People keep talking to her. This is good, and not objectively terrible. She will keep telling herself that until she begins to believe it.

...maybe this is not as much of a good thing as last time. Hmm. Well, the only thing worse than interacting with an obvious maleficer wearing rags is being rude to the obvious maleficer.

"Hello," she says politely. "My name is Sophie Hara, it's a pleasure to meet you."

"My name is Masozi. Pleased to meet you too." He clasps his hands behind his back, trying to look more sure of himself than he feels. "...I don't mean any offence but I noticed you seem aggressively boring - is that magic?" 

"Um."

She... has absolutely no cached response to this. She says the first thing that comes to mind instead even though that's a terrible idea. "I've never really needed help being boring. I just sort of. Am."

"I don't believe you," Masozi says, well before his brain has a chance to evaluate whether this is a good idea to say out loud. "- Sorry. I mean no offence." 

Up close, he - can maybe pick out more detail about what's boring? Hmm. Her shoes seem like a normal amount of interesting, for shoes, if he blocks out everything else. Her fingernails, ditto. Her chin - well, it's a very normal chin in most ways but he can notice the slight jarring-surprise at her pale skin, a rare sight back home. 

Her hat, though...

He lowers his voice to a near-whisper, in case this is a secret she doesn't want anyone else knowing. "- Is your hat magic?" 

"It - it is. My hat is magic, and my dress, and my stockings - I made them all myself. The hat makes me a little bit smarter and the dress and stockings protect me."

She takes the hat off and points to one of the sunbursts of crystals. The effect - is still subtle enough that it's not a massive contrast, but it dissipates once the hat is in her hands. "And these crystals store mana."

"That's really impressive! ...The hat makes you smarter? Um, what would you want to trade to make me one like it?" Being smarter sounds like one of the most important things, here! 

"It was a very difficult effect to achieve. I... it depends on what track you are planning to take, but I would accept a significant amount of stored mana plus materials and creative expenses from anyone, and if you plan on artifice or alchemy then we could talk about a direct trade."

She fiddles a little bit with her hat. "I... would also be willing to provide you with other clothing. At a discounted rate. If you wanted." Aaaaa. "I mean no offense."

"- I'm not offended? I know my clothes smell like garbage, I got them from the garbage dump. It...seems like most people have nicer clothes here and it'd be good to - blend in better." 

"It is. Clothing is - one of the most commonly overlooked areas of improvement, at the Scholomance. Many people think of clothes as something they can't afford to care about. But good clothing makes you look competent, which is almost as good as being competent. Good clothing can protect you, hold enchantments. If you have to sacrifice something... it shouldn't be something you need every day."

She blinks. "Sorry. Um. If I begin working tonight I would be able to get you a pair of trousers and a good shirt in two days. They would not be enchanted, but they would fit you well, and I would be willing to let them out to fit you in the future for a nominal fee - a few spells' worth of mana, most likely. A hat like mine will take longer - perhaps a month - and be significantly more expensive."

"That's all right." He's been getting along fine with his current brain for a while. "Thank you, I appreciate the offer." He says the phrase in a slightly rote tone. (It is, perhaps, possible that most of his English pleasantries have been memorized out of library books.)

And then he replays her words in his head and realizes the 'few spells worth of mana' was the price for refits, not the outfit itself. "....Um, what would you want to trade for the clothes?" 

"Oh. Sorry, I'm - not very good at sales, yet. Um - I would be dipping into my immediate supplies unless we made a supply run, so - you could fill two of the central crystals on my hat, or if you were willing to help me get to the workshop supply closet and keep me safe while I gathered materials I would agree to that as services rendered."

"Oh! I can definitely do that. I'm very good at spotting mals, it's...um, it's my affinity." That seems like the best story to go with for now. "I heard some other kids talking about doing a supply run tonight after dinner - maybe I can find them and suggest we all go?" 

"...yes. Yes, that would be fine. I doubt that there will be many people looking for my materials, and if I'm right there they are less likely to take them anyway and arbitrage them against me. Thank you, I doubt I would have heard about that supply run." That's maybe unstrategic to admit. Whatever.

- her stepmother's voice in her head. Upsell. "...I can't make you shoes in the same time frame but I can make them within the week, and two pair of socks, if you fill up one of the central crystals in addition?"

Nod. “- Can I get back to you on that tomorrow? I was talking to someone else earlier, um, I don’t know if you met the girl with the spider familiar who’s selling spider silk things and will trade for mal grubs?”

"The - oh, his sister, yes - I mostly spoke with her brother," she says. "If you already have an offer for footwear I wouldn't want to undercut them."

She really doesn't. You don't piss off someone you could collaborate fruitfully with.

“I’m not sure how long it’d take them.” Shrug. “Or how many mal grubs are about. So I’ll get back to you.”

"Of course. I imagine their offer will be more expensive but more durable as well, unless you want me to enchant the shoes."

“If it’d be a while maybe I’d want to get socks from Lucy and shoes from you.” Masozi has never worn socks in his entire life. “To be extra safe, you know.”

He’s no longer making eye contact with her because he’s gone back to checking the room for mals.

Eye contact is so deeply overrated.

"That would be a good idea," she agrees. "Practically and for the sake of fitting in better. - once you have clothes worth wearing you will want to wash them, speaking of fitting in. I can trade you a laundry spell if you like, or you can chance getting one from the school."

“Right, I guess you can’t just wash things in the river, here. And doing it in the bathrooms isn’t safe?” It’s probably less risky for him but it definitely sounds inconvenient; he needs to pace how often he’s burning through mana to search actively for hidden mals.

"It's as safe as going to the bathrooms ever is. A laundry spell, particularly my favored one, will usually be very mana-efficient and get out stains and odors you cannot remove with just water and hand soap. It is not a top priority, I suppose - and come to think of it, my laundry spell probably isn't in one of your languages, so it would be stupid to share it. Still, you should ask your room for one. Part of the point of getting good clothes is looking clean and healthy."

"- It doesn't seem like looking clean should be anyone's highest priority here?" 

"Perhaps it shouldn't be. But I think you underestimate how important it is to people that they be able to judge at a glance who you are presenting yourself as. Maybe you're good enough to get away with presenting yourself as someone who has bigger things to worry about than being clean. But it's more likely you will come off as someone who is too desperate to clean himself. As I say, laundry spells are cheap. People thinking you're not worth their time is expensive."

Sophie abruptly remembers that she's talking to a maleficer and that she should really be a lot more afraid of what he thinks of her. And stop giving him hygiene tips. 

He's listening attentively - well, while still looking around the room, but he's totally focused on her words - and nodding along, looking thoughtful and even impressed. "...That makes sense. I - guess maybe I was too desperate, before. But I'd better try to not be, here." 

"Um. Good. I - shouldn't be bossing you around, but. This stuff is important."

(Why is she suddenly unable to talk like a human being what is wrong with her.)

"- is there anything else you're, um, confused about," she asks before she can stop herself from extending this conversation.