"Solid choices," John agrees, very encouragingly. "Same for me, but I'll have the potato instead of the bisque, I'm not really a soup guy." The waiter continues to smile and does not actually write in his little notepad. "And let's have two of the cheesecake special, give that a try." To Gideon he adds: "I'm buying."

He only gets to do this bit once per new arrival, until they figure out there's no money. But from the sound of things, the imperial economy might run purely on bone chips and bad vibes.