The Market

[travelagency]

Who: Merchants, Reporters, and You
What: Open Market
When: M9 D13
Where: The center of town, near the resort
Notes & Warnings: Here is how the market works...

The marketplace is a large open air affair in the middle of town, with a couple of dozen vendors out supplying wares. For the most part they're local crafstmen and farmers; it is post harvest time now, and the last of the fresh vegetables are being sold off before it gets really cold (various tubers, fruits, roots, wheat, etc). There are also cooks with a variety of foods, so everything smells pretty good. There are even pierogi and sausages along side more unusual fusion foods like deep fried gagh on a stick.

Unfortunately, it's raining and while it's not a drenching rain, if you're not used to the rain an umbrella probably wouldn't go amiss.

There are a few odd stands, though. External stands, brought in by merchants that don't want to permanently reside here but are happy to do some sales for the resort. Sure they have to earn in the planetary currency, but they can buy a few unique items from here to take back with them before they go. That makes the trade worth it for them, and Blackstaff needs all the external trade it can get (even if the outside vendors doing the trading are a little dubious and are probably breaking the law just by being here during the quarantine).

In the meantime, with Blackstaff's cooperation Upsher and Doff have set up a booth in the middle of the market. Imports receive additional pay for going inside and answering their questions, and Jeffers is very adamant that imports should participate. It may help out their current situation by showing the universe what widely varying worlds are represented by the resort and attaching real faces and voices to the people of Quadratus.

Comments

[theugly]

How do you feel about the environment?

[He cants his head to one side, frowning.] It's... good? [Briefly glancing straight into the camera, he dampens his lips and tries again:] Where I come from, there's two kinds of people: those who stay in their towns and houses like they tied to a roof beam, and those who welcome the world like she's an old friend.

You learn to listen her, you going to live a hell of a lot longer than if you try and block her out.

[A beat.]

Here, you don't have to go so far if you wanna be one place or another. One day, you able to freeze your cojones off, the next, you welcome to sweat away in the desert. [He grins. The idea is clearly still pretty novel to him.] Yeah, it's good!

What are the standards of animal treatment in your world, ranging from pets to wildlife?

Since the war started, you get a lot of stray dogs. Less in the towns—maybe they still got owners, or some poor bastard is hungry enough to eat them—but plenty when you out a little further. You ask Tuco, it's better to avoid them. One second they showing you their belly, [he leans forwards, pointing up to a little groove on his nose bridge,] then all the sudden they wanna take a chunk out of you.

[He falls back again, snorting irritably.]

People keep other animals to eat. Chickens, cows... uh, you know, that kind of thing.

...I don't know what you want me to say. I mean, you own a pet, you look after it. You own farm animals, you look after those, too. Everything else? [He just kind of... lifts his eyebrows.]

Do you feel that network memes are abusive and make dangerous and misspelled assumptions about animals?

I don't know. Probably? [He shrugs, looking suitably disinterested.] I don't use the network too much.