Oh, the sexes are wrong! The world is wrong! I dare say that even love has gone wrong! Who else but Delilah could fell Samson? Why did the serpent look to Eve to tempt? Could any but Helen bathe the world in so much blood? Why must love compete and undermine its fellow loves so calamitously? Good God, is there anything more terrible than love misplaced?

[This vehement protest was dropped when he realized an actual, flesh-and-blood person had addressed him. His sadness disappeared for the surprise, made all the more shocking for whom it came: Sonico!? They hadn't spoken in some time, for reasons they both knew all too well. He stammered out a greeting.]

Oh, ah, hello, Sonico. Aheh, fancy seeing you here. Do you, um...like Arthurian romance too?