"...How large do the people get?" He shakes his head, "Is there a standard day cycle in Elsewhere, or does it vary?" 

"Fourteen foot tall. And full augmented humans average between seven or eight feet tall. And day cycle in Elsewhere varies, yes."

"There are standards. Which is the same as not having a standard at all. And then someone tries to cleverly work out a new ultimate standard and the standards number increases by one. But places might adopt the timezones of nearby portals for convenience’s sake."

"I feel like I should have expected that," he snorts. 

"Exactly."

The journey continues. With more idly conversation and magical training.

They get to and through Australia with a disappointing lack of Kangaroos until they reach the Elsewhere side of the second Australian portal. Where someone kept some kangaroos outside the warehouse-like facility.

Important question: can they stop to see the kangaroos?

James is asking the important questions. And they will make a stop to see the kangaroos. It turns out that the guy that owns the place can somehow domesticate wild animals and these are safe to walk around and pet. Don't touch the joeys.

Domesticated kangaroos! Magic is great. Jamie will absolutely wander around petting the adult kangaroos. 

Alex will pet a kangaroo if one comes up to him, but he's more curious about how that even works. 

"Is this the result of a gift?" He asks, "Or a ritual?" He hums, "And how is sorcery learned, usually," he adds, "Are there schools, or apprenticeships, or is it less formal than that?"

Kangaroo like to be petted. It's very dog-like in behavior, including a desire to lick James' face.

"I asked, and they told me it was a gift. Which makes sense. This could be done with a ritual but going through the trouble to do it with these many animals and not guarding them better sounds like a lot of work. And they have both. Schools and apprenticeships that is. Or sometimes someone in your family teaches you, which is just an apprenticeship with more nepotism, I think. You need licenses to perform some kinds of magic, specially if you want to do it for money."

(Kangaroo kisses!)

He nods, watching Jamie with a slight smile, "What are the schools like? And their prerequisites, I suppose."

"Yeah, prerequisites varies depending on what you're aiming for. Technology is replacing a lot of magic-based infra-structure, but there is still places that use it and then you have magical repair-people fixing things up and using existing spells without needing to innovate. For that - and for any magic profession - you just need to show the ability to follow instructions with care. But there are other jobs, warding places, body guarding, some weirder stuff that benefit or can only be done by magic," he waves at the kangaroos "oh, medicine, there are various degrees to how much you can dedicate to magical medicine. Being a full magical doctor is hard work. But it's kinda easy to learn enough to keep most people alive and then send them to doctor appointment later."

"I contest the use of the word 'easy'."

"Fair. It's fairly straightforward to learn a suite of rituals that lets you kick up the problem to someone more specialized than you."

(Domesticated Kangaroos like to play fetch.)

(If the goal here is to turn him into a kangaroo person instead of a cat person, they should know it's only partly working. Now he is a kangaroo and cat person. He will throw many things for the roos to catch!)

He nods along to the explanation, "I suppose deciding where we go and what we do should wait until after we know where we stand with your family," he muses. 

(This results in happy roos!)

"Yeah, it is not that different from figuring out your college major. Except you have more time to decide it. And people that take apprenticeships or less complicated jobs are even incentivized to study on the side if they want more advanced education."

He nods. 

After a while, he'll call Jamie over so they can get back on the road.

Jamie will come when called, reluctantly, patting the roos goodbye. 

They are also sad to see the kangaroos being left behind, but they shall forever treasure the memory.

Also, it's the final leg of their trip! Just a little while and they will get there. They can expend the rest of the time doing more magic training then.

And eventually they reach another warehouse facility.

Where there is someone waiting for them. A man that, could believably be Temple's father, if one made the additional assumption that he was young for his age or too young to be a father.

He approaches when they hop off the vehicle and give Temple a hug.

He's cute! Jamie first assumption is actually 'brother', given the apparent ages, before he remembers the extended lifespan. Still, he ogles him a bit, grinning at Alex when he raises an eyebrow at him, making his brother roll his eyes.

Alex waits for them to unhug - or for a reasonable amount of time to have passed - and then steps forward. 

And then stalls. He has no idea how to greet this person. They have relatives. People related to them by blood. It might not mean much of anything yet, it might never mean anything, but it's a connection they've never had before. 

"Nice seeing you, dad." Temple says a little out of breath. And maybe a bit embarrassed. "So, these are James and Alexei Starr. Also, Felix, which you have met."