[Console: Video]

[shroudofgray]

This new city we have come to... it is very strange, yes? It is not like an abandoned place - I know such places well and there is not- ... it is not the same. There should be something there, even if only echoes.

Are places often empty like this? Are cities not built for people?

[She grows quiet, eyes averting downwards, before lifting up a Bibiru that is contentedly munching on a root vegetable. It's a particularly pudgy specimen.]

This one needs a name also.

Comments

Video

[commandandcontrol]

For awhile, Blue Moon was building large numbers of apartment complexes out in the middle of nowhere to artificially inflate their GDP.

They had to abandon it eventually because the cost was too exorbitant for the majority of their citizens, so there are sprawling empty cities in the middle of the tundra.

I have doubts about whether that's what this circumstance is, but there are always other reasons for buildings than just residency.

...Have you found anything in the cities?

[ She found a bracelet. ]

Video

[shroudofgray]

[Pardon her, she's just going to give Sonja a long, blank look. That entire first sentence gave her a very strange impression indeed.]

Your moon has hands?

[commandandcontrol]

What?

[ What? ]

No, Blue Moon is a nation.

[shroudofgray]

[...What?]

I do not understand - how can a nation that is a moon build something?

Yorda plz

[commandandcontrol]

No. No. It's named Blue Moon, it's not an actual moon.

[ Is she doing this? She's not doing this. No, it's gonna bug her if she doesn't do this. ]

The people in the nation built the things!

she's trying her best

[shroudofgray]

If it was people, why not say it first?

What is ... [There's a pause as she mouths the word first. She has no idea what acronyms are and GDP has a terrible consonant-to-vowel ratio for her poor brain to handle.]

What is jiideep? Why do they need to raise it?

[commandandcontrol]

It's- [ You know what, nevermind. ]

It stands for Gross Domestic Product. It's used to measure economic growth.

Showing an increase in GDP on the international market can have many benefits.

[shroudofgray]

That is... a very big market.

Do the oceans not get in the way of the stalls?

[commandandcontrol]

[ Oh my god, was this what going insane felt like? ]

It's not- it's not a real market. Not a physical one, I mean.

It's a metaphor, like how Juulan is a metaphor for barter material. Juulan is worth more than the metal its made out of it, it represents something.

[shroudofgray]

[Yorda is quiet as she processes this, her brow knit and her mouth turned into a frown.]

Money things seem very complicated.

[commandandcontrol]

Abstractions in the name of efficiency.

[shroudofgray]

It does not seem very efficient if they build cities for no one.

[commandandcontrol]

I... have a hard time arguing with you, there.

But that's just what modern society needs to work.

[shroudofgray]

What happens to these cities? Do they just get swallowed up again?

[commandandcontrol]

It hasn't been long enough to see yet. If the bubble bursts and they just get abandoned, maybe they will be.

[shroudofgray]

...Are they under water?

[Yorda has a very strange mental image of your world, Sonja.]

[commandandcontrol]

N-no. A bubble is-

[ Wow, that's a bad idea. ]

Nevermind.

[shroudofgray]

I am sorry.

Did I say something wrong?

[commandandcontrol]

No. [ Yes. ]

It's just a bit much to put the burden of defense for an entire global economy on me.

[shroudofgray]

[Yorda has no clue when she asked Sonja to defend the global economy, she just wanted to know what she was talking about. Since Sonja was the one who brought up modern economics to begin with.]

I am sorry. I did not wish for you to carry any burden.

[commandandcontrol]

Let's just change the subject.

...what were we even talking about?

[shroudofgray]

Empty cities.

[commandandcontrol]

Right.

I found a bracelet. The lock is kind of a finnicky.

[shroudofgray]

There is a boy with keys that do not open anything. Perhaps he can help?

[commandandcontrol]

I should say 'clasp' rather than lock, for clarity.

It doesn't need a key to open.

[shroudofgray]

Oh.

My light can open things. Sometimes.

I am trying to figure out how. It may not work, but if you like, I could try.

[commandandcontrol]

Your light? Is that a type of magic?

[shroudofgray]

I think so. People have said it is, and they understand these things better than I.

[commandandcontrol]

I might take you up on that, but I like it for now.

[shroudofgray]

I will be glad to try if you ever want me to.

[commandandcontrol]

I will!

I'm Sonja, you are?

[shroudofgray]

I am Yorda. I am glad to meet you, Sonja.

[commandandcontrol]

[ Oh yay, someone who she didn't alienate with brattiness! This person is either very forgiving or maybe she finally did something right! ]

Same!

[ Mostly? She hopes not every conversation is going to be like that first one. ]

Where do you tend to congregate?

[shroudofgray]

[It's hard to alienate someone who simply expects not to understand half of what is said to her]

I live at the hotel. It is also where I am given money for doing chores.

But when I am not there, I am usually somewhere else.

[Gold star, Yorda.]

[commandandcontrol]

That's a very logical conclusion, yes.

...well I guess I'll just see if I can find you at the hotel, then. If I want to get it off.

[ She just had to think of the hotel as a brand new place instead of a wrong old place. ]

[shroudofgray]

I will look for you then, Sonja.