He is in... Chinatown? ...China? One of those.

That was not where he was. Chinatown is on the other end of Manhattan. Um. Well, okay, magic could theoretically do this...

For lack of a better idea, he stands up and keeps walking.

He doesn't seem especially remarkable to the denizens of China(town). It does eventually prove to be a Chinatown, there are too many English speakers and white people and, later, English signage, for it to be China proper; but not the one in Manhattan.

He checks his phone to warn his cousin about whatever this was. It tells him he doesn't have an active plan and he can't do anything but emergency calls. But, English. Do they sound like Brits? Aussies? This is still remotely possible, but seeming more remote by the minute.

They sound American. He can eventually discern by accumulated clues that this is San Francisco.

He is in San Francisco. But if he was in San Francisco he would have cell service. Therefore, this is somehow a wrong San Francisco.

The spell to detect vampires expires. He finds a stoop in an alley, out of plain view, and casts the magic-detection variant. Is he going to go toward it, or run away, if he sees something? Good question, but reply hazy, ask again later.

Nearest magic is back in Chinatown whence he came!

Hmm. Maybe whatever dumped him here is still going. Let's go toward that, and if it seems like it's moving like a predator (well, like the kind he knows, which are vampires), he can change course then.

The nearest magic is: the entrance to this unmarked sketchy looking building near where he appeared.

...Eh, what the hell, he's hard to hurt. Sure, let's see what's in there.

A flight of stairs down into the dark.

A - security person? - turns an indistinct, shadowed face toward him, plants a hand on his chest, and shoves him firmly back out onto the street. The door shuts behind him.

Rude.

Also, interesting.

Is there any space on the ground floor here, that a human couldn't get through, but a snake that's only a couple inches across could?

It looks like there should be - the place is shabby - but on closer inspection, there actually isn't. Place might as well be hermetically sealed.

Herpetically sealed, even. Inconvenient.

Hmm. Someone messed with him, somehow. Someone, possibly the same someone, doesn't want him in this shabby basement that is taken care of too well to be neglected. He is stuck in a wrong San Francisco and has no idea what's going on.

If there's a takeout place within sight, he'll go try his credit card and get some food (with cash if, i.e. when, that doesn't work). But if he can't, or afterwards, he will probably do a stakeout as a rattlesnake. Snakeout.

The card is declined but the cash is accepted. Armed with dumplings, he can surveil the magic building.

Someone comes out of it, eventually. Fellow in a long black coat, walks down the street.

He didn't actually plan ahead very well. Probably because he's still off-balance from the sudden wrong San Francisco situation.

Tailing someone as a snake in a city is not going to work. And he's not actually any good at tailing someone stealthily as a human. He's a lawyer, not a detective.

Let's follow the guy without trying that hard to be stealthy, and see what happens. That seems legit.

The guy exits Chinatown and gets in an Uber.

He's pretty sure "Follow that car" (a) never worked very well outside movies, (b) requires a hailable taxi, and (c) would be expensive even if it did work. So that's a bust. (Though did the guy ping as magic?)

Back to his snakeout, he guesses.

The guy actually did not seem to be magic.

People sometimes go in and sometimes go out of the door. Nothing else of note occurs and none of the people are magic.

Well. He's probably screwed for trying to figure out what got him here. Is it getting late?

It's past dinnertime but not super late.

He technically does not need a hotel room but sleeping as a snake isn't comfortable and also doing that in a city sounds like a good way to get attacked by animal control. He notes down the address of the sketchy magic basement and goes looking for a cheap place to stay and somewhere to get a burner phone. Still keeping the magic detection up, because the pain is bearable and the confusion is less so.

Thataway there's some more magic! This one is moving.

Possibly he's about to run into a vampire, so he'll approach it relatively slowly, but honestly finding someone here who he can ask what the hell seems more important right now. Scrounging can wait.

Not a vampire. Exhibits no vampire characteristics. Appears to be a girl in her late teens with a mesh bag full of recyclables, peering into trash cans.

Excellent, no vampire characteristics is the best amount of vampire characteristics.

Which leaves someone, human but more ongoingly magic than a shifter, who's poor enough to care about recyclables-level money. A young woman who is living like a street person... so he should be careful not to spook her.

(He doesn't have a ton of money himself, if he can't get home. But it's probably worth it.)

"Excuse me, miss? You look well-informed, and I'm more lost than I look. Trade you takeout for answering questions?"

"All right," she says. She doesn't seem spooked at all. "What can I help you with?"

He looks around for anyone who might overhear, but assuming they're relatively clear, he just lowers his voice and continues. 

"This morning I was in New York City. I tripped in an alleyway, and then I was here: in SF Chinatown, the date is different, and my phone and credit cards don't work. And I know magic exists, but you're not any of the kinds I know about. I would like to know what magic exists here, and how much about it I have to keep secret."

"...huh. Uh, I'm a magical girl. People know we exist but not all the details."

"That is definitely not something anyone in my family knows exists. And we know about three kinds of magic which are all secret. Well, we are one kind, and know about two others. One of those is that I can cast a magic spell which shows me where there is magic within a half-mile or so. So far I've seen you, and something in the basement of a shabby-looking place in Chinatown near where I... call it 'appeared'."

"...well, I can't detect magic like you apparently can, so I don't know what's magical in Chinatown. Could be something a magical girl did."

