[b]'Hey Yoshida.'[/b] A large woman is a black leather jacket turned toward the voice, sighing deeply. [b]'We've got another drunk in the 2F toilet... She's already given the cleaner a black eye.'[/b] A young man was one of the many bar staff here at the Parthenon, a run-down dive of a club hidden away in the back alleys of Neo Tokyo. It attracted all the dumbest clientèle, from wannabe drug dealers to high school kids getting drunk off their pitiful allowance. The woman noted a small blue window appear in front of her, another one of those ridiculous quest notifications... it said Remove the Drunk this time. She ignored it, safe in the assumption that it was all in her head. [b]'Alright, alright... I'll chuck her out back.'[/b] Yoshida Yuuko headed back inside the club and found herself rather looking forward to the task... Being a bouncer was a boring job, but being able to deck idiots was one of the little perks.

While Yuuko was calm, even apathetic about it now, this whole Gamer thing had scared the hell out of her when it first popped up. It prompted a bit of panic on her part as she tried to Google and Wiki the bizarre phenomenon; naturally there was no evidence online bar a few delusional forums posts probably made by druggies. So in the end (and after a bottle of whiskey) she decided to just stop caring and let it go. In a way it was kind of useful; Yuuko was terrible at remembering names, so tags made life a damn sight easier. And so she had gotten on with her life as per usual, heading back to work for the next few nights. Her thoughts drifted as she dragged the comatose woman downstairs and she found herself questioning the very nature of her new 'ability'. Could it be psychological, like synaesthesia? That didn't explain how she could see everyone's names, regardless of whether or not she knew them. It could be something more serious, like some messed up government implant or something... Come to think of it, she did have an operation a few months back. Suppressing a shudder, Yuuko discarded both the thought and the drunk idiot out the back door and sparked up a cigarette. [i]Shift's nearly over,[/i] she thought languidly. [i]Need to get back to that UniIV Francio playthrough... Just need to work out a way to invade eastwards.[/i] And so she spent the rest of her shift out the back door, keeping one lazy eye on the drunk and devising tactics for her precious games. Let's be honest, it's not as though she had anything better to do.

She slept like a log the next day, only crawling out of bed at two o'clock... She tottered over to the bathroom and was appalled by the spectre in the mirror. [b]'... and I feel like shit. Marvellous...'[/b] In hindsight, perhaps drunk gaming for six hours after an eight hour shift wasn't a great idea. At least it was a day off... Or perhaps not. She finally noticed the new quest window floating before her and on a hungover whim, gave it a good read for once. [i]Others like me... Other freaks who think they're in a game?[/i] Yuuko paused uncertainly, weighing up the idea... Might not be so bad actually. It's not as though she had any gamer friends IRL; might be a good excuse. Of course, finding people who knew what the hell was going on would be nice too, but Yuuko had to get her priorities in order. And so an hour later (after a comprehensive detox) she headed out, taking a bus to the inner city shopping centre; by logic, more people would mean a higher chance of finding a... Gamer, right? [i]Better start in Game then.[/i]

Naturally, within ten minutes she had forgotten all about Gamers and was completely focused on the new Absolute War release...