fandomhigh | Multidimensional Economics; Friday, First Period [09/11].

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economics

Multidimensional Economics; Friday, First Period [09/11].

Instructions would lead the class into the danger shop today, where they would find themselves immersed in a nice, generic 'this is obviously a space bazaar because the sky is yellow and everything is made out of sleek metal, though there is a certain sort of disheveled feudal rusticness in the details' settling, bustling with aliens and people and animals of all sorts.

"Welcome back, you guys," Summer started once everyone had gathered and had sort of had a chance to take in the scene. "Today, we're going to be talking a little bit about the barter system, which is perfect, because last week we actually managed to get a good taste of the basic fundamentals of that. Now, in societies where money hasn't become a thing yet or they just decided to without it, most trade and economic transactions are done through bartering, which is basically trading goods and services for other goods and services, for example, Eleanor's decision to share her shrimp chips with people in exchange for margarita mix. She had something that--for some reason--other people wanted, and, seeing an econimic opportunity there, albeit after I pointed it out, realized she could get something else she wanted out of it.

"And actually," Summer continued, "we got to see two different aspects of what might potentially drive a market in there, too, which was great. Arabella pointed out that she wouldn't have been interested in the chips if it weren't for the fact that Eleanor clearly thought highly of them, therefor increasing their preceived value, and Troy then started to want them as well, because it was something everyone else wanted, which only drove the market for it even more. Eleanor then had the supply, which gave her to ability to demand a price, and that price was margarita mix!" She beamed at the class, opening up her hands a little. "Look at that! You guys were already putting into practice some of the basic aspects of economics without even realizing it, how neat is that?"

Super neat, because it made her job so much easier!

"Anyway, I figured we'd continue on with the already perceived value that we've established for shrimp-flavored Pringles for today's exercise. In this here space bazaar, there are many different vendors with things you may or may not want, including the very popular Shrimp Pringle vendor. This society doesn't have a monetary system, and all trade is done through bargaining and bartering. Your goal, then, is to find the best way to get as many Shrimp Pringles as you can, because those are clearly the hot item on the market today, and the more you have, the quote-unquote richer you will be. But the Shrimp Pringle merchant knows he's got the good stuff, and he's not going to make it easy for you. So start in the bartering process to figure out what they're willing to trade for it, and how to obtain those items. You may need to barter with several different vendors before managing to get to your goal, but that's the whole point. Figure out what the market is demanding, and then figure out how to work that to your advantage to get what you want and really put the squeeze on that shrimp chip market.

"Any questions before we begin? If not, I'll leave you all to go get your barter on. You all have one tube of shrimp chips to get you started, too."

[[ ~~while I muddle my way through some ocd~~ that's probably good for now. ]]

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Making an offer you can't refuse.

Troy Barnes

Eleanor Shellstrop

Tahani al-Jamil

Arabella Baylor

Take in the scene and the wide variety of aliens and products both familiar and bizarre that you'll be expected to trade off here and there to get to those sweet, sweet shrimp chips.

After the lecture was done Eleanor immediately turned to the rest of class and gave them a sultry look.

“I will make out with anyone here who gives their tubes of Shrimp Pringles.”

...

“Except for you Arabella. The little sis thing makes it weird.”

See, and now Troy was feeling a little torn, because he could see the appeal in an offer like that, but, also, there was ice cream? And he was pretty sold on the idea of using his chips for that the moment he saw it, but now he needed to do some re-evaluation.

Man, economics was tough.

Oh. Don't think Eleanor didn't see that look, Troy.

She gave him a big smile and tilted her shoulder a bit and waggled her eyebrows back at him.

"C'mon, Stud. Gimme those chips."

And that was when something actually seemed spark in Troy's brain a little, because hadn't Summer taught them last week, that if you had something that someone wanted, you could use that to your advantage? And while he had to admit, making out with a girl in a class would definitely be up there on the list of things he would absolutely want, it seemed bad business to just go for the first offer given, right?

So it was with an uncertain caution, as his brain was working much harder than it was used to working in that moment, that he pulled his canister of chips closer to his chest.

"....noooo," he said, with the drawling of the slow awakening of his own potential perceived value, and the natural nervousness that would come with trying to exploit it. "You give me yours, and I'll let you make out with me..."

Otherwise, he was totally taking this can and these lips to ice cream town.

Eleanor let out a 'tsk' of disappointment. "Your loss, Stud," she replied and walked away making sure Troy saw what he'd be missing out on.

Troy was....definitely grappling with a few issues regarding his newfound savviness in the barter system with that departure, but, also, he'd gotten a Stud out of it, and ice cream in his near future, so was it really that much of a loss?

Plus, if he did actually manage to get another can of chips, maybe the original offer would still be on the table. He'd just have to figure out how.

And behold the many tables and stalls for which you can attempt to make trades and barter with the humble space shopkeepers to try and work your way to shrimp chip richness, via way too many OCD threads because that's how I roll!

Also, keep an eye out for new tables popping up throughout the day, as I will more than likely get more ideas!

Edited 2020-09-11 09:30 (UTC)

Okay, maybe it's a little on the nose, but the very popular Shrimp Chip Stall is definitely being run by a large shrimp alien from the shrimp universe, but come on, that's how you just know he's legit.

Two brothers in tank tops from the Corn Universe have set up shop, not selling corn or anything like that, but instead what appear to be 'designer' handbags and watches and the whole set-up doesn't look sketchy at alllllll, really....

Tahani marched right over to that stall, whipping out her cell phone. "What will you give me not to call Michael Burke, the CEO of Louis Vuitton, right now?"

