"I'm not sure. Maybe I should start? I'm genderfluid, I was always able to change a very little amount of my appearance and look more feminine or masculine, this was clearly magical, my religious father left me and my mom. We never found any other magic, until three weeks ago a card called 'The Change' appeared and was much more thorough in changing me. Then there was that freak storm and an elf girl and you and I'm very confused."

"Genderfluid? Sorry, not the important part. The Change is one of many cards, the Clow cards. Clow was a uniquely powerful sorcerer who put his magic into cards for...somewhat historically unclear reasons, but probably it helped him use his magic more efficiently. In my case, the effects of the cards are useful because they take less lifeforce than my family magic. They're annoyingly specific at times, but it's cheap to use them."

"You mentioned someone released them and they were sealed?"

"They can be dangerous, so Clow had them sealed in his book until the right person found them. I think someone with the right kind of magic did find the book, but Clow didn't know what they would be like. He could only hope that the magic went to someone who could use it well."

"...that sounds like a very bad decision!"

"He could see the future, so I suppose this could still be part of his plan, but if so, I can't say I trust his judgment."

"He could see the future? Like, unavertably?"

"It's all passed into the lore now, but that's what they say."

"Okay that is way more powerful than—Nevermind. So, there are these cards, they got released by a boy, and you're, what, gathering them up?"

"Someone has to. I don't object to people who know how to handle them using them, I'm not their creator or their keeper, just a sorcerer who doesn't mind picking up a neat power boost while saving the world."

"...frooom the cards, I gather? Are they going to destroy the world if not captured? I am very skeptical of this Clow character's decisionmaking process."

"Either his prophecies didn't go this far ahead, were too easy to avert, or had a great big gaping hole around the cards and the danger they pose. I'd probably believe the last one; he made them by permanently sacrificing some of his magic."

"That makes sense, I guess. So how does this work, why are you from a family of sorcerers and not—me? I mean I love my mom but like why does she not have magic and I do."

"Sorcery generally runs in families, actually. Whatever is going on with you is fairly rare. It's about bloodlines."

"Oh. What are bloodlines about? What do they change?"

"Different clans have different specialties. I've tried to be a generalist, seems best for handling the cards." 

"Is it possible for me to learn?"

"You can probably improve on what you have now, but generally, expanding the breadth of things you can do limits the depth. If you want to get better at shapeshifting- but cards can help a lot there, you might want to pick a new focus since you have the Change." 

"Change is pretty great, but I'm not sure what else is possible with this system. Apparently creating magical cards that can do storms is a thing, and fireballs, and a magical bow?"

"There are magical artifacts, like my bow and the cards, and seals, like the ones I use on my arrows. There are things that you can do without objects, but they're much harder." 

"What kinds of things?"

"I should probably just introduce you to my parents."

"If you think they'd be okay that actually sounds marvellous."

"I think they'd love to meet you. Should we go now?"

"Sure!"