"I noted the address, if you're curious. What do most people know? And why don't they know the rest?"

"Well, people know that there are magical monsters normal humans can't see, and magical girls fight them, and don't know the rest because the Empress of Magi, Jun Wu, thinks it's a security concern."

"How many of you are there, worldwide? Thousands? Millions?"

"Maybe half a million."

"Enough that the shadow government matters to the normal government. We don't have that, just a few thousand of us and nothing flashy. I wonder how law- not important now. Hmm. Why don't you make money off your magic? Is it illegal?"

"Me in particular?" She glances wryly at her bag of bottles.

"Yeah. It's... noticeable."

"It's a long story. I can't use much magic any more, just the little bit I need to live at all."

Or else what?, he thinks, but doesn't say. "Empress of Magi" and "security risk" sounds... Well, he suspects he is going to hate it if he hears more. What can he ask that seems safe...?

"So, only girls have magic here? Not even women in general, just young ones?"

"I'm hundreds of years old. But yes, only girls."

"I'd probably take immortality even if it meant trash-picking... But I guess I would never have had the option. I owe you some takeout, I think. Know anywhere good nearby?"

"I'm not picky. There's a burrito place there." Point.

"Sounds good."

He heads over to place an order. Just gets her burrito and a soda for himself.

"Do you have any advice on what to do, or what not to do, if I want to stay clear of your Empress and whatever government she runs? I don't want to make trouble accidentally." Making some on purpose, maybe, but not accidentally.

"Well, she lives in China, so don't go to China, I suppose. If you don't hang out with regular magical girls who interact with her Court, or fight monsters, you probably won't get her attention easily, at least if you wouldn't get a normal government's attention. Why do you want to avoid her?"

"Where I'm from, we have very few remaining monarchs, and none of them have any real authority. Before that was true, there were a lot of bloody wars and purges whenever the monarchs looked askance at something. A monarch of all magic who has enough teeth to her rule to ban almost all information from being spread, is a very dangerous person to come to the attention of."

"Magical girls are as a rule focused on monsters, not human affairs."

"Well, I better do my best not to be seen as a monster, then. Do any of the monsters look like animals? Werewolves, maybe?"

"Not very much like, but they can appear a variety of ways and sometimes a potential magical girl mistakes one for an animal. Normal people can't see them, though."

"Then I'm probably safe. I'll test it some time more convenient, whether normal people can still see me when I'm not humanoid. It's still scary that there is someone with that amount of power, though, even if she probably won't look in my direction. And if this is the only magic you have, she might well decide all magic is under her authority if I ever make any waves, if she could profit off it and the normal governments can't easily refuse her."

Nom nom burrito. "If you say so."

Either she never had to respect any normal rulers around her in her centuries of life, she's completely incurious, or she has some reason not to talk about it.

But he restrains himself from monologuing more. It's probably noticeable.

"Eh. History tends to back me up on that, but it's not a pleasant subject. Around how many of you are there in SF? A hundred?"

"Fewer than that probably, but I don't know how many exactly. I don't really move in magical girl circles these days."

"Sounds rough. Well, thanks for your help, I guess. I might look you up again if I have more to ask. Till then... good luck."

"Thanks. For that and the burrito."

He nods and leaves. Finds somewhere to sleep for the night. Sleeps. (Badly. Tenderloin hostels are cheap but loud.) Gets a burner, finds a library.

Looks up magical girls and their government. And then ordinary government offices, because he's probably stuck here and should try to deal with that sooner rather than later.

The non-magical government situation is recognizable - surprisingly so, actually. The magical government has apparently been in continuous existence for longer than any extant normal one, dating back to around the birth of Christ and thereby narrowly beating out San Marino for the technical achievement. (It's also had the same Empress the entire time, which makes it solidly much more continuous than any country.) Jun Wu's office publishes cartoon-infested informational pamphlets about becoming a magical girl - apparently it can happen to second-graders, though it's usually the preteen set and it can occur as late as 18. Girls who especially want to be magical girls can send in applications, but sometimes there will be (unspecified) recruitment efforts aimed at particularly promising girls. Apparently magical girls can magically don magical outfits and then they have been seen using telekinesis, shooting energy bolts, and healing. The main draw of becoming a magical girl is that when you do, you are granted a wish; but apparently the rate of death in the line of duty isn't great, at least during the first few decades.

Well, she's avoiding several of the ways monarchs are terrible, he has to admit. What has she done to hold onto power, though?

Surprisingly recognizable government makes him look up other things. His family's exotic animal handling business doesn't exist, which doesn't necessarily mean they don't exist since they wouldn't have any advantage dealing with snakes here. The house he was born in... doesn't show up on Google Maps. Empty road. He could look, but he doubts he'll find anyone familiar.

He notes down some local government info on his old phone, and looks up the address of the spooky basement with the rude doorman.

The address is unlisted.

Is he surprised? He is not. It was worth a check, though.

He maybe should talk to bureaucracy next, but that sounds unpleasant. He might as well walk around looking for other magic, and being a little bit of a tourist.

There's some more magic like the girl he met over that way!

Sure, let's go investigate that. Probably he doesn't have to be circumspect about recognizing her as a magical girl, even.

She's flying! She lands neatly outside an ice cream place, poses and smirks with perfectly windblown hair for somebody trying to snap a photo of her, and then waltzes in to order ice cream.