video;

[haikus]

You know, there are benefits to getting whisked off to another dimension. I didn't really think so at first, but... I'm coming around.

[here's Kasumi Yoko, strolling around the aisles of a musty looking little bookstore. every now and again she pulls a book from its shelf, flips through the pages briefly, and puts it back. the way she handles them is almost fond.]

The books don't cost you an arm and a leg here, for one.

[she picks another one off the shelf - Dracula, for the sharp-eyed.]

Of course, there's always the holos and vids if you're hard up for something to do on a Saturday night, but... it just isn't the same. Not like a real book. Pages and ink.

[a beat. wryly:]

Still not worth the small fortune you'd need to get your hands on one, but that's what we have alternate universes for.

[she adds Dracula to the growing stack under her arm, juggling the comm a few times between her hands to pull it off. in the end she manages a free hand to give the network a proper profile, and for those familiar with Kasumi Goto, this is a Japanese woman with short black hair, green eyes, and no lip tattoo. her voice is pitched just differently enough to not be immediately recognizable. she's unremarkable, almost to the point of being generic.

that's how she likes it.]

Oh, right. Yoko Okuda.

[throughout the whole thing, she's been kind of casually cheerful, and it doesn't change now - her mouth quirks into a small smile.]

I'm new.

Comments

[excruciate]

Master.

[pilfered]

how interesting

[excruciate]

You're lying.

[pilfered]

whyever would you say that?

[excruciate]

The partners change, but the dance is always the same. You feign interest, comment to keep the illusion of conversation going, and ultimately fade into silence.

It is, how you say -- the human condition.

[pilfered]

there are exceptions to every rule

[excruciate]

It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.

[pilfered]

shakespeare. a quote to suit all occasins.

[excruciate]

I've a library of them, if you find yourself so starved for pseudo-intellectualism.