What else...being a magical girl is kind of an automatic sociopolitical boost...

What, really? Didn't you say it was culturally seen as silly to do the magical girl things, phrases and poses and stuff?

Oh, the accoutrements are coded silly, but that's more of a meme among magical girls than outside them. Magical girls themselves are generally seen as [nonverbal concept essentially crossing the police, a superhero, and the Girl Scouts, with most of the institutionalization taken out].

That's really cool! So magical girls in general do this sort of—magical policing thing?

Yeah!

Back home there isn't really any one thing mages do, but they all get lots of sociopolitical capital, too, just for being mages. They don't even need to do anything with their magic.

Huh.

And it's a monarchy—well, three monarchies—and the laws of succession are somewhat insane. Technically it is law that the rulers must be mages.

Sore topic?

Mmm... more or less. Complicated and somewhat emotionally heavy.

Should we leave it alone or would you rather talk about it?

...leaning talk about it because, er, I never could. It's kinda—but if we do open a portal back it has to—well I suppose merely the fact that you know I'm a metamancer means if you tell people back home about it I will be effectively exiled.

Shan't say a word about you without your consent.

So, ah, I'm technically royalty. Because of historic reasons the whole continent that used to have several countries became three kingdoms, and my father is king of one of them.

...Go on...

And remember the part where I come from a theocracy where metamancers can be executed if they're found using their magic? So, I found out I was a mage significantly younger than most people do, and I borrowed my mother's, except she's not the right kind of mage to rule my country, so my father was—not happy. And then one day I borrowed him and he realised what was going on.

Oh dear.

He was—not happy—the succession laws meant I could marry someone with the right magic or he could have other children but children of mages aren't actually more likely to be mages, people just think they are—but being a metamancer I wasn't allowed to have anything to do with any of it at all. After a few years my mother decided she didn't want him to abuse me anymore and took me and left, and I guess he must've told other people because soon after we were both wanted for treason and heresy.

I see.

Which are of course capital crimes. So. We fled. They found my mum one day while I was out. So I made a spell that changed my face.

Huh. Is it rude if I ask what you really look like?

Not rude, but I'd rather not spend the mana until I find a way to replenish it—unlike the other kinds of mages, metamancers can't produce our own mana so we have to rely on other methods of getting it.

My telepathy can do images.

Oh. Then when I was a boy I looked like this, and like this as a girl. Pause. Currently look like this when I'm a girl.

Pretty.