"It was gender-shifting, and I don't yet have a super specific plan of what to do. Probably at least some monster-hunting."

Kalendra suddenly looks a lot less approving. Chromadyne ignores the sudden scowl. "With a first spell like that, I bet you'll get to transform into powerful forms later. Not sure what else you'll get."

"Is it always determined in advance or does it depend on, like, circumstance?"

"You get things that suit you at first. You can kind of aim it by practicing certain things with what you already have. Maybe wanting really hard helps too." Shrug.

"Fair enough. Hmm, suit me..."

"You know the answer to that better than I do. I'm betting you're trans or genderfluid, since your first spell was a transformation one? If that's not prying too much."

"Genderfluid, yeah. Assigned female, you have no idea how great it was when I got my magic and didn't need to wear a binder anymore."

Kalendra whispers something to Chromadyne and leaves. Chroma rolls her eyes. "Don't mind her. I think whatever skews the gender ratio towards female for us magic-users also skews it towards trans and genderfluid, but there's no science for that so..."

"There's not? Doesn't the S.A. have, like, demographic data and records and stuff people can do statistics to?"

"Yeah, sort of. But none of the analyses sound particularly compelling to me, and then there's the whole Dark Mage mess muddying everything up."

"...Dark Mage mess?"

"Okay, so, how'd you get your magic?"

"I, er, brought Terrana back to life and she convinced her water spirit to give me magic."

"-What, really? You're the genie girl? Er, guy. Good show! Anyway, you can get magic from a genie, from a spirit, from a ghost... Or from a monster. A powerful one that is smart enough to plan. They go for violent, insane, or reckless types. So, yeah, Dark Mages are spirit bearers born of monsters and for all that 'profiling' is uncomfortably like racism the stats don't lie about how they're at least eight times as likely to be convicted of violent crimes as the rest of us."

"—ah huh. Should I be worried about my spirit influencing my mind or emotions?"

"Spirits don't go in for that kind of stuff, I'm pretty sure. Or if they do it's so subtle you can't tell the difference than just, like, changing your mind a bit after talking to them. Genies do it sometimes, but usually by accident or on request. They can scrub addictions, I think? Monsters... All bets are off."

He nods. "I'll make sure to watch my opinions then."

"I mean, in theory spirits can do anything genies can. There are rumors of them doing genie-type stuff. But I've never heard of anything verifiable. If you want to be cautious..." She shrugs. "Oh, Tanya's back." She points to the receptionist. "Good luck?"

"Thank you," he says wryly before going back to talk to the receptionist.

The receptionist has Paperwork!

Dues, apparently, are waived for your first two years' membership.

Oh that's good he doesn't super have a lot of money.

"You're going to have money later, I predict. Magic makes you a minor celebrity and you can do internet videos if nothing else."

"Yay, minor celebrity status."

"Not a fan of that idea, I guess?"

"Oh I can deal with that, I'd even have fun doing it, I'm just not sure it's the best way to leverage my new status."