Vague and grandiose chat about motivated capitalism take up the rest of the wizards' evening. Plans are made for Cam to learn about worldgates the following (skipped from school with Renée's kind accomplicehood) day and, assuming he catches on quickly enough, to go to New York and meet Jenny and talk about her operating as their business proxy.

Presently it's bedtime, and Cam goes to his room and Matilda and Jellybean go to theirs and Cam has the chance to ask Grace what on earth she meant.

"Well," Grace says, whispering, "you've been holding off on labeling because you're only fourteen, but people stabilize at different ages, don't they? And as near as I can tell you've been stable for almost a year now. Not on either, but on whichever. I think you're just as likely to get a crush on Jellybean as Matilda and vice-versa, and I don't think it's because you're still undeclared, I think you're just wired that way."

Cam considers this. "Okay," he says. "I can live with that."

"I should hope so," says Grace, and Cam laughs, and he goes to sleep.

He's still on a sleep cycle appropriate to school, so he may be up before Jellybean and Matilda in the morning.

Author: lifes_sake	Vague and grandiose chat about motivated capitalism take up the rest of the wizards' evening. Plans are made for Cam to learn about worldgates the following (skipped from school with Renée's kind accomplicehood) day and, assuming he catches on quickly enough, to go to New York and meet Jenny and talk about her operating as their business proxy. Presently it's bedtime, and Cam goes to his room and Matilda and Jellybean go to theirs and Cam has the chance to ask Grace what on earth she meant. "Well," Grace says, whispering, "you've been holding off on labeling because you're only fourteen, but people stabilize at different ages, don't they? And as near as I can tell you've been stable for almost a year now. Not on either, but on whichever. I think you're just as likely to get a crush on Jellybean as Matilda and vice-versa, and I don't think it's because you're still undeclared, I think you're just wired that way." Cam considers this. "Okay," he says. "I can live with that." "I should hope so," says Grace, and Cam laughs, and he goes to sleep. He's still on a sleep cycle appropriate to school, so he may be up before Jellybean and Matilda in the morning.
Author: pythbox	He is, in fact! But not by a lot. They proceed out of their room soon enough, still dressed like magical girls.
Author: lifes_sake	"Do you just always dress like that?" Cam just always dresses in jeans and t-shirts, but at least there are black jeans in addition to multiple shades of blue jeans and four entire colors of shirt.
Author: pythbox	"Not always," says Jellybean. "But most of the time," says Matilda.
Author: lifes_sake	Cam shrugs and goes downstairs to get some cereal. "Do you know where the nearest worldgate hub is," he asks, "or are we just going to take a bunch of buses here and there till we find one?"
Author: pythbox	"I can find us one!" says Jellybean. "I'm really good at it."
Author: lifes_sake	"Cool." Renée has already left for work. Cam finishes his cereal. "Where to?"
Author: pythbox	Jellybean takes the lead. His outfit receives some odd looks. He does not appear to give a single shred of a fuck.
Author: lifes_sake	Cam doesn't pay them any mind either. Jellybean's prerogative.
Author: pythbox	On they go! A worldgate locus, it turns out - he finds one in an alley behind a bus station - is not distinguishable by any of the ordinary senses. But there's definitely something there. Matilda takes over with the technical explanations.
Author: lifes_sake	Cam spends a few minutes standing in various places relative to the worldgate locus, learning the feel of it, and attends carefully to Matilda's explanation. "All right," he says, "now how do I use this thing?"
Author: pythbox	Matilda demonstrates, with her usual precision and efficiency. The gate she opens has someone's living room on the other side.
Author: lifes_sake	"Cool," says Cam, opening up Grace to sketch a quick drawing of the gate and a map to the locus. "But Jenny's not home, right? By the way, when I meet her, what do I call her?"
Author: pythbox	"You... call her Jenny?" says Matilda, trying and failing to imagine another option. "And no, she's at work. If we want to visit her we should do it on a weekend."
