"...Yes. I am sorta a really competent New Age hippie. I like that."

"Next step: lots and lots of tie dye!"

"Ooh! I would be so there but the rocks are kind of eating my allowance. Bella's going to chip in but she got an advance on hers for a long time to get the crossbow."

"Are any of them find-in-the-street type crystals? Or do they need to be polished and everything too?"

"If I find a rock in the street I won't necessarily know what it is, which could be important. Polishing helps and these are, like, semiprecious stones that you wouldn't find just walking around anyway - precious ones would be good too but I don't have the cash."

"Awww, no spells to magically summon precious stones? Then you could just summon whatever you needed!"

"Well, not that I've found."

"Boooo. But hey. At least's there's glitter!"

"Yes. There's glitter."

"Heeeeeey now, none of that face! Glitter is important!"

"I like it, but it's not that practical. It doesn't even last long enough to make a good lamp."

"Things that make you happy are also important."

"You're right. But I'm sort of worried about casting too much? Like - the nurse said it's more like alcohol than heroin or anything, but I don't know what my magic tolerance is, you know? So - if I need happying glitter I'd just be a camp counselor at an art camp next summer."

"I volunteer the ducklings as practice," Jenny giggles.

"That might actually be, like, useful experience! If I try to counsel somewhere that's picky."

"Are there a lot of places that are that picky...?"

"I don't know, I haven't tried it before."

"Me neither! I mean... I am sorta already a camp counselor, right?"

"If you call your house camping."

"My house is totally sturdier than a tent. But the food's probably about the same..."

"And you've got plumbing."

"I would say 'and it's so useful for keeping the ducklings clean', but I don't think I could get Patrick to stay clean even if he lived underwater."

"He'd get algae and pond muck all over him?"

"Sand. Squid ink. Weird fish goop. We never underestimate Patrick's capacity for finding new and interesting things to stain himself with."

Soph giggles.