He nods seriously.

"What do you think the experience of using magic should be like?"

"I'd like it to be engaging and immersive. So not just in your head. And also a mix. Some magic should be possible to do with nothing but your body and time while other magic should require elaborate preparations and setups. I don't really want it to be about acquiring rare materials but it's okay if rare materials can work as a shortcut."

"How do you feel about magic taking some finite resource that builds up in people over time?" he asks. "That one also comes up fairly often."

"I don't think it counts as finite if it's that straightforwardly renewable. As for what I think of the idea, I'm okay with it as long as it's reasonably plentiful. I want to be able to do a lot of magic and I don't want people to have a reason to I threaten each other to be able to do more."

Hammond notes this, flipping to a new sheet.

"Alright — I think we've gone over all the really important ones. It sounds like you're generally in favor of having a lot of diverse experiences with magic, with a bias toward things turning out okay," he summarizes 

"There are a bunch of more specific supplemental questions I can ask if you'd like, but first I should ask whether there are any areas of magic that we haven't talked about that are important to you, or specific ideas you have that you haven't gotten to share yet?"

"It's maybe a small thing but it would be great if doing magic involved pretty lights. Both as an indication that you're doing magic and maybe also as a side effect when magic is happening."

"Oh!"

He scans through the papers for a moment.

"I completely skipped the aesthetics questions! I'm sorry. Pretty lights, noted. Are there other aesthetic considerations that you'd like to see? Like atmospheric weather, a distinct feeling associated with magic, or anything like that?"

"I'm a big fan of the idea that magic can give you sensations that don't really match up to any of your normal senses. A distinct feeling could be a nice part of that. Of course saying that means it's hard for me to describe in particular."

Hammond chuckles.

"That would make it difficult. Are you imagining feeling the sensation when something magical is nearby, when someone is using magic, when you are using magic, or something else?"

"All of those sound good. Ooh, maybe different people or different kinds of magic feel different so you can learn to use the sense to recognize people and kinds of magic."

He nods, and double-checks his papers.

"Okay, that really is all the questions I have for you. Thank you so much for taking the time to speak with me. Do you have any questions for me?"

"Oh, I have lots. I'm assuming that you've been using world to refer to our whole spatially connected region and not this planet but am I right about that? And if that is right do you know if there's aliens out there in this world? Also do you know what's involved in making new magic systems? Do you know how long it's likely to be before this world gets magic or if it'll be announced somehow?" She paused for breath and visually restrains herself from peppering him with more questions.

"Heh. Yes, by 'world' I mean 'spatially connected region'. I'm afraid it's against policy to tell you about whether aliens exist until you find out for yourself. I know the broad outlines of what's involved in making magic systems, but the precise details go far over my head."

"Broadly, my bosses take all the survey feedback and turn it into a single consensus description, and then give that to the Will of Magic, who is not really a purposive entity, but is more like that then it is like other things that you or I have a reference frame for. The description guides how the Will of Magic chooses to 'fold' or 'crystalize' into the new shape of magic in your world. I should have your feedback back to the bosses by the end of the day, and they'll have a consensus put together in another two days or so. At that point, it's all up to the Will of Magic. Sometimes the process only takes a few days, and in rare cases it can take months. On average, you should expect magic to arrive in a week or two," he explains.

"Okay. I have lots more questions like the one about aliens but I guess you probably can't answer those either. So my other big question is about magic, you said you're magical. Does that mean that magic can move between worlds with people?"

He nods.

"An excellent insight. The answer is a little complicated, but the truest version is probably 'it depends'. Magic is fundamentally a different set of rules about how things can work; if a world's rules don't have enough 'flexibility' in them, then you can't really port magic into it. I couldn't have visited you a week ago, for example. But your world is preparing to gain magic of its own, which makes the rules a little looser," he explains.

"Once your universe does gain magic, it's not impossible that the rules would become too rigid again, or impose additional requirements on visitors, but that's pretty unlikely. Most magic systems that develop accommodate magical visitors just fine. But there's also the nature of the visitor's origin world to consider — some magic systems work by manipulating natural forces present in their world. If my world worked like that, I wouldn't be able to do any magic here, even if I were able to visit, because those forces wouldn't exist."

"I'm lucky enough that my world's magic, although there is a component tied to the world itself, mostly works by granting inherent powers to people. My magic abilities aren't really a separate thing that can be removed from me, they're just things that I can do. It makes people from my world a popular choice for jobs like this that involve going to other worlds, actually."

"Oh, then that's something else I want. I want our magic to work even if we go to other places. And I'd like our magic not to prevent people from visiting."

He dutifully writes this down.

"There's a lot of ways worlds can work — there will almost certainly always be some that are incompatible with your magic in one direction or the other no matter what magic here ends up like — but I'm sure the Will of Magic will do its best."

"I can't think of anything else then. Thanks for coming and asking me."

"You're most welcome!"

He hops down from his chair and makes his way to the door.

"I'll go get these back to the office. Have a good afternoon!"

And then he waddles down the driveway and then the road with surprising speed, vanishing into the distance in moments.