The two brothers exchanged corn glances, and one of them gave the other a corn nod.

"A good deal," the one said, "on one of the authetic ones we've got. We keep 'em under the table for the clients who really know their corn, you know? We can tell a girl like you knows what's up. How you like them kernels?"

"What season is it from?" Tahani asked, narrowing her eyes shrewdly.

There was another exchange of corn, and an attempt at a gamble based on an assumption that perhaps this would be a good time to pull out the imposter bags from the Horsehead Nebula, because that fashion scene was still a bit on the underground.

"Wouldn't you know it?" asked one of the corns, as he pulled out one of the handbags from below the table and set it out for Tahani to see. "We've got a special, exclusive preview on the new season coming up. You could be the very first to have one of these babies."

"Very limited, too," the other one chimed in. "I got the hook-up because my corn-in-law knows a guy."

"Is the guy Michael Burke?" Tahani asked, jiggling her phone meaningfully.

Look, lady, these corns didn't even actually know who that was.

"Nah," the corn shrugged. "It's his brother."

Tahani was getting an inkling that these gentlemen weren't on the up-and-up.

"Really."

A very small, sweet little old lady alien hunched under a babushka appears to be selling things only on a cob. The table doesn't seem very popular; in fact, most people are actively avoiding it, but the shopkeeper seems very sweet and unassuming.

There's an ice cream truck! Run by giant telepathic spiders, and it's some of the best ice cream in the entire multiverse...if you can get past the fact that there are flies in it.

Even if he wasn't as confident with his gamble for ice cream over make outs, Troy was locked in now, and there was no turning back.

"These aren't raisins!"

Ah, yes, rare was the occasion when that was a disappointed statement.

"Serves you right for getting ice cream from spiders," Eleanor taunted as she walked by. "Who's sorry noooooow?"

Yes. That last bit was sing-song.

Troy. It was definitely Troy, but he wasn't going to just admit that.

"This isn't over!" he pointed out emphatically, frowning down at his Benedict Cumberbatch of an ice cream cone before stomping off to find what booth might be able to get him something for quickly melting fly ice cream.

A sweet old human couple sit at a table covered with old and interesting antiques, which seems harmless enough, right? Just old people, selling old people stuff...

At one stall, there's an adorable teddy bear proudly peddling some of his own self-made macarme creations out of what seems to be a sort of rope-like spider-web material that he also makes! No, you probably don't want to know how!

You know it's not an alien space bazaar without at least one bootleg DVD stand run by a shady gromflomite. And you know there's going to be some real questionable dancing along the lines of IP legality in this one...

Is your mouth tiny and small? Why don't you come on down to the Lil' Bits stand, where the food is tiny. It looks like regular food, but really tiny! They've got...tiny lasagne. Tiny pizza. Tiny pie. Mmm, little tiny...fried eggs! It's Lil' Bits!

Two aliens with handlebar moustaches (you can tell they're aliens because they're GREEN) have the stand that's probably the biggest competition for the shrimp chips, and that's the ubiquitous plumbus table, because if you don't already have a plumbus in your household, what are you even doing with your life?

As soon as Eleanor saw a plumbus she new she had to have one. She had no idea what it was or what it did and she did not care one iota.

"What the fork is that and how much is it?" she demanded to know in typical American/Rude fashion.

"A better questions for you, young lady," trilled one of the moustachioid aliens, with a jaunty accent and a twirl of the end of his characteristic facial hair, "is what the fork isn't a plumbus! Why, if you haven't got one already, you don't know what you've been missing!"

"Here we thought everyone had a plumbus!" remarked the other one, clearly amused by the novelty of the idea that someone wouldn't.

"So we've best get one of these high quality, state-of-the-art plumbuses in your little hands as soon as possible!" the first joined in. "What've you got to offer for it?"

"Well, I just happen to have one of the most delectable things in this universe," Eleanor said pulling out a single shrimp flavored pringle out from her tube. "Which I think more than covers the cost of the plumbus."

"Oh, I'd say a plumbus of this fine quality," said the first alien, picking up one of the fine wares and giving it a stroke along its chumbles, "is worth far more than than a few mere shrimp chips, little lady! Just look at fleeb on this specimen! You ever see a fleeb as fine as that?"

"I know I haven't!" the other chimed in. "That's some mighty fine fleeb on that plumbus!"

"Finest fleeb you'd ever laid your florms on!"

"Honestly the fleeb isn't the best part of it for me," Eleanor said looking at her beloved tube of shrimp pringles and the plumbus that looked somewhat dirty but really wasn't. "So if you have a plumbus with not so much fleeb, I'd be okay with a discount."

"Sorry," said the one, twirling the end of his moustache, "we only carry high-fleeb plumbuses at this booth!

"And," he added, dropping his voice down to a whisper as he leaned in toward Eleanor, "between you and me, my colleague here actually has a nasty shellfish allergy, so a trade in shrimp chips could be a literal death sentence for the poor chap!"

"Shirt."

Eleanor sighed. "Fine then. So what would it take to get plumbus with all the fleeb then?"

You know what? Feel free to add your own multidimensional alien merchant stall to this bazaars with your own thread for people to interact with, just to add a little more spice to this overly-OCDed extravaganza!

Yeah, she knows it's fake, but if anyone didn't think she'd be going in for a little fly ice cream herself, you were wrong.

My canon is truly a gift that does not stop giving.

Shrimp Pringles is truly a universal currency.

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Multidimensional Economics; Friday, First Period [09/11].

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