There are ads in Hari for a medical structure mage and a Hari-Devin translator (whose ad is repeated in, apparently, Devin). Then there are more ads in something other than Hari, that probably isn't Devin. And then there are some ads by people looking for employees - would Griffie like to be a test subject for new spells? Is Griffie interested in helping someone move house? Can Griffie clean carpets confidentially?

Or Griffie could participate in blood sports or join a command design tournament.

Griffie painstakingly sounds out the advertisements. Ey can do medicine but not that kind! Ey would not like to be a test subject, that sounds like results wouldn't generalize. Confidential carpet cleaning sounds weird. Blood sports sound intriguing but like a not-right-now thing. Command design isn't going to be eir talent. Helping someone move house sounds good, what do prospective employees need to do?

Show up while having force magic or hands and the ability to lift a bunch of weight.

Sounds straightforward. Griffie can prep Ant Haul for improved carrying capacity, cast it on emself, and then show up.

The person has already packed most of their stuff in large opaque boxes and explains to Griffie where they're going to. And eventually Griffie will have some rings.

Great! Having local currency is instrumentally useful for many goals. True to Griffie's word, ey puts at least some of the coins on a twine string around eir neck. Can ey afford the amulet of nondetection now? Is the advice vendor still there? Does the blood sports writeup ey skimmed over have helpful additional details?

The amulet is affordable. The blood sports looking for participants are something akin to MMA (intended to end when someone yields), a race in which interfering with opponents is allowed, and something intended to go on until someone can't possibly continue. All of them require a waiver agreeing that it's not murder if you die, and all of them ban the use of magic and other tools.

The vendor of advice is cleaning the street and building exteriors a bit at a time, but can take a break whenever.

Magic use is banned, not restricted. Well, that sure rules out Griffie's participation. Maybe some other combat sports league will be less interested in blood and more likely to agree with em that nonlethal mastodons are cool.

Griffie can help with the unskilled-labor parts of tasks if the advice vendor would take that as part of payment, actually, but either way ey'll buy some advice.

Sure, if Griffie can round up some of the dead flowers and mud to dump someplace that wants dead flowers and mud that's that much less stuff to carefully turn into inoffensive compounds. Don't bother with anything that's not basically fine and just in the wrong place, that stuff all gets broken down.

"Know anything in particular you already want advice on or shall I just tell you things as I think of them?"

"I've already gotten advice from one person, I think I'll get more information about this world if you start with things you think of first."

Griffie has a lot of experience with dead flowers and mud, and it generalizes! Ey can definitely move it out of the way.

"Well, I think you might want to know about the different states, so you know where to move to. Anavel Sani is full of caralendri and they make illusion shows about fictional stories there - that's something very popular with caralendri, who like stories that aren't true - and hiring you might be cheaper than doing illusions if they want to do a plant character or something. Ehima's kind of got this tension going on between the Hari-speakers and everyone else, and by everyone else I mostly mean people who speak Lexori. And if you want to get involved in anemone farming you should go to one of the states that borders Anemone Bay. If you do you'll have to speak Devin but if you learn languages this fast that won't be a problem. And then there's Cloudbreak, which is up in the mountains and speaks Ilan, like Anavel Sani. And Har, which is where the empire came from, and Meiu, which is mostly people from Har, and Erhau, which is also mostly people from Har but less cold than Har and Meiu. And, uh, hm, I don't know what kinds of certifications exist where you came from so you might not guess that Har has law schools and medical schools - not that any doctor here will know what to do with you, but. Is this the kind of thing you want to know?"

"This is a kind of thing I want to know!"

"Hm. Uh. Anavel Sani has more sunlight in the winter and plants grow better there compared to here. Sometimes people's feelings about all the genocide the Hari Empire did aren't straightforwardly positive. Command designers make a lot of money per commission but there aren't that many buyers."

"I request more information about the genocide."

"Well, you know, the Hari Empire conquered the world. Sometimes it conquered places and got rid of the people who were there before."

Griffie sighs. "I suppose that shouldn't really be new information to me, the government that I've been comparing them to has also committed some. Do you think that if the Hari Empire conquered somewhere today, they'd be pretty clear about offering non-genocidal terms for surrender?"

"Probably."

"Well, that's more appealing than the alternative."

Griffie pauses to think. "What jobs would you recommend for someone who can turn into animals or, uh, a being of fiery-stuff or watery-stuff or gaseous-stuff or rocky-stuff? I've done magic-allowed combat sports but not acting before. Also, if someone could conjure some unstable temporary material from nothing for void mages to get rid of if they wanted to, would that be a big deal or not really?"

"I think at least try acting. There's probably a use for a sentient gas or water but I don't know what use. I don't know if conjuring temporary material would be a big deal. Maybe? I assume you could do interesting things with the resulting void while it existed but I don't know what."

"Alright, thanks. At least I'm sure to be the best actor for my species, haha. I think that's everything I really want to ask for now."

Griffie heads back to the market to look for other immediately-available employment for people who can, say, move objects with their hands, and also get a broad idea of pricing. Ideally, ey'd be able to hire Valanda before a human would usually go to sleep.

Griffie can already afford a simple defense mage job, but might want to have more cash in hand for this.

If they're paying very close attention they might be able to notice how many people work four-hour dusk shifts and make some inferences about Valanda's schedule.

Given this, if there are more people interested in hiring someone with Griffie's skillset today, ey would in fact like to acquire more currency.

Someone who is not the government invites Griffie to step into their illusion and answer questions in exchange for somewhat fewer rings than the government is paying them.

Griffie will warn in advance that ey's not going to answer questions that ey thinks should be discussed with the government before everyone else, but sure, ey'll take it.

This person would like to know what Griffie is and whether Griffie can propagate vegetatively and what exactly Griffie's magic is and whether there will be more plantpeople coming and if so what they will be in the market for and whether plants have the concept of privacy and whether Griffie is afraid of herbivores.