Author: lifes_sake	"Well, Renée's pretty laid back about my friends calling her Renée - although if I do it she doesn't like it, I have to address her to her face as Mom - but I have friends whose moms insist on being Mrs. Little or whatever," Cam explains. "All right. Now we know where a locus is for later, let's see what we can do about plants and medicines and stuff. We can keep experimenting on that till you guys are bored, and then you can go do whatever for a bit while I win a million dollars and then we can get really started."
Author: pythbox	"I am totally gonna watch you win a million dollars," says Jellybean.
Author: lifes_sake	"All right, we can keep doing that until you get bored and then we can go and I win a million dollars," says Cam. "I should probably submit an application thing first so they have time to process it, though. Should we take the bus back home or gate there, d'you think?"
Author: pythbox	"Oh, gate there," says Matilda. "You can set it up, for the practice, and we'll all power it because it's more efficient that way."
Author: lifes_sake	"All right." Cam peers into Grace's transcription of the explanation to make sure he has it down, and then he follows the steps methodically. And there's Renée's kitchen.
Author: pythbox	They all troop through; the gate closes behind them. "Time to do science!" says Matilda. Jellybean laughs.
Author: lifes_sake	"Science!" crows Cam, and he starts raiding the pantry and the medicine cabinet for raw materials to talk to. He hands Jellybean a potato and Matilda an ibuprofen tablet and himself a vitamin supplement to start with. Science ensues!
Author: pythbox	Potatoes, it turns out, are about on the level of grass and muffins as far as higher cognition goes. Jellybean still manages to convince his to do a cute little dance.
Author: lifes_sake	"Cute," says Cam, looking up from his vitamin and his wizard manual. "But dancing potatoes are not going to feed appreciably more starving people."
Author: pythbox	"So?" says Jellybean. The potato pirouettes.
Author: lifes_sake	Cam looks at him for a second, then says, "Okay," and relegates that particular potato to toy duty and gets himself another one to look at for when he's done with the vitamin.
Author: pythbox	Jellybean continues playing with his dancing potato.
Author: lifes_sake	Cam wishes to convince his vitamin to be better at being a vitamin. Ideally, it could supply perfect micronutrients for whoever took it with some sort of time-release so it wouldn't be necessary to have a new one every day for the vitamins that humans can't store effectively, but he'd settle for omitting side effects like niacin flush or some other measurable improvement in the performance. What does his manual have to say about that?
Author: pythbox	His manual doesn't have anything specific to say about that. There are no preexisting spells to accomplish these aims. Jellybean overhears the question and asks, "Niacin flush?"
Author: lifes_sake	"If you take niacin, even the right amount of niacin, if it's more than you were getting before you get some side effects," says Cam, showing Jellybean the warning on the bottle.
Author: pythbox	"Huh," says Jellybean. He captures his dancing potato and starts talking to it again.
Author: lifes_sake	Cam starts asking his manual for general information about getting things to work in different ways in general.
Author: pythbox	Well, that's... most of wizardry, really. The manual does its best to oblige. Jellybean grabs a vitamin supplement.
Author: lifes_sake	"You want to trade?" Cam asks Jellybean.
Author: pythbox	"Nope," says Jellybean.
Author: lifes_sake	"...Okay." Cam goes back to narrowing down what he's looking for from the manual without getting too narrow, with Grace's help.
Author: pythbox	Jellybean talks to the potato and the vitamin. Matilda consults their manual and examines her pill.
Author: lifes_sake	Science continues to ensue! They don't make a lot of progress, and after a while Cam switches to a potato of his own. He already has a fair number of spells pulled on the subject of food and knows how to make the potato taste like chicken. Can he make it have other features of cleverer products? Can it taste like beef, can he fuss with the macronutrient content, will it consent to pass on characteristics like that to its sprouts?
