and apparently cause a catastrophe!"

Cerberus blinks and sits again. "No, that's not how they work," he says, shaking his head a bit. "They don't decide to use magic, they are the magic. Windy doesn't decide to do anything any more than wind does. Wind is, and so is Windy. The same is true of all other cards. Like—" He fumbles for an example, looks around, then points at Theo's shadow. "Does your shadow decide to follow you around?"

"... No? But it doesn't display signs of being intelligent, just mirroring me and doing exactly nothing else, whereas it sounds like these cards do other things? Especially since you're talking about them recognising me as their master."

"Well, but—dogs! Dogs recognise people as their master, and they do other things!"