"Nope!"

"Huh. What if I cast an illusion (are illusions mind control?) on someone to make them look like, I don't know, Bigfoot, and someone else shoots them because of that? In both cases, magic only changed the decisions people made, not their capabilities, but in a way that isn't mind control."

"That one is closer to the line, I can see a Warden convicting over it. I'm not sure exactly what the distinction is—something about the proximity of the magic to the act, maybe? It's about the circumstances under which the magical backlash causes damage, which gets into points of magical theory that even Tiffany isn't an expert on."

"Anyways, these aren't nearly as bad as I was expecting. Mundane science has way more bullshit restrictions on it than this."

"Exactly! If you put up with nodding your head to the old men's bullshit every once in a while, you can make a really great life for yourself as a wizard."

"Yeah, like, I might've tried using my powers to produce goods or services people wanted instead of just mind controlling them, but it's not like there are Wizard Wanted ads in the paper, or like anyone is gonna believe me if I try selling magic shit on Etsy."

"There actually is a guy in Chicago who openly advertises as a wizard! He's kind of controversial, though, and you're safer and make way more money making private deals with the ultra-wealthy. I know people."

"That's awfully nice of him to help out the little guy, though. Does he get a lot of perverts wanting to use magic for sex things?"

"He says 'no love potions' in his ad—that's another loophole in the 'no mind control' rule, you can create really good drugs, aphrodisiacs included."

"Aren't aphrodisiacs- ok, no, regular foods being aphrodisiacs is bullshit but I guess MDMA qualifies, so like, I guess you can just make really good MDMA. Giving someone magic MDMA without their knowledge or consent, as is generally the case with 'love potions' in folklore, is another thing that feels like it should be dark magic even though apparently it technically isn't, and also isn't a waste of effort compared to mundane methods like magical torture."

"I think the fact that it's not dark magic is an indication God favors me personally."

"Kind of ominous, but I'm already insanely attracted to you, and I haven't eaten or drank anything you've given me yet, so it's probably fine as long as you don't, like, dismember me or make me fuck a man or something really egregious like that."

She pats Katie's head.

"Don't worry, I wouldn't make you fuck a man."

"You're a sweetie." She rests her head on Mara's tits. "But seriously, like, I got from the soulgaze that making your ex fuck men had this whole set of like, symbolic associations, but for me it has a different, worse set. I see the women around me being stupid conformist sheeple, and expecting me to be that way, and getting mad at me when I don't live up to those expectations, and I see attraction to men as symbolic of that, and I'm kind of like, terrified that if I ever develop any next thing I know I'll be a stay at home mom married to an accountant named Craig in the suburbs with 2.5 kids like all the other bi women. Y'know, except you."

"Glad to be One Of The Good Ones."

"Like, evidently your situation was different and shit, but like, in general, I get that by default, y'know, no one is entitled to private information about other people's love lives, and there's more straight people than gay people, so we should believe people when they say they're bi, but I think if you have a big expensive to party to commemorate your pledge to only screw one person who happens to be of the opposite sex for the rest of your life, you kind of lose the benefit of the doubt and forfeit your queer card."

"Hmmm, I don't think I really have a dog in that fight. I don't care whether I count as 'queer' or not," she says while making air quotes for "queer", "my philosophy on sex and relationships is more like that one girl from Buffy."

She puts on a decent Faith Lehane voice: "Want. Take. Have."

God she's so based. "I kind of think that inherently makes you queer. Well, that and having pink hair and not being all ashamed and self-hating about being fat. Thanks for that, by the way. Sex would be so much less enjoyable if I had to awkwardly beat around  the bush about what I like. Heh, beat around the bush."

Mara smirks.

"Heh, nice."

Her tummy rumbles.

"Have you had dinner yet today?"

"No."

"We should fix that! How do you feel about sushi?"

"Joyously!"

She reaches over to her purse, which she had laid down beside her, and pulls out a printed menu for a nearby restaurant with an extensive selection of rolls.

"Let me know what you want from there, I'll put in the Doordash order. I have a sort of personal chef I can call up from the Nevernever if I want something mortal society can't easily provide me at this location, but that sushi place is close enough and does good work."

"The Nevernever? Is that what wizards actually call the place where all the magic shit is?"

"It's not all the magic shit! Vampires, for example, are pretty firmly earth-bound. The Nevernever is the place for demons and fairies, mostly."