"...Well. If it's not acting hostile..."

"No more hostile than you or me. Bit ill-mannered, maybe, but loads of ill-mannered people never hurt anybody. I really think I can pull this off if I build an impressive enough robot."

"And if you think you can get magic out of it, and you think you can handle it... Whoo. Good luck?"

"I can definitely handle magic. And thanks. When I've got it, if I get it, we can do experiments on my powers together."

"Well, I'm certainly not saying no to that opportunity. It'd be really interesting. But I do wonder if there's someone more qualified to do science to magic. I sort of want magic myself, you know, but... So few people actually get it, you know? The opportunity is super rare."

"Yeah, no promises of exclusive rights, I'll definitely sign up for studies and stuff if any labs around here are looking for spirit-bearer test subjects."

Why does he have mixed feelings about that, what a horrible thing to have mixed feelings about, it'd be her magic if this thing goes through. 

"...Well, anyway, so you have to build a robot for the genie?"

She cannot answer his question, not least because he didn't ask it.

"Yeah. Specifically, I have to do all the work while the genie is watching and explain stuff. Hence the hanging out in my basement."

"I kind of want to talk to a genie... But I also really don't. Horror stories might not be statistically likely, but... Do your parents know?"

"Nnnnope. Hence the secrecy. I could probably talk them around to letting me do a thing with a genie but they do not know about the basement-hiding and are better off not knowing."

"I think you should tell them. But a promise is a promise, so I will not."

"Believe me, I want to. If I thought it was a good idea I absolutely would. But I'm worried they'd do something reckless if they knew. They'll be fine with me being a spirit-bearer, I'll tell them everything after the fact when it's clear I didn't mess it up."

"...Hm. I guess I could see that. My parents would freak out too, but... Well. Good luck with your robotics project. I think... I am going to trawl the internet for all the research I can find on genies, spirit bearers, nature spirits, monsters. It could become very relevant."

"Good plan! I'll be doing research too, but both of us are less likely to miss something than either one of us."

"We should collaborate once we're both started, stay on the same page of things?"

"Yeah. We can email if it works for you, my parents don't come in the basement. Speaking of which I should get home soon, I have robot work and homework and research and mom's making pasta."

"Sure, see you. I'll just read until my brother finally shows up, I guess."

"Sounds good."

When she gets home she gets her homework out of the way, then takes her laptop to her bedroom to read about spirit-bearers until dinner. She makes a point of looking for things that new spirit-bearers need to watch out for, and for information on genies in particular.

The genie whips past her - almost playfully? - and ruffles her clothes a bit when she passes the junkyard.

The government does not confirm or deny genie sightings, but she can find a genie-tracking hobbyist forum! The hobbyists don't think there are any in her area right now.

Spirit Bearers must take care to be level-headed and emotionally balanced, so as not to spiral into depression or anger. Having a struct and rigid routine might be bad too, but that's less clear. They start off very weak, but get a fair bit stronger pretty quick. Magic acts sort of like a muscle - exercising and stretching it feels healthy and good on a basic level. Spirit bearers regenerate rapidly from injuries.

The genie breezing past her is startling, then kind of endearing. 

The hobbyists can be informed once she has magic that there is a genie in the area, assuming that remains the case. In the meantime that isn't super useful.

Margaret has never been particularly prone to strong or long-lasting emotions, especially negative ones; she has every reason to expect she'll be fine on that front. The routine thing is a bit more worrying; is robotics club Monday-Wednesday and chess club Tuesday-Thursday enough variety? But magic will probably disrupt her routine anyway, and if it seems like it's causing problems she can start some new hobbies.

Magic being something you can get better at is a lot more appealing than it being something you just get some amount of and that's it, and the fact that the thing that makes you better at magic is doing lots of magic is even better.

This being the internet, it would be prudent to be at least a little doubtful about some of what she's reading. Some Spirit Bearers can turn into "Golems", emotionless magic robots. They still walk and talk and do things, but they never seem to do anything new, and react in pretty limited ways, and might get stuck entirely if their usual hangout spot is demolished or something. It seems to be caused by being excessively reliant on routine.

The genie asks her, "Why are you not working on the robot?"

Margaret jumps. "I didn't realize you were there! Now that you're here I can work on the robot." She makes her way to the basement and gets to work. Once she's over her initial surprise she's kind of relieved by the genies stealth capabilities as they make their way down the stairs.

Good, because this genie is very interested in robotics. It particularly likes hearing her thought process on it.

Margaret enjoys narrating her thought process! The genie actually makes a pretty good rubber duck, even if the occasional tangential question derails her a bit.

The genie is even occasionally actually insightful, in an almost childish off-the-wall way. It suggests using rubber bands instead of springs for returning the leg prototype to resting position.