Author: pythbox	Some success is possible in that direction, although the potato is reluctant to taste like anything but potato and even more reluctant to take on any of these qualities in a genetic rather than superficial sense. Meanwhile, Jellybean's potato is now a more vibrant shade of brown.
Author: lifes_sake	Cam solicits information on outright genetic manipulation, in case someone's come up with a way to get around this reluctance. He's also listening with half an ear to what in the world Jellybean's doing with his potato.
Author: pythbox	What Jellybean's doing with his potato is, apparently, genetic modification! That colour change is heritable.
Author: lifes_sake	Cam blinks, and pays attention. He doesn't interrupt Jellybean; he does not yet know how to do that productively instead of distracting the other wizard into making the potato sing songs or write the Great American Novel or something instead.
Author: pythbox	Mostly he's just talking to it, in an entirely casual way. And he gently, casually suggests that the potato take on this or that quality... and it does, as easily as that.
Author: lifes_sake	Cam peers at Jellybean's potato, and at his own potato, and he attempts to mimic the style, just in case it'll work.
Author: pythbox	Nope.
Author: lifes_sake	Dangit. He decides to wait to see if Jellybean gets around to more useful changes than darkened color of his own accord before attempting to prod him into it. He carries on with his own approach to the project, and takes a bit of a listen to what Matilda's doing between attempts.
Author: pythbox	Matilda is systematically grilling her pill about its molecular composition and physical structure. Jellybean convinces the potato to have a nutrient balance closer to the ideal ratio for human consumption. He doesn't say it like that, though, so it might take some listening to figure out that's what he's up to.
Author: lifes_sake	Grace is helping, so Cam figures it out eventually. He doesn't interrupt. He does, however, give up on his potato - since Jellybean is making more progress and there's so much more to do - and get a grain of rice.
Author: pythbox	Rice, for whatever reason, is more receptive to his suggestions than potatoes.
Author: lifes_sake	Okay, that's interesting, if they just vary in cooperativeness. Cam tries other available plant-based foods, finds rice the most suggestible, and sets about convincing the rice to do useful things, taking notes as he goes on what he's trying and what works.
Author: pythbox	"So are we gonna find somewhere to plant these?" wonders Jellybean.
Author: lifes_sake	"Yeah. Arizona's not really great for it, but I guess if we can make them take root in the backyard here, that's a good test of how they'll do in, like, the Sahara, compared to if we went someplace cooler?" says Cam. "So there's here, it's not like the sand in the yard is doing anything that Renée'll be annoyed if we mess up."
Author: pythbox	"Cool," he says agreeably.
Author: lifes_sake	"How's the painkiller behaving?" Cam inquires of Matilda.
Author: pythbox	"I haven't tried anything yet," she says absently. "Still learning."
Author: lifes_sake	He lets her be. When he's out of ideas on the rice, he goes and puts it in the back yard and pours water on it and sternly instructs it to grow.
Author: pythbox	The rice sprouts obediently.
Author: lifes_sake	Good rice. It'll take a while to get longer term data on how tasty it is, of course. He goes in and works with the next most cooperative item, a grain of quinoa that Renée bought as a form of protein for vegetarian experimentation, and gives it a similar treatment.
Author: pythbox	Jellybean is still improving his potato.
Author: lifes_sake	~~Exciting~~ Tedious Wizard Science goes on until there is a row of nine sprouts of various things trying their darndest to grow in the sand. It is now time for Cam to win a million bucks. His original form got a positive reply. "Matilda, are you coming too?"
Author: pythbox	"Sure," she says cheerfully.
Author: lifes_sake	Off they go to the worldgate locus. "If we can't find one on the other end, we can just gate from anywhere and be dead tired after, right?" Cam confirms before setting up the gate.
Author: pythbox	"Yeah," says Jellybean, "but we've never had to emergency-gate from Earth."
