[PP-F7] A Meal in the Mountains (Koumori&Kalesh)

[Kalesh 0]

Kalesh grinned happily and said "Looooovely, good to hear we have that detail ironed out between us. And feel free, I'd deserve it if I cheated on her." He smiled weakly as he took a bite of his goat leg and mulled over his thoughts. "Hm. Japanese food is nice, but it's not as... meaty as I'd like. Tons of good dishes, don't misunderstand, I'm just... very simple." He shrugged his shoulders and glanced to the side when Koumori mentioned investment. "Oh, is there a reason you want to get invested in me?" He chuckled very softly and went on to add "Well, then what would you like to know? Floor tips, opinions on Kayaba's sadistic nature and brilliant game design, or do you want to go full conspiracy theory on this and suggest we are just brain scans and that is why the servers are not shut down, because they don't know 'real' people are in here and that us dying, while literal, does not actually affect a human body." He grinned as he potentially tore Kou's world asunder with that bit of laugh-worthy conspiracy. Obviously he Kalesh didn't believe a word of it as he hadn't skipped a beat in his meal. "I'm open to suggestions. Just sayin', I like being able to gorge myself without worrying about a heart attack."

[Koumori 0]

"No but if I have to talk id rather not just occasionally turn from my plate to give three word answers." Kalesh was still pushing the flirting. Whether he noticed it or not I couldn't tell but that's what I was seeing. I sat and listened with a skeptical face as he started mumbling about SAO conspiracy theories. I ate some more food before I answered. "Are you trying to freak me out by going all "your life is a lie" on me? Kayaba may be a lot of things but I don't think liar is one of them." He really wasn't afraid of what people thought of him. He continued to eat his food while making yet another comment about food. I snickered as I ate my own. "I think you might like eating just a little too much." It dawned on me that what we were doing seemed like classic guy talking to a girl he just walked up to. Was I really that easy? He tricked me into falling right into his game just by catching me off guard. "You know for someone who's so honest it seems like you can be pretty manipulative." Maybe that was how he landed a girlfriend. 

[Kalesh 0]

Kalesh set his goat leg down and proudly said "Heresy! Blasphemy! Other word people say when questioning their beliefs! How can one enjoy food too much?" He chuckled softly and shrugged his shoulders "At least I'm not taking pictures of my food before I eat it... I could too. Have a camera crystal and everything." He chuckled softly as he went through his inventory and pulled out a small crystal which he taps and starts swiping through idly to show off various landscapes, including some pictures of fish he had caught just for the heck of it along with somehow a picture of himself. Someone else was holding the crystal for the one obviously, they were all first person. Not wanting to get too off the rails though he does respond to Kou's other words too "And nah, I'm not convincing anyone of anything of the sort. I just love conspiracies, the mind's desperate ploy to rationalize the world around them." He sighed happily as he said "I believe we are all VR players for real. If not, Kayaba has gone to great lengths to make it convincing. Like that whole section in the start of the game where our bodies go moved and people collapsed due to being... disconnected." He shuddered "That's super creepy by the way. These 'bodies' turning into empty husks when the wi-fi drops out."

He takes a long sip of his cider, not minding giving a slight moment for his thoughts to process before saying "Manipulation is different from deception." He grins mischievously. "One is telling lies to make people do what you want, the other is making people think what you want. If I can say a week later 'but I said blank' and pass it off as a misunderstanding, then you can say I'm manipulative." He chuckled softly and rolled his eyes before concluding "Wasn't trying to manipulate you for the record, if I did, hey, maybe I should make a career of it." He was dripping with sarcasm towards the end, obviously having no interest in that point.

[Koumori 0]

"When they punctuate their sentences by eating." I said sarcastically in response. I rolled my eyes when he said he could talks pictures of his food. "If you'd take out a camera I...and he took out a camera. Make sure you get its good side." I half paid attention as he tried to show me all the masterful pictures he had taken of cropped or landscapes and out of focus fishing conquests. When he got back to talking my attention returned. "You know it's a little hard to take you seriously when you go straight from talking about food blasphemy to reality altering conspiracies. May I suggest throwing in a buffer? Maybe something about that enemy you just killed?" I chuckled a bit when he reminded me of when we were all moved to hospitals in the real world. "That guy I moved into the fountain probably didn't like it too much." I guess the initial annoyance was wearing off and I was going back to normal. Either that or I was incapable of letting a grudge get in the way of my usual persona. If he made anymore moves that could change quickly though. I went back to slurping my food when he tried to explain the difference between deceit and manipulation. I rested my chopsticks on my empty bowl before offering my rebuttal. "Oh like how when you passed off what happened earlier as a misunderstanding?" I knew I was being unnecessarily adversarial but I didn't care. "I like to think that both are wrong so they don't need to be explained. I might not be open with people but I don't try and trick them one way or another." I couldn't figure out where our conversation was going at that point. It seemed like I was making veiled jabs at him. 

[Kalesh 0]

Kalesh blinked in realization and brought a hand to his chin. "Hm... Fair point, I am rather erratic..." He shrugged his shoulders "I suppose maybe I just don't see the issue in going back and forth. That's just personal preference though." He put the crystal back into his inventory where it would wait until he finally found something that was worth taking a picture of again. "On the other hand, not being taken seriously isn't so bad. Everybody is so serious all the time here..." He shrugged his shoulders, having some choice opinions on how people react to the whole 'ermahgad, deffgaem!' thing. Seriously, get stabbed in the chest, pop a potion. Lose a hand, wait for it to grow back. It's easier to die in the real world, the only difference is we are taking more risks here. He took a deep breath and said "Hm. If it was intentional for you to misunderstand I getcha." He shrugged his shoulders "But keeping to the point, I do agree, that's more or less why I am blatantly honest with people... I don't really do the whole 'lying for the benefit of yourself or others' thing. I'd rather call some guy I don't like a prick than make a thousand bucks pretending I like them. That type of thing." He bites off the last of his meat and grins as he drops the cleaned bone next to himself, the bone bouncing once before shattering apart into nothingness. He did adore the small things in virtual life. "At least I don't talk with my mouth full by the way." He grