barbie does tend to come before book in the standard english dictionary... [open]

[encourage]

There is a point, Sakura decided, Where directions are useless if there's no consistent measurement of distance. She felt she'd reached this point, stepping out of the main walkway and up onto a semi-clear platform lining this part of the road. By what she could figure, she should have arrived at this particular bookseller by now, but she still seemed to be stuck in some bizarre toyland.

Or at least what could pass as a section of it, with stores and merchants displaying all kinds of toys from and for all kinds of species. There were even people dressed in funny costumes wandering around and trying to sell her intestine animals they were tying up on the spot. (They were apparently very popular with Traflimadurian children.)

"You'd think people would want to be easy to find..." She trailed off, sighing in frustration. On a planet of merchants? Ones who probably do everything they can to catch a buyer's attention before their competition? Right. Stepping back off the platform into the crowd, Sakura steeled herself for good old fashioned trial by error exploration -- until either persistence or blind luck paid off.

Comments

[livestoannoy]

Marco hadn't been going anywhere in particular when he'd spotted Sakura - he'd just been strolling around, hands in pockets, scoping out the place - but when he did see that flash of pink he grinned, and tried to sneak up behind her.

[encourage]

After being run into several times (only a few unintentional), Sakura was operating on an all time high as far as spacial awareness as she moved through the crowd. Sensing someone coming up behind her faster than she was currently going had her angling first to the side, looking casually over her shoulder.

When she recognized who was behind her, she changed that into a half turn and small wave. "Hello!" She wondered what he was looking for in the area, if he even had that much of an agenda. It was hard to tell with people, sometimes. "Enjoying your time here on XaXing so far?"

[livestoannoy]

Marco didn't seem at all disappointed in being spotted, and he was about to make some incredibly witty remark when he stopped, and blinked.

"Is your hair shorter?" he asked. For some reason, he felt vaguely disappointed about this...

[encourage]

Sakura looked obviously surprised, one hand coming up to touch her hair as if needing to verify what he was talking about for herself. Two inches shorter... "You notice the difference?"

[livestoannoy]

"No, I just felt like randomly asking," Marco said, sarcastic. "Obviously this is a question I'd still be asking if I hadn't."

[encourage]

She frowned, bringiong her hand back down to her side. Whatever.

"You're a guy. Why would you even notice when a girl trims off two inches of hair?" Pending she wasn't suddenly sporting a bob from this two inch trim. Sakura most certainly wasn't. "It's not that big a difference."

[livestoannoy]

Marco looked at her oddly. "You know, usually girls tend to get all prissy when guys don't notice their hair cuts. I mean, come on. You complain if someone doesn't notice, and now you complain if they do?"

[saint-sami.livejournal.com]

There were a few things that were true about Sasami, no matter what she was and one of those were that she was a kid. Despite the fact that she had been spending some of her hard earned money on making everyone better, she wanted to spend some of it on stuff for herself.

Finding herself in what appeared to be the toy section of this odd bazaar, Sasami couldn't help but notice a somewhat familiar girl with pink hair near by. "Hi, there!" she called out.

[encourage]

Sakura didn't know if she was being addressed, among all the calls and shouts of greetings being tossed around over her head. It was something familiar about the voice (hadn't she heard this person before? not from home, either) that made her turn her head, a smile quirking her lips up as recognition registered. "Hey!" she called back, waving at the other girl and changing direction to move toward her.

Seeing more people from the ship around the market was turning out to largely be a pleasant series of surprises. "It's amazing how much stuff there is out here, isn't it?" she asked, once they were close enough to speak.

[saint-sami.livejournal.com]

"Mmn, it is...!" Sasami said, nodding. To be honest, she never expected to see a place so huge and busy like this. It was nothing short of amazing! "What brought you to this end?"

[encourage]

"Bookstores, actually." Sakura shrugged, looking briefly toward an array of shops across the street. "They're supposed to be here, somewhere. So far all I've been finding are toy stores, if I'm not sure how many of these count as toys where I'm from."

She smiled, feeling a little sheepish as she realized what she's said. "Then again, we didn't have intergalactic markets where I'm from, either. What about you?"

[saint-sami.livejournal.com]

"I've been looking around, mostly." Sasami admitted. "I've gotten plenty of what I need, but... it sounds silly, but I... kinda want something for myself."

Sasami's always been one to help out, not really being the kind of person to ask for something for selfish reasons. And this would be her one opportunity to do so. "I've seen a few of these where I came from, but, nothing this wild..."

[encourage]

"That doesn't sound silly to me," Sakura said, smiling more warmly at Sasami. "Being able to get something unnecessary for ourselves is nice, once in a while."

If Sakura liked to justify hers for her own sake. "Has anything in particular caught your attention?"

[saint-sami.livejournal.com]

"Mmn, I guess you're right." Sasami said. "I guess I'm so used to helping out everyone else, the thought of doing something for me seems... alien." She couldn't help but chuckle.

Her pink eyes began scanning across the area, hoping to find something that did catch her eye. "Not yet... you wanna help me?"

[badassfreakingoverlord]

"No! I do not want to go to the bookstore! I DO NOT need a girlfriend! Not from THERE anyway!"

Apparently a local tout was attempting to shake down a book for a tour fee.

[encourage]

Sakura had a moment to ponder the viability of books dating before attempting to intercede on behalf of the book which preferred to be single.

At least literaturely.

"Is there a problem here?"

[badassfreakingoverlord]

"This guy seems to think I'd be willing to pay for directions to a bookstore!" Zetta said, loud enough to completely overwhelm the protestations of the would-be guide. "Just because I AM a book at the moment doesn't mean I want to go sit on a shelf and hit on other possibly sentient tomes!"

[encourage]

Sakura raised an eyebrow, focusing her attention on the would-be guide. "It doesn't look like he needs a tour to anywhere, sir." Let alone a set up to start dating something else that sat on a shelf until moved.

"If they change their mind, I'll take them myself. Your concern is appreciated, but unnecessary."

She put on her best 'polite' smile.

[badassfreakingoverlord]

The combination of Sakura's firm-but-polite logic and the glimmering possibility of an incident in the book's eyes were enough to make the hopeful tout decide what the better part of valor was, and retreat.

The book held that glare on his retreating backside for a moment before it became a simple frown. "I'm not sure I like the direction that took, there," he said. That was probably a 'thanks' if you translated it from Overlord.

[encourage]

Sakura watched the retreat as well, shaking her head. "It'd be tiring dealing with people like that all the time. Earning money is one thing, being pestered by people who largely want to cheat you out of yours just so they can have more is another."

Not that some shinobi (or shinobi nations) hadn't done just that. "Where were you heading before you got waylaid?"

Where did books even go? To the press?

[badassfreakingoverlord]

"Oh, I don't mind the shameless wheedling and trickery," Zetta said. "It's the fact that he didn't listen to me till the human girl stepped in. Damn, I hate being a book." The Overlord sighed, wearily.

"Huh? Oh... nowhere, actually. Just figuring out ways to waste money and avoid anyplace selling food. Let me give you a piece of advice: never seal your soul in a damn book. You know, in case it ever comes up."

[noboothneeded.livejournal.com]

"Look, I don't care what you say, this thing is not in good condition and you know it." Clark was up near a booth, haggling with a merchant over the price of a typewriter.

"I know in the age of modern technology, you're not gonna find a lot of people like me, so I can get that the spiel works more often that not. But you're still not going to fool anyone who actually plans on using this."

[encourage]

Sakura paused, noting the merchandise was at least moving away from the more playful and whimsical. Actually, she recognized what some of these were, which was unusual considering how often technology was just blatantly new to her.

Stepping up to the booth, she looked over at the haggler. "How much is he asking for it?"

[noboothneeded.livejournal.com]

"1000 credits. It's not even worth half that." Clark said, glaring the merchant.

"Listen kid, I don't know how it is on your planet, but on this one. I gotta make a livin'." Said the dealer, chewing on a cigar.

"By ridiculously overcharging on pieces of junk?"

[encourage]

"Really," she said, surprised. "1000? I could have sworn I saw ones for less than half that closer to the hotel where I'm staying."

It was certainly at least possible that she had. "Guaranteed operational, too."