"Bleh, veggies." The sneevil screws up their face in disgust. "Sneevils throw veggies in the dumpsite! Use boxes to build forts." 

"My mommy says that you need to eat your veggies to grow big and strong."

It occurs to Elan that this may not be true for sneevils.

"If you're a human, anyway. Hey, if you had friends who liked veggies, and you had boxes full of veggies, would you let your friends eat the veggies instead of throwing them out?"

"No one like veggies, stoopid." 

They're really not that bad if you cook them right! If Elan ever finds someone who can cast Plane Shift he should get Belkar over here. Since obviously cooking for sneevils would be the top priority.

Probably "my friend who goes to another school lives in a different world" wouldn't be the best argument, though…

"What if they were a bunnyfolk? Or something else that can only eat plants?"

"Why would sneevils be friends wiv bunnies?" 

("I doesn't think bunnyfolk exist here, Elan," Twilly contributes quietly. "Bunnies do, though!") 

"That's okay, I don't actually know if we have them either. Bunnies were just the first thing I could think of that really likes vegetables. Do you have a kind of person you know off the top of your head that would work better? Maybe a kind that also…"

He thinks for a moment.

"You know, I don't actually know what would make someone a good friend to sneevils! Do you?"

This is said mostly to the sneevil.

The sneevil is of the opinion that, "Friends help build box forts!" 

"That's pretty cool… hey, does that mean everyone in Boxopolis is friends? That sounds great!"

At this point Niblet comes back, with another sneevil following them. This one is wearing a box with holes cut in it for their head and arms. "GayT bOZs" is scrawled on the front of the box at a wonky angle. 

"I are gate boss! Youz wanting to look at uz boxes?" 

"Hi, Mr. Gate Boss!"

Oops, Elan just kind of guessed there. Well, if the sneevil says something like I'm not a mister! he can apologize.

"That's right, one of our friends lost a box and we want to find it. But the important thing to us is what's inside, so you guys can keep the box when we're done."

The sneevil makes no comment on Elan's assumption of their gender. 

"Hmmmmmmm. What you give I for let you do thiz?" 

Elan totally talked about this one earlier with Twilly!

"I have a magic ring that can protect you in fights! It works on melee weapons—uh, like a sword or a club—and harmful magic, but not on arrows. I can also fix up to three broken boxes with magic."

"HMM. Fix five boxes?" 

Rats, Elan probably shouldn't have started with the maximum cantrips he can cast in a day!

… Wait, he's remembering something. Some spellcasters can use a higher-level spell slot to cast a spell. He's never seen it done, let alone done it himself, but that shouldn't stop him from trying.

"I've never done more than three of that spell in a day before, but I can try really hard to do five?"

"Do three, drink potion, do three more, stoopid. That..." They count on their fingers. "...five?" 

"Well, the math checks out…"

Now the only problems are that:

1. Elan doesn't have any of this potion.
2. Elan doesn't even know if it works like that!

Well, he won't find out unless he tries.

"Do you have any potion lying around to try? I could do three now and the rest after we find the box."

"Hmmmmmmmm." They scratch their chin, slightly hampered by the position of the armholes in their box. "I thinkz we haz potion. Niblet! Get bloo potion!" 

Off Niblet scurries again. They're back shortly with a little glass bottle full of something blue and fizzy. 

"Thanks! Which boxes should I fix first?"

Potion goes in pocket for now. He wonders what it tastes like. Maybe blueberries? It is blue, after all.

The sneevils can show him some falling-apart crates! They do look in pretty bad shape, but all the pieces are there. ...most of the pieces are there. 

He picks the three that are in the worst shape while still having enough pieces to mend and casts his spells. He then opens the potion, sniffs it to get a general sense of the flavor (because it would be rude and maybe ruin the potion if he was so surprised by the taste that he spit it all out), and drinks it.

He should be able to tell right away whether it worked; being able to cast a spell and not being able to cast a spell are pretty clear sensations.

The potion is fizzy and bubbly. It smells like sour, overripe blueberries, which turns out to be a pretty accurate predictor of its taste. 

He cannot cast any more cantrips than he could before drinking it. 

Aww man!

… Wait, he realizes now that he's paying attention and has used up all his cantrip slots that he can use a higher-level slot to cast a lower-level spell.

"Okay, I'll be able to fix the others after we find the box we're looking for."

He decides not to mention to the sneevils that the potion didn't seem to do anything, mostly because he doesn't want them to get mad at him for wasting the potion. He can tell Twilly later, though.

The gate boss inspects the mended boxes, looking for flaws, before nodding. 

"What box youz want?"

"Umm, it's black and has a dragon's head on it…"

He goes on to describe its dimensions and general shape to the extent that he can remember.