"Yeah, I'm gonna be an Avatar wannabe and potion brewer slash runesmith or whatever runers do."

"I most often hear 'enchanter' for runes, 'alchemist' for potions. That is all the wild magics you have offered to shop for today. You have twenty one spending points left with runes and alchemy at two and hexes at three and all sorceress things at one."

"Huh, that's more than I thought? ...Rank three alchemy, one in runes. Two in... Earthbending. What does the mothergifts one do again?"

"We are all related back far enough and manygreats grandma gave us all clothes! No ranks gets you a one piece robe or dress or something - does not come with underpants, they were not fashionable in ancient times - and a hat, can be the classic or anything else with plenty of brim - and a rod, like a wand or staff, useful for point-and-shoot with your magic even if you can cast empty handed. Takes ten minutes to appear them instead of whatever you are wearing unless you are wearing enchanted things which stay, cannot change how they look without help - I do not yet have the fourth rank to do this help for you but it is not hard to find tailoring in witchy places. At least they fix themselves up when re-summoned if you ripped something. Buy one rank to turn the rod into a broomstick and be able to change your design with ten minutes noodling on it. Two ranks to make the garment multi-piece and all-weather-appropriate and changeable shapes and colors in only a minute's thought, and get your broom faster stronger and attempting to catch you should you fall, though you do not need that last with levitation. Rank three makes your hat a pocket dimension! And also your pockets if you put pockets, or sleeves if you have big sleeves. Pauses live things, if you want to pull rabbits. Broomstick is faster, takes more weight, and now does climate control, windshield, invisible cushion to not squash your nethers; can also now turn into a magic carpet. Getting dressed in an eyeblink and changing designs just as fast. Rank four, garment like invisibility cloak, broomstick or carpet covers passengers likewise, not immune to some sensors even mundie ones so don't fly over airbases, can become the witchy tailor. Rank five, go rummage in your hat-closet your whole self, interiorly decorate it like it is a holodeck, bring passengers in through your hat or your cloak or whatever, anyone inside can click their heels together about how there is no place like home and appear there, you can do that or just pop out where you popped in."

"...Three ranks of witchery. Too convenient to not to. Honestly I could never buy clothes again and be happy."

"Popular for convenience, yes! Portals, divination?"

"Maybe later."

"Valid. Fourteen points burning a hole in your pockets."

"Still? Uh, hmm... I peaked a little over long term into short term, right, what drawbacks do I have all in all, maybe I can drop one... Maybe I would like to ever do consortation after all, it sounds like an awful idea from here but, like, people exist independently of the systems that surround them and all..."

"Currently at two restrictions, monster bait, eye catcher, witch mark, one addiction, and requirement for bronze."

"I should... Stop... Making mechanical choices like gamer brain wants to and learn more about the world I'm about to step into?"

"Sure, what questions have you?"

"What's a magic career look like? What's magic house-hunting like? Like, daily life stuff. How do witches go about, uh, dating and stuff? Are guys rare since being a guy is a specific power? Is magic inherently feminine or something? -Sidetrack, more a question for a library. Does YouTube work in witchy spaces? I presume the IRS cannot reach out and touch me through the veil but any law and order on the magic side to worry about besides 'don't fuck up the veil'? How does maintaining a muggle presence tend to work for people? Magic uni? I still probably want to attend the mundane one I got into, does that predictably go horribly wrong, with being monster bait perforating the veil when a 'bear' attacks me randomly or anything?"