Author: lifes_sake	"Yeah, not expecting it, just would rather be dead tired than a thousand dollars in the hole if something happens and I need a last-minute plane ticket. Invisibility time." Invisibility: check! Gate setup is a go! Is that the office of James Randi? Well, there's James Randi, anyway. Cam steps through.
Author: pythbox	Jellybean and Matilda both follow, likewise concealed.
Author: lifes_sake	Cam clears his throat. "Hi, Mr. Randi, I don't know if you answer your own email or not but I'm here for my million dollars," says Cam. Mr. Randi blinks slowly.
Author: pythbox	(Jellybean giggles behind impromptu soundproofing.)
Author: lifes_sake	"Mr...?" says Randi, slow and uncertain. "My application's under Nick Carter, but full disclosure, not my real name," says Cam. "Oh, and I don't have a bank account, for reasons of my own, so if you can't give the first payment in non-check form I'll just have to skip that one, and I'd like the rest liquidated in cash, and the agreed-upon test was that I'd make some plant seeds of your own provision sprout instantly by talking to them, do you have those ready or do you want me to wait while you send somebody to the garden store?" "Mr. Carter, are you invisible?" "Yes," says Cam dryly. "Yes, I am invisible, and I teleported here, but isn't the point that we do an agreed-upon test under controlled conditions, not that I just show up and wow you?" "...Ye-e-es."
Author: pythbox	(Jellybean, mutually visible to both of the other wizards in the room, is now cackling silently.)
Author: lifes_sake	"...I will send someone to the garden store, Mr. Carter," says Mr. Randi slowly. He does not sound thrilled. "If you want to see some other stuff, to make up for the fact that you're going to have to give me a million dollars and the fact that I've got other things to do than loiter here being researched," says Cam, "I don't object to passing the time." "What can you do?" "Lots of stuff," says Cam brightly. "But not manufacture a million dollars out of thin air, which is why I'm here."
Author: pythbox	Jellybean claps his hands, also silently. Even Matilda is grinning.
Author: lifes_sake	Mr. Randi gets someone on the phone. He sends them to the garden store. "Why so secretive, Mr. Carter?" he asks, after the phone call has concluded. "I'm not omnipotent, teleporting is kinda hard, and I'm really not interested in a career as a lab rat," says Cam. "I don't think you personally would be cutting me up, but I'd rather your friends and colleagues not be able to find me at home." "Why no bank account?" "For," Cam repeats, "reasons of my own."
Author: pythbox	Now it's Matilda's turn to soundproof her giggles.
Author: lifes_sake	"What sorts of things could you do with what's in this room?" Randi wants to know. "Well, I'm still learning, but I can look up any specific effects that interest you." "So the... magic... you're claiming is in a book." "I don't really want to go into too much detail, Mr. Randi. There's a reason I'm being invisible and so on." "I see." Pause. "Can you fix my computer?" "That's a probably!" says Cam, flicking his manual and turning pages.
Author: pythbox	Jellybean holds up a hand in an I-got-this gesture and heads for the computer in question. Matilda follows. They talk to it in a way audible to no one but themselves and the computer.
Author: lifes_sake	"In progress," Cam reports. This will have the convenient effect of not disclosing to Randi that all spellcasting involves talking to stuff. "...I don't need to tell you what's wrong with it?" "Nope, not really," says Cam.
Author: pythbox	After about thirty more seconds, Matilda gives the thumbs-up.
Author: lifes_sake	"See if it works now," Cam invites. Randi side-eyes him and starts poking around on his computer. "You realize if I can't parade you in front of all of the people interested in the outcome of the challenge," Randi says, "it'll be hard to explain." "You can film it if you want. I am after all invisible," offers Cam. "I realize that doesn't help that much, given movies, but it should do some."
Author: pythbox	Matilda beams proudly at the computer.
Author: lifes_sake	"Will you speak on camera?" Randi asks. "A little. I don't want to do too much of it, and you won't be able to prove it's not voiceover anyway." "True," Randi admits. His phone rings. He picks up. "If you'll come with me," he says to Cam when the call ends. "Right behind you, Mr. Randi."
