"Hmm?"

"What's the size of your implements? How do you plan to use them in battle?"

"Theoretically any size, in practice limited by what I can make and carry - I'm not going to haul around a staff that's taller than I am, at least not most of the time. The only one I currently have on me is pin-sized and basically just a lighter, but I can make more given tools and materials. I'm not familiar enough with local tactics yet to predict how I'll fit into the team, but at a guess, I'll probably be mostly using force blasts and stun bolts. If it matters, the materials for those are brass and silver respectively."

"Do you plan to be moving and running around a lot?"

"Yes. Quite possibly also climbing, when the terrain affords it."

"What are your thoughts on capes and tights?"

"Capes seem mostly more trouble than they're worth."

"That doesn't answer my whole question," she trills.

"I'm not familiar enough with tights to have developed an opinion on them, I've only been here a week."

She nods, and types stuff on her computer as he answers. "How much of your face do you prefer your mask to cover? And in general, how much of your body should your costume cover?"

"I don't care much as long as I have good visibility, and I'd prefer as least as much coverage as this outfit."

"Mmhm!" She continues typing, then grabs a piece of paper and starts sketching. "I'm thinking... medium-light grey... with dark grey accents. Buttons, brass and silver—not actual silver, of course. You'll have a holster on your back, for a large staff, and smaller pockets for other implements—how many do you believe you'll need? Hmm, no matter, it should be discreet enough... And a coat, yes, that's what this is missing..."

She finishes drawing and shows it to him, a quick but pretty well-done and detailed sketch of what she's just described.

"Very nice," he says. "Six wand slots should be plenty - the wands will be about," he gestures a size range between eight and twelve inches, and a diameter range between one and two. "I only really need to carry one or two wands and a staff, but more is good for versatility and in case something happens to one."

"Exactly." She taps her chin with one finger. "Now, for a name, I presume you will want something other than your given name?"

"That seems to be the custom, yes."

"The few Case 53s we have tend to use the same name for both identities. It might draw attention to the fact that you don't."

"My situation is unusual, which is not necessarily a bad thing."

She types things into her computer. "And, again, you have no preferences?"

He shrugs. "I haven't thought of anything spectacular."

"And have you thought of non-spectacular things? Perhaps something in your original language."

"Going around as Sokoreth or Taiva would be almost as odd as going around as Ashras, from an external perspective, wouldn't it?"

"From an external perspective, going around as Ashras would be no odder than any foreign cape names, or ancient and little known mythology. A few obvious but not terribly appealing names are Staff, Wand, and the like. With a power like yours, names referring to mythology or in other languages sound like the way to go."

"Well, if I must... 'Sokoreth' is an archaic term for a combat caster and 'taiva' means 'dawn'." (A slight oversimplification, but he doesn't want to get into the part where dusk and dawn are effectively the same phenomenon in his home country.) "They're the sort of thing I'd call myself if my planet used cape names."

She smiles. "See, that wasn't so hard, was it? And of course, there is earthly mythology. You do resemble certain creatures of Celtic and Japanese folklore."

"Such as?"