"Do you want a magic coffee, for waking up, I have some."

That's how they get-

No. Calm down. Paranoia probably won't help.

"If you're offering... Thanks."

"No problem! Chocolate vanilla or butter pecan?" she asks, hopping behind the counter again and materializing a broomstick to sit on to go up to one of the higher shelves.

"Choc- Woah! Broom!"

"Broom!" agrees Nia, grabbing a brown one and floating back down. "Here ya go."

Well, bottoms up!

"So. I heard 'species'..."

The potion is sweet and tastes like chocolate, though it's thinner than milk. "Species! I am an oread." Her hat flies into the air as she manifests bunny ears. "A hare oread in specific, if I were a tiger one or a mouse one or something then my hat would stay put when I do that. There are many species to be and with a professional awakening we can find who's hiding in the family tree and shake 'em out so you get one you like."

"Nice," she says about the ears. "So, uh-" She extends her hand again. "Just this?"

"Just this, and then -"

The shop is gone and they are in a dark void full of motes of light.

"Nothing is final till you say so, promise, and take a break any time."

(The potion works faster and better and smoother than coffee.)

Deep breaths. The reasoning holds. Magic is unknowable, pop culture might be helpful or dead wrong, and - Pascal's wager, if she's acting in good faith then everything is fine but being angsty about it might cost her, if she's out to screw Wendy over then being angsty about it probably won't help anyway, so be grateful.

"Huh."

...She tries to mentally poke the most obvious one?

The smallest cluster of motes is a set of three. The "blue" one is the first to receive her attention. "That is Academic. Book learning witches. In the library all day long. Highest long term power cap. Other choices are Sorceress, practice and elementalisms, best-rounded, and Warlock, errands for patron god, fastest growing."

"I'm intellectually in favor of libraries and long term optimization. Elementalism?"

"Fire water air earth living in harmony, but also nature and psionics and metal count also. Sorceresses have affinity for all of these. Everyone else, affinity for only some - depends on race and sometimes oddball things which ones - and can take only those affinitied ones, plus one bonus one. So like for instance if you were academicing it up and - aha, you can be an oread like me if you want, but a fox one! - then affinity for Earth gets you Earth, then pick one other, then no other elementalism. Unless you count turning into kaiju."

"Ooh, like Avatar! Water. Earth. Fire. Air!" She may be trying and failing to fully suppress some excited hand gestures.

"Yes! Only lightning is under air not fire, metal all by itself, etcetera."

"And what's this about a fox oread? I've seen a lot of that, like your ears. I wonder if the internet got the idea from actual magic..."

"Maybe. Though do not go telling on us to the internet! This Earth is importantly having people who don't believe in magic on it. If it stops, bad things happen. Last time bad things happened, dinosaurs all died here, and that time, this was not even the keystone Earth."

"Aha, so there is a masquerade! That sucks. Any notes on why?"

"Because there is more than dinosaurs here now to object, and other Earths besides, needing the keystone. You want the theory of why this not-believing-in-magic here is important to have, ask an academic. For practicing purposes, tell your spouse, favorite sister, mom, kids, best friend forever, but do not go nuts or people come after you before the big meteors do."

"I will make a note of that. It sounds like the kinda thing some very smart people are already looking at but what if. Actually- Hmm-"

Does this magic vision-quest or whatever have a notes feature or is she going to have to unclasp hands and get her phone out and text herself?

No notes feature.

"One sec."

She will, in fact, unclasp hands, make a note of this, and then reclasp.

"Okay. I don't trust my ADHD-ass brain to not completely lose that if I don't literally write it down. Where were we? Academic or Sorcerous?"

"Or Warlock, yes. Warlocks get loot, bribery from patrons who want you."

"Sounds kind of weird?"

"A bit! Very nice swag, some of it, if they want you lots, but perhaps not your bag."