...which works on the 'show up, collect things, incentives align magically in the background' system?

...of course, how else would it work?

Just checking.

She is back in her room around dinnertime, having eaten rather a lot in the meanwhile (not in the library around the precious handwritten books, of course) but hungry again already.

"Hey! Finding everything you need? I was thinking we could delight my mother by dropping in on her, but that doesn't work if you had plans for the evening aside from being interrogated on the language."

"I found everything, yes - you've been counterfactually helping me with my Quenya all day long - and don't object at all to going and visiting your mother. The ring is spectacular, by the way."

"I'm so glad you like it!"

"I made an exploratory attempt at running down a hallway and didn't sprain anything! It's a miracle!"

"Is that a common human problem?"

"Nope, I'm a ridiculously clumsy human. And it's one of those awkward neurological conditions that neither psions nor mages can definitely handle. Hence the cane, which is at least sort of picturesque according to my culture."

"My grandmother carries a sceptre sometimes. Same spirit?"

"...probably not."

"Oh, it's a role thing? I hope I get to go to a  human society sometime, they're going to be fascinating."

"Yeah, if I were a sub I'd probably go with a walker or at least a different sort of cane."

"Do people decide or is it more that they know, and how, if you've never tried -"

"Depends on the person. I think normally it's somewhere between know and decide - more like 'figure out'? Usually sometime between the ages of eleven and sixteen. You pretty much have to at least put something on paper for official purposes after that even if you're not certain, you can get it changed if you need to. I was obvious early, though. I guess some people experiment - people who wind up being switches particularly - but for most of us it's obvious which social presentation is comfortable, what appeals, who's attractive, without having to do extensive live fire testing."

Nod. "You have to put it on official paperwork? What for?"

"Records? Bureaucratic whatnot? Like, I have a driver's license -" She pulls it out; it has a mediocre photo of her, more recently post-haircut than she is right now, and glossy plastic demographic information, and says she lives in New York. "- which is a complete joke, I can barely actually drive, I live in Manhattan and only cabbies and idiots try to drive in Manhattan, but this is the standard form of ID so I learned to drive well enough to pass the test. And it has basic facts about me on it, sex and role and name and address and the picture and so on, occasionally I use it to demonstrate that I have a legal identity."

"Name and address and picture make sense, I just can't think what sex and role would be necessary for -"

"It doesn't come up that often, really. Makes it slightly harder to impersonate me - most people are actually pretty bad at passing for a wrong role - if I were, say, arrested, they'd want to put me with doms and not with subs while that was getting sorted out."

"Arrested?"

"I don't go around committing crimes - and frankly if I did I probably wouldn't get caught, 'cause, precog - but if I committed a crime and got caught, or if it looked to the police like I had, they'd haul me off to keep an eye on me while undertaking various forensic procedures?"

"Huh."

"Is this like how you don't have money, do you also not require police?"

"We do not. People just - don't commit crimes. If someone has a complaint about someone's behavior they raise it with that person."

"...and that works?"