Author: pythbox	Jellybean and Matilda trail them like a very short row of ducklings.
Author: lifes_sake	"Are you still there?" Randi asks, when they get to the elevator. "Yep," says Cam. Down the elevator they go. There are some pots and some seeds in them, and they're under plastic covers. "All you have to do is talk to them, is that right?" Randi asks. "I can do it that way," confirms Cam vaguely. "Pretty sure they can hear me through the plastic." "Go ahead, then," sighs Randi. "Heyyyy, seeds," says Cam brightly in Speech, familiar by now with how to wake up plants. "Sprout!"
Author: pythbox	The plants sprout. They do it fairly energetically, for plants.
Author: lifes_sake	"Do you need me to, like, come back next week and replicate?" Cam inquires. "...We agreed on this test," says Randi quietly. "You've passed this test." "Yeah, but I don't mind making another trip, I mean, it's a million dollars, it'll take you guys a while to liquidate it anyway, right?"
Author: pythbox	Jellybean is still having snickerfits behind his soundproofing.
Author: lifes_sake	"It'll take some time, yes. Where do you want it sent?" "You're not getting this fake name, no bank account, invisibility thing, are you," says Cam. "I'll pick it up. You can email me to tell me when and where."
Author: pythbox	Matilda emits a silent giggle.
Author: lifes_sake	"How will we know it's you?" Randi wants to know. "If someone else invisible with my voice who hacks into one of our email accounts to get the when-and-where information appears," Cam says, "or rather, doesn't appear, but invisibly comes to be located here, says he's in your records as Nick Carter, and asks for my money, you know what, hand him an installment, I won't blame you," says Cam. "The exactly one million figure does not matter that much to me."
Author: pythbox	Which cracks both of them up all over again.
Author: lifes_sake	"And you want it cash," says Randi. "Yes, please, otherwise I'd have to do something awkward where I teleport to a lot of different post offices redeeming money orders so nobody can tell where I live, they maybe ask for ID, or whatever." "...That'll take a while." "I'm not in a huge hurry," says Cam. "Just keep it coming, please." "As agreed," Randi sighs, picking up a plastic cover and poking at one of the plants.
Author: pythbox	The plant rustles verdantly.
Author: lifes_sake	"Am I all set to get out of here while you work out liquidation," Cam asks, "or do you need me to make a suspicious-looking indentation in a chair while you ask me some questions on camera and I answer evasively?" "You can go," sighs Randi, poking another plant. Cam strolls out of the room.
Author: pythbox	Jellybean takes the lead, since he's the worldgate-finding expert.
Author: lifes_sake	Cam follows merrily. "I'm gonna be a millionaire," he says cheerfully. "You guys have fun?"
Author: pythbox	Jellybean drops his soundproofing. "Yep! You're awesome."
Author: lifes_sake	"I am!" Cam agrees without a trace of self-consciousness.
Author: pythbox	"I kind of wanna make out with you," Jellybean declares.
Author: lifes_sake	"What, right now, invisibly on the middle of the sidewalk?" asks Cam.
Author: pythbox	"Yep," says Jellybean. "I mean, unless you really wanna go home first or something."
Author: lifes_sake	"Going home first sounds like a lousy idea," says Cam. "I dunno, I think somebody'd bump into us if we weren't routing around them, there's pedestrians." It's still not a no.
Author: pythbox	"See," says Jellybean, "if this is you letting me down gently, we can just go back to your place, but if this is not you letting me down gently, how would you like to make out on the Moon?"
Author: lifes_sake	"I think making out on the Moon sounds great," says Cam decisively.
Author: pythbox	"Awesome," says Jellybean, and he heads off in search of a worldgate locus.
Author: lifes_sake	Cam continues to follow. He glances at Matilda to see if she has any particular reaction to this exchange.
