[can't they both exist? Cole knows they both existed where he's from!

and... oof, even if he's eager to try, Cole isn't sure how to best respond to that...]

I--don't know what those are... but I wasn't always human, either. Humans aren't the only ones who can believe in magic. It's in a lot of places where I come from. Many don't like it--but to not like it, they still have to know it. Of it--not how it works, or why it is. Or always when it's magic, or something else.

[buuut if this one's something Cole hasn't even heard of, he could have some perspective of his own, and Cole's curious.]

But if... you don't have magic, then what do you think it could be?

[he lets his head fall tilted.]