"Guys are rare, total clambake, if you are straight you will have slightly a time. No one is sure why this is the case. Will not inconvenience you too much for having babies because hexes can handle the anatomy on the temporary. Careers vary all over the place - I do this but it pays less in money and more in something sort of like insurance, boyfriend does commissioned water workings for the big whacks of cash, girlfriend does a little alchemy and has a side hobby doing theater makeup but mostly has family money. There are neighborhoods you can buy a house in, some people live in their hats, I live at the bottom of a nice lake but that is because of the waterworking boyfriend and would not usually be for an oread, if this concern is immediately you might want to go to Arcadia or Hawthorne and have a dormitory and you can do this even without their fate twist if you wish, now or later. Fine to go to your normal uni, there are not monsters going abroad so much around your Earth - maybe you get into a fight with a mad ghost or something once or twice a semester, but there is a rank zero magic to step a little out of reality with whatever is bothersome so you do not attract attention bothering it back. There are dating sites on HexVPN or the classic meet people in random situation or through friendlies approach. Anywhere with a HexVPN can reach YouTube but not everyplace is with the times. The IRS does not know fuckanything but if you mess with anything big dangerous and unpopular, O.R.C. may come after you - no affiliation with the species of the uncapitalized same name. Muggle presence is fine so long as it is Veil-friendly, pretend your potions you sell are homeopathic and this seems to work all right."

"...Eh. Hmmm..."

She successfully does not blurt out facts about her sexuality, contemplating this.

...Hold on.

"Waterworking, like, I'm imagining the whole thing being all in the moment motion, I was comparing it to Avatar and all where the only lasting effect is moved stuff staying in the new spot, but it sounds more like you have an air dome down there? Or something enchanted to be breathable or something? A dorm room sounds nice. So does mildly cursing my mom's latest boyfriend but that's an impulse I do not endorse. Hex VPN? I'll probably go more with etsyable jasper and brass and stuff on the mundane side. You know what, rank me up in potions as far as I can go, especially if I can hit rank five, arch-curatives sound all really easily liquidatable on the witchy side of things and I could use some liquid."

"All the way up in potions it is. HexVPN is witch internet, requires a particular magical device, both open enrollment witch unis have them. Rank five waterworking allows permanent water walls. They could be dispelled so I do keep all of my things that must not be wet somewhere they will be okay even if there is some kind of trouble with the lake but I can walk right into our home without getting my toes at all wet."

"Permanent water walls, that's really neat, would they hold up even in, like, the bottom of the ocean? I can think of industrial uses for that. And yeah, magic uni sounds like probably the thing."

"Sure, bottom of the ocean is no problem. If you want to commit to one of the schools you can take their specialty magic today - I can only do this for you for one faction but there is nothing stopping you from falling in with other crowds and learning more."

"There's two schools, so two specialty magics to pick from?"

"Or a nonschool. I can do the Hespatian Covens, Lunabella, the Watchers, and Alfheimr where I live."

"Uh, elevator pitch on these?"

"Hespatians: Secretive little ritualist cells, headquarters in Hell, magic is called occultism and involves sacrifices or being naked or doing the do or depending. Lunabella, lovely city on the moon, very high standard of living, useful magic involving personal demesnes which has a rank zero you can pick up without ever setting foot moonward, major hiccup is that citizenship requires being involved in a network of fealty common to gloss as universal nested enslavement. Watchers, pan-Abrahamic interfaith society of witches, their magic is summoning angels. Alfheimr is very gorgeous, full of the fey - catchall for some species, fairies proper are only one of these - doing feudalism, either messy high turnover feudalism in Winter or fancy formal feudalism in Summer; magic is Covenants, magical contract drafting."

"Definitely not the hespatians. Watchers don't sound fun either. And I'm sus of involvement with fey stuff. I think I need to hear more about Lunabella...?"

"Lovely place. Greek influences, run by a fellow who is now the king and construed as enslaved to the constitution. Everyone has an owner, or 'matron', who is responsible for them, and may buy people to be responsible for those. The magic allows a lot of control indeed of anyone inside a domain, so it is sort of formalizing what is already true if you go over to a powerful Lunabellan's house, that they can do what they like unless someone also powerful would complain about it. Generally possible to go over your matron's head to your grandmatron if anything is sketch, it would be so strange to not let you talk to people, and also quite possible to shop around for matrons who have any which character you might wish, hold out for a good deal before selling yourself into the system."

"That sounds extremely stressful. Like, what if I fuck up. What if I thought I got along with this person but really that was a front. What if what I want changes in five years. Do they tend to have exit clauses? But probably pass."