And he stares at the artefact, occasionally asking her to do a thing.

She will do things on command.

The things seem to be separate from each other; they're all bound to the artifact, but they are definitely separate functions.

That's... weird? Does she get, like, new functions like magical girls do, or are there these functions all built in from the start?

This is not immediately obvious! There are definitely Things he is not seeing in action but none of them are obviously generating-new-function Things.

He asks this out loud.

"My artifact has never started doing anything new," she says. "Some of the things I can do with it have a skill element, and it's accurate to say that I may gain new capabilities as I learn better to use what it has, but I'm not some kind of--transferrable magical girl, no. My Opal isn't that resplendent."

"What sort of things have a skill element?"

"Well, being able to throw lightning doesn't automatically give me good aim, for one."

"Oh, that makes sense."

More staring!

"And the interface is sort of..." she trails off. "I can't describe it. But it can be tricky to figure out how to--pick up--a power, separate from how difficult it may be to wield."

"Pick up?"

"Activate, perhaps."

"Difficult how?"

"Tricky."

"I mean, in what sense—or is it some ineffable thing about the interface—"

"It's mostly an ineffable thing about the interface."

"Oh, okay."

More staring and requests and occasional questions ensue.

If he peers at it long enough he may notice that it's got a dormant connection to something else elsewhere.

...where?

Elsewhere! It does not so much have a string that goes through intermediate locations, it's just--connected.

If he looks more he can see that it's actually three other things.

—oh! Right this one's part of a matched set. What does that mean, exactly?

It's hard to tell; the connections are dormant.

"So I have a question but you can feel free not to answer it."

"...Alright."

"What... exactly does it mean that your artefact is part of a matched set?"