OC: Sorry for the wait - my intended posting day (this previous Wed) was spent doing a mod that took two days followed by real life, etc.
IC:
Purses had a variety of utilitarian uses, one of which being it was a thing that carried her bricks. For some it was lipstick and chewing gum or petty cash. For others, it was almost like a pack intended for an expedition into an alien habitat. In most cases a purse also distinguished status and value for a woman - she was successful and therefore could afford a fashionable, well-built, coordinating bag or that she was valued by another such as her husband who was successful and who purchased such bags for her. This was not to say that every woman had an excellent bag and there were many who owned bags beyond their means because of the social and psychological merit the bag exuded. Shiori's bag was therefore highly fashionable despite the fact that a rag or a rope tied around a brick would have served the same purpose. She was a narcissist in many ways and perhaps that was why, but those who knew her truly which none did would know the truth was much sadder as to why she required material representation of her status and value. Maslow understood that 'belonging' preceded esteem and despite her appearance and her mannerisms that mimicked a woman she was not a woman. She was never a woman, a girl or even a child. She was never a daughter, a sister or a cousin but she had been a mother many many times before.
...and she would be again soon enough.
"Good morning Rioshi."
Sousuke replied simply enough. She went to work in a methodical sort of way, first to the coffee that was already brewed. Disappointing really, she had not poisoned that pot and it was not the sort of thing you could soak into the beans or the grounds. She frowned as she continued her morning rounds of restocking and filing, despite suggestions otherwise she was a rather efficient woman when she put her mind to a task. Was he about to work on one of his projects or was he already in the process of doing so? It was hard to know, he was always tinkering and he had a flighty mind - his train of thought seemed to collide with a number of clouds and at times his conclusions were aberrant. She wondered if it was the poison's doing briefly but she knew that was not the case, he was always this man but there was a time she viewed him through rose-tinted glasses and during that time she saw him as the consummation of brilliance and strength in the form of a man. That was not what she saw anymore - a man hardly more than a curiosity who would see her dead for what she was and perhaps it was the distant fall from grace that cause this burning pain in the back of her throat and in her heart and this sense of hatred that consumed her nights. She did hate him, more than anyone else but she was patient and of course frightened.
"I spent forty-six minutes in the hospital before breaking out due to the aftermath of that incursion event near 54, 32. Not Inferno. That was 38, 62. They're happening more often and local villages and developments are being threatened. My response merely is go there - get the area evacuated and then battle some anomaly to the death. Luckily I haven't had to call you to come collect me yet. Pieces of me probably."
Shiori nodded.
"Sandworms?" She queried with a single word. It would be logical that sandworms, near the apogee of power and might would be feared as the only potential foe of a sandworm is man and carnasaur. Sandworms were thought to be nearly extinct, like carnasaurs who fed off of sandworms primarily although they were more aggressive and would hunt anything edible there were few beasts less the great annelids that were sizable enough to sate the ravenous appetite of the carnasaur. The malestrom pushed the sandworms underground and the carnasaurs followed. Both survived as subterranean creatures for the past few decades and now in the absence of that terrible plight that would one day be seen as both a blessing and a curse for Sunagakure as it forced the shinobi community into isolation and cut off supplies and assistance - yes, it also held back a plethora of dangerous creatures and ne'er do wells that now had nothing stopping them.
"I think you gained some weight."
Dangerous words Sousuke. Dangerous words.
"Good."
Nice save.
"Hopefully Kuro's unwanted advanced ended?"
She was looking at her belly and weighing her boobs in her hands - did she gain weight and if so where. She was already top heavy enough, anything more might actually be dangerous. She frowned as that thought ran through her head. It would be ironic that she might have to seek a breast reduction when she could change her shell at any time. Well, she could claim that she was having one and reform. It took her a moment to realize that Sousuke had asked a question.
"What advances?" She replied simply. She never noticed Kuro's attempts and took Kuro's statements at face value -- that he wanted to dance. She had a rudimentary understanding of human preference and to a level her ideals were mildly exaggerated as one could tell with this form. The intent was to be aesthetically pleasant but in some ways she seemed to be more a parody of such a concept. She had no particular understanding of romance at least in the conventional sense, companionship was not necessarily something that needed to be substantiated with intercourse or contact even. Love, affection and companionship meant something different to her - carnal passion and lust exist only in concept without context.
"Why white? Why leather?"
"I know it matches then," she replied simply. She had lived the life of a human and she should understand concepts such as relationships, flirting, and even fashion but she did not. It was not for lack of intellect but rather capacity. For a majority of her mortal span she was blind. She did not know or see the difference between chartreuse and lime and in an attempt to appear 'perfect' or at least this modified and enhanced version of perfection that she has learned over the years through social conditioning perpetuated by other humans to meet an unnatural standard it seems almost ironic that she appears as that now and that is what makes her the most unusual.
"Why be a secretary?"
"I needed a job."
"I am certain you could become an influential member of society through the correct associations with people far more prestigious than myself?"
"Like what?" She was sounding defensive.
"How do you maintain your teeth to be as white as glistening diamonds?"
"...Strawberries?" She replied with a tone of uncertainty.
"How many boyfriends have you had?"
"None!"
"How old are you truthfully? Why is your makeup not white and or silvery? Do you have siblings? Are they just as obsessive with white or is it just you? Do they primarily focus on one colour? What qualities do you find attractive in a person? I like women with an affinity for science, logic, and normalcy. Curious. Just being curious... since we rarely get to have conversation aside from dictations... Did you finish that dictation when I called you from the hospital?"</B><i></i>
Her had brought her hand to her temples by now. She had lost track of his questions some time ago. But then they finally stopped. She answered the last question with a 'yes' followed by a 'but.'
<B>"I sent it out last evening, but we lacked the finalized expenditures because we had the discrepancy in R&D -- the costs were not adding up. I sent the draft sums with a note that we are aware of the discrepancy and that we will send a follow-up by the end of the week."
He ran his hands through a hand seal array. His armor shifted. 
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