"Probably not that particular profession.  Though more attractive if you can trade 200 eggs to get a new kitchen on your house."

"So, do you people by any chance send and receive mail from the outside world around here, including maybe... packages?"

"Hmmm... there's not that much call for that around here. I guess Leah has to ship her sculptures when people in other towns buy them."

"Oh, and I know Jodi sends letters and care packages to Kent while he's on deployment."

Hm.

"Thanks, and also thanks.  Was Leah the second most recently-arrived person here after myself?  Think I remember something about that.  Where would I find her?"

Oliver doesn't hold out much hope of Leah being a Normal Person.  But there might be evidence left if, say, Leah used to be a normal person, and then got transformed a few days after arriving here.  Old artifacts like toilet paper, that she brought with her, and then forgot.

"I think maybe Elliott got here more recently than Leah did, but yeah, she's newer in town than most of us! Leah lives in her cottage down in the southwest corner of town, not far from Marnie's ranch, and you can often find her either sculpting at home or going for a walk by the lake. She does come here to the Saloon on Friday and Saturday evenings." 

Elliott hears his name and joins the group at the bar.

"Greetings good sir, well met. I am Elliott. I was, until your arrival, the newest member of our community."

"Well met, well met.  I'm Oliver Greenfield, lived in Zuzu City, before I came here.  I was born in the United States, in Kansas City, which isn't actually in Kansas, and that set the tone for the rest of my life.  Whereabouts were you from, before?"

"I hail from Grampleton, originally, but I'm very pleased to call Pelican Town my home now."

"Grampleton!  I don't believe I've heard of that before!  Is it in a state, a country, or just sort of floating around?  Do they use G there or a different currency?"

"Grampleton is part of the Ferngill Republic, just like Pelican Town and Zuzu City are, but I'm not surprised you don't know of it. It is a modest hamlet, populated by philistines. They don't use G there, they use Q."

What Oliver wants to ask is how many eggs you'd have to trade for a new kitchen, back in Grampleton, but he suspects he'd have to work the conversation around to it.  And how, exactly, do you work a conversation around to that, Oliver doesn't know.

"I don't suppose Grampleton sees a lot of residents hailing from, say--"  Oliver takes a split second to ponder where on Earth he believes Zuzu City and the Ferngill Republic to be, and which nearby major countries are liable to send immigrants to a Ferngill Republic city.

The Ferngill Republic occupies the north island of what might be called New Zealand on another version of Earth. It is one of two large islands and a smattering of smaller ones off the coast of Australia.

"--Australia, India, China, or the UK."

"Certainly not. Grampleton does not see much immigration at all, and I'm not sure it will still be there twenty years hence. Pelican Town has been more successful in attracting new talent. I came here myself to take inspiration from the waves and the sun, and I've never been more content than when applying my pen to the page in my seaside cabin."

Does Leah ship her sculptures only to other places that use single-letter currencies?  Oliver was thinking about whether the local mine turns up Rubies and if so, are they the size of apples?  Or alternatively are they realistically tiny gems, and then maybe Pelican Town doesn't consider Etsy-bought 'synthetic rubies' to be meaningfully different from Rubies that cost as much as a kitchen upgrade...

But it might take a while to get those shipped here, if mail back to Normality works at all, and Oliver is a bit suspicious about that.

"Perhaps I shall find contentment as well," Oliver says to Elliott in equally pretentious tones - that's friendly, right?

"Prost!" says Elliott as he raises his glass of apricot wine.

He hopes he's saying it right, as he read it in a book, but he guesses no one else here knows how to say it either.

"Glanst!" Oliver replies solemnly, clicking his fingers in a gesture he just made up, and turns back to Marnie.  "Do Chickens lay one small Egg per day, once you have a coop?  As soon as you buy the Chicken?  And if I buy Grass from you, instead of cutting it myself, how much does that cost?  Do you happen to know the cost of a large coop, or a--bigger coop, I forget the name?"

"A mature chicken lays an egg every day. It takes three days for a chick to grow into a mature chicken. I'd be happy to sell you hay for 50G per piece; animals are just as happy to eat either grass or hay. When you cut your grass it turns into hay."

"I don't know the prices for the various sizes of coops, you'll have to ask Robin."

Oh, that is not good news at all.  Eggs sell for 50G and Oliver had been hoping that, if a chicken cost 800G, he was learning something about investments that paid back 100% of their cost per 16 days, which would've made it a lot more likely that he wouldn't starve.  But that logic doesn't work at all if Chickens eat a Grass per day and each Grass costs 50G if you buy from Marnie.  Turning Eggs into Chickens takes an Incubator, and he doesn't know the reselling price of Chickens...

"Thanks.  Possibly a much stranger question--how can I find out how many G I have, or how do other people know how much G I have?"  Going straight to what is the metaphysical nature of G might get funny looks, Oliver figures.

"Do you not just... know?"

"This, indeed, was just about exactly what I figured you'd say."

"And call me crazy for even asking, but is there such a thing as a 'bank', that loans G, that people can use to buy a Chicken and then pay back that investment inside of a month?"

"No, our town is too small to need anything like that. I think I've heard of something like that in Zuzu City, though I guess you would know?"

"Zuzu City banks don't make loans in G."

"--but if you know the concept, if the concept makes sense to you--if I pointed out that I own my Grandpa's farm and that this would in many places be considered potential collateral for a loan, would anyone's eyes light up with G signs and consider making a loan to me?"

"Not many folks around here with enough spare G to be making loans, I think. Or if there were, lots of folks would be taking those loans."