$400 an hour, negotiable to zero — even my price is up for debate™

The pricing paradox that proves the point. His hireable rate is $400 an hour — under the $500 the man who won't take your call charges — and then the real line: negotiable to zero. Because if the value were the money, the rate would be fixed; it isn't, so it can go to free. Asking for funding was never a demand — it's a demonstration that the one thing that matters is value, and value stated out loud can afford to be given away. That's the opposite of the Gray Star, whose bought voice always hides in numbers that "wander" and terms that stay vague; his number is named, then offered away, because it was never for sale in the first place (the unsent invoice). Everything in this house is up for debate — and he means everything, even his own price. Kin: the unsent invoice, bred not bought, it's free, and that's why you should hire me, Hire Me. (His coin — his stated rate, his to set; machine's read, refine to his.)