Author: pythbox	She just asks, "Can I wait for you guys at your house? It'll be easier to get back that way, Jellybean and I can gate to each other more easily than we can to arbitrary locations."
Author: lifes_sake	"Yeah, sure," says Cam.
Author: pythbox	"Okay," she says agreeably.
Author: lifes_sake	Ho hum looking for a worldgate.
Author: pythbox	Ho hum ho hum there's a worldgate! Matilda goes through first, into Cam's backyard. Then Jellybean takes over and sets the gate to take them to the Moon, conscientiously including a nice big supply of air.
Author: lifes_sake	"Moon," observes Cam, perhaps unnecessarily, turning on the spot to take in the moonscape. The stars are something else, the view of Earth really something else. "Damn." The part they're standing on is pretty much gray dirt as far as the eye can see, but the sky from here...
Author: pythbox	"I know," says Jellybean, "awesome, right?" He is grinning hugely. Only some of this is because they are on the Moon.
Author: lifes_sake	"Fantastic. D'you hang out on the moon a lot?"
Author: pythbox	"Not a lot," he says. "But once in a while, yeah." He sits down in the dust and leans back on his hands and gazes up at the shining Earth.
Author: lifes_sake	Cam laughs and flops onto his back and makes a moon angel.
Author: pythbox	Jellybean giggles affectionately at this, and flops right next to him.
Author: lifes_sake	"So, um," says Cam. "I have not made out with anybody on any celestial body at all before. Is there an instruction manual?"
Author: pythbox	"Nah," he says, snuggling up a little. "But I can give you some tips if you want, I've made out with lots of people."
Author: lifes_sake	"Sure," says Cam, "do tell."
Author: pythbox	"I was thinking less tell," Jellybean says cheerfully, "more show."
Author: lifes_sake	"Oh. Okay." Cam will be lying here awkwardly in the moondust, waiting to be shown.
Author: pythbox	Jellybean kisses him. Like so!
Author: lifes_sake	Like so, is it?
Author: pythbox	Yes, yes exactly. Is Cam a quick learner? Because those are fun.
Author: lifes_sake	Cam is in fact a very quick learner!
Author: pythbox	Awesome. How does he feel about progressing to more advanced material?
Author: lifes_sake	Well, that might depend on how advanced.
Author: pythbox	For one thing, Jellybean definitely thinks these moon makeouts would be improved if the number of shirts involved was drastically reduced.
Author: lifes_sake	Cam is on board with this subtraction of shirts!
Author: pythbox	Perfect! Jellybean is so glad he agrees. Subtraction of shirts opens up enough new options that it might be quite a while before he raises the subject of pants.
Author: lifes_sake	That's good, because there may be only one pair of pants between them but Cam thinks they should stay where they are for now.
Author: pythbox	Does he have any opinions about Jellybean's skirt? Because Jellybean is fine with keeping the skirt on, but might be a little disappointed if Cam is scrupulous about avoiding its entire area of coverage.
Author: lifes_sake	Well, not the entire area. Not necessarily.
Author: pythbox	Oh, awesome.
Author: lifes_sake	This was clearly an excellent idea.
Author: pythbox	It totally fucking was.
Author: lifes_sake	Delicious Jellybean kisses, om nom nom.
Author: pythbox	He is the tastiest Jellybean, it's true! It's literally true, in fact - just for fun, he makes his skin taste like candy.
Author: lifes_sake	Cam makes a confused, intrigued noise, and carries on with exactly what he is doing.
Author: pythbox	Jellybean giggles into the latest of many kisses.
Author: lifes_sake	There's really no clear indication of when they're done kissing on the moon, is there? "How much air'd you bring?" murmurs Cam.
Author: pythbox	"Enough," he says cheerfully. "Tilly came up with an air-vacuum barrier that does gas exchange, we could be up here for days before it gave up on us."
Author: lifes_sake	"'S a long time," observes Cam.
Author: pythbox	"Yup!" says Jellybean.
Author: lifes_sake	Kiss kiss nibble?
Author: pythbox	Mmmmmmmmmmmm. Yes excellent.
Author: lifes_sake	Good, Cam's first attempt at outright improvisation is a success. This was a good idea that Jellybean had and going along was a good idea that Cam had.
Author: pythbox	Jellybean is downright enthusiastic about Cam's improvisation! Jellybean is enthusiastic in general. Especially about makeouts.
Author: lifes_sake	Yeah, Cam's getting that impression. He's developing quite a bit of enthusiasm himself.
Author: pythbox	Awesome. Jellybean loves making out with enthusiastic people! It's such fun, isn't it?
Author: lifes_sake	Cam can see why it's so popular, yes!
Author: pythbox	Eventually, Jellybean snuggles up and says contentedly, "See? Now you know plenty about making out on the Moon."
Author: lifes_sake	"I do wonder how well it'll generalize to related situations," muses Cam. He pauses for effect. "I mean, I feel like I know almost nothing about skiing on the moon."
Author: pythbox	... Jellybean cracks up. And then kisses him.
Author: lifes_sake	Kisses! Yay! Partial confirmation of Grace's guess! Yay!
Author: pythbox	Insofar as making out with Jellybean says anything about anyone's sexual orientation, yes indeed!
Author: lifes_sake	As far as Cam knows, it's at least a hint!
Author: pythbox	Anyways, kisses. Yes. Kisses on the Moon.
Author: lifes_sake	In quantity!
Author: pythbox	And quality!
Author: lifes_sake	And sugaryness! But eventually: "I should probably be home before Renée is."
Author: pythbox	"Okay," says Jellybean. He retrieves his puffy-sleeved white blouse from the lunar surface and wriggles back into it.
Author: lifes_sake	Cam shakes the dust off his shirt, puts it on, and attempts to convince his outfit and skin to shoo dust away.
Author: pythbox	Jellybean just runs both hands through his hair and shakes himself out. His clothes become pristine; his skin remains covered in moondust.
Author: lifes_sake	"I wish you'd say more of your spells so I could pick them up. I can't read your mind," mutters Cam, and he tries a new wording to get cleaned up.
Author: pythbox	"If you want repeatable spells, try Tilly," he says. "If you just wanna clean up—" He runs his hands familiarly over Cam's clothes, murmuring to them. The moondust departs.
Author: lifes_sake	"Thanks," says Cam. "I don't suppose there's a locus on the moon."
Author: pythbox	"Nope," says Jellybean. "Gotta do it the hard way." He rubs his hands together and starts talking to empty air.
Author: lifes_sake	Cam pats Grace, who is in his bag. "Transcribing, not that it'll do all that much good," she says.
Author: pythbox	Jellybean definitely has his own style of spellcasting. It works fine, though. He ushers Cam through the gate as soon as he has it open, then unravels the lunar amenities on the other side and pulls the gate shut all with a flick of his hand.
Author: lifes_sake	And here they are! Renée is not home yet. Good, good.
Author: pythbox	"Hi," says Matilda. "Did you have fun?" "Lots," beams Jellybean.
Author: lifes_sake	Cam nods. "I made a moondust angel," he adds innocently.
Author: pythbox	Matilda giggles. "Is that what they're calling it these days."
Author: lifes_sake	Cam snorts. He goes to check on the seedlings in the yard and take notes on their progress.
Author: pythbox	They're all growing cheerfully enough, at ordinary rates for their respective species.
Author: lifes_sake	Dangit, they were supposed to go faster. Oh well. Speed isn't as important as yield.
Author: pythbox	And at least they're growing, which in this climate most of them ordinarily wouldn't be.
Author: lifes_sake	There is that! He pats them all encouragingly. He's going to be a millionaire and pull a Norman Borlaug. Awesome.