"Alright!" Cherry takes a few steps back. 

Amaris points halfway up the arch. "Division of the Soil!"

And she goes still, her hands twist into three different rapid gestures, similar to how the wizards did their own spells, and she mouths a strange word that the System doesn't translate, and-

A big part of the melded and compacted dirt splits open, giving off a burst of dust. Half of the arch falls down with a thunk.

Amaris casts it a few more times, each one dusting some compacted earth but not damaging the rocks, breaking the whole thing up into pieces.

"Whoa, cool!"

Cherry stays back but claps appreciatively. "That's way more obvious magic than mine, I'm a little envious."

She runs a hand through her hair. "If I had those powers... Yeah, civil engineer makes a lot of sense. But I've always been a bit more of an artsy type so what I'd be looking into would probably be ceramics. They're made from clay, right? Maybe that's Ground. I could make mugs that don't shatter when you drop them. Or maybe go into highly engineered ceramics, the stuff they make blast shields and ceramic knives and stuff like that out of."

"Spell impressions can be fun! Some of them are pretty useless though. I think I'm actually on the high end of C- Well, you probably don't want the long explanation right now- Huh, that's an idea. If it's processed enough, it stops being 'ground', I think. Because the firing process is human hands working the soil, separating it from the planet. Or something. I tried to read stuff Artonans have said about it but it's real confusing. Ground ceramics... Shapers of Ground would appreciate those too if it can be done. Instead of inconvenient sandbags, their tee-kay can be on nice hexagonal shield plates or something."

"If there's a process for concrete, maybe there's one for ceramics as well? Maybe you could discover it! And if the raw clay counts you could maybe use Sense Ground to help with potterymaking or whatever, even if you lose your sense once it's fired." 

She shrugs. "Sorry if it seems like my head's off in the clouds, I'm just speculating."

"Sure sounds like something to poke around with! I don't think there's a lot of Ground Wrights, Ground Shaper is much more common, so my skills haven't been as well explored as some. Good ideas are welcome."

"I'll let you know if I think of anything more. For now I'm gonna let the System send me to get some clothes."

She flashes a peace sign at Amaris. "See you in a bit!"

And then she calls up the system GPS and starts heading off.

There are a bunch of clothing stores, each seeming to specialize somewhat. Not so many huge megastores, at least not in this neighborhood. Sportswear? Every T-Shirt Ever? Traditional Asian garb from half a dozen cultures? Accessories? Jeans? Socks & Underwear & Shoes? Suits and ballgowns? Dresses? Work clothes? Punk/Goth? Sweaters and scarves? Artonan fashion? Celebrity-themed/designer stuff?

Socks and underwear and dresses, and a set of practical-but-nice work clothes for in the kitchen or a client's home.

She punches in her requests to the system.

And distantly, a star falls.

... Well, that's not a good sign for her rate of power growth at all.

Nice Work Clothes appear to be an entire world on Anesidora. It depends on who she's looking nice for, and for what. Artonans, Anesidorans? Service work like cleaning and waitressing, or trades work, or heavy magical work? Security? Lab work? Academic? Chef outfits? Landscaping, electrician, white collar?

Hoooooooo boy is she ever in over her head here. 

She will just set aside the idea of a work outfit for right now and just get herself some nice clothes for personal wear. 

A skirt and a blouse and jeans and socks and underwear would be good for now!

These things are all acquirable. Generic versions are pretty cheap, but not quite thrift shop cheap.

She'll spring for a slightly less generic floor-length skirt (there's one with a pattern of roses and vines she likes) and a nice blouse, and get essentials for jeans, underwear and socks. 

20.5 argold total, please and thank you!

Oof. Well, she knew she would be going through her resettlement card pretty quickly when she started setting up her life again. 

That's 33 argold spent, 217 left. She's really glad she doesn't need to buy a phone urgently given the System's very friendly nature. 

Well, technically she's paying for that. Getting a real job is going to be fun. But she's okay for this month at least.

Back to Intake to drop off the clothes and get all her new ID into her wallet (she totally forgot earlier, Amaris was So Distracting.)

Message from Juniper Morales:

Is now a good time for a chat? I know you wanted to get a little settled first.

Oh, heck, she completely forgot. 

Yeah, I'm just on my way back to Intake again after picking up some clothes, I can drop by your office on my way in.

See you in a bit!

Juniper is waiting in her office.

"Hello again, Bluebell! Sorry if it seemed like I shot off- I'm going to be busy sometimes."

"It's super okay, I've been completely distracted by getting the basics sorted out. I meant to talk to you once I got gorceries but then Amaris showed up and I wanted to try my skills and... yeah, I'm just a bit of a distractible person."

"It's understandable. Anesidora is a huge change for most people. For a lucky few, it's only a medium size change. Anything stick out to you as surprising or a problem so far?"

"The place seems set up pretty well overall," Hazel says. "I'm still getting used to it, for sure, but I don't see how it could be better. I've got a couple problems but they're not really about intake."

She runs a hand through her hair. "I... It's a little hard to say this but I'm pretty sure my family's not going to send me anything. I've got my resettlement card and between the food program and Intake I'm not going to starve or go homeless, but I'd like to start earning a wage as soon as is reasonable. Are there working apprenticeship programs, anything like that? I know I'm in the range where I could expect to take summons but from five minutes' reading of the intake guide it sounds like the Artonans have a drug problem."

"Oh dear. We get that sometimes. People's reactions can get bad. I won't pry if you don't want it. How much did they give you for resettlement? I can probably put in a request to go back for more- Losing everything is a lot different from just coming to Anesidora without that much stuff in the first place. There are a lot of options for work too, depending on what you want, uh... The Artonans kind of do have a drug problem, honestly. If meth lab 101 was part of a lot of college curricula, do you think we would too? Okay, maybe we should cover these one at a time."

"They gave me 250 argold for resettlement, I've spent 33 so far. I really appreciate you not prying, I'm trying my best to stay upbeat but right now it seems pretty unlikely I'll see them again."

She takes a moment to collect her thoughts. "So, like... I have to satisfy the education requirement somehow, right, I'm only 19. Which probably looks like a paid apprenticeship, part-time job and part-time education if that's allowed, or full time education with summons on weekends. I don't know enough to weigh those though, I don't know what exists for apprenticeships or what they pay, the Artonan drug problem is scary on the summons side, and I don't know how in depth the education requirement is, whether I'm required to be a full-time student or not."