"Not all about money," says Castor. He smirks at Dom's dry remarks. He thinks Persis, for all her proverbial eye-rolling, is just as into this conversation as he is. Sunshine's brief explanation of properties is already fascinating, both similar and different to how things work in his experience. "We could sit," he concedes. "It's not like we have anywhere to go."

He does so without hesitation, and Persis settles down into his lap.

"It's a little of both," he says, moving his hands around expressively and without much purpose. "The problem with the fancy shit - like fire, for instance - it burns out quick and it's really hard to control. Lightning they sell in fuckin' bottles, some weird jacked shit that self-sustains. That's way expensive, and super impractical. It's like breeding in. The more you draw from the same source, the weaker it gets - it's a racket, really. The rich people keep buying more of it cause it keeps burning out. Fire - I mean, people can make that themselves, but you have to do it with paper and matches like anyone else, and then you just have that one source, and it's not gonna last. Entropy always gets to it eventually. You can spread it out a bit, but try that without burning your whole condo down. It looks impressive but its utility is like... basically just showing off. Light shows. I work with entropy. Garbage is eternal. It's everywhere, it's malleable, and it's subjective as shit. No need to buy anything specifically designed for me. And it has more uses than you might think."

"He really likes talking about this," says Persis. "He pretends it's such a hardship but look at him go."

"Not every day you meet a user from another planet," says Castor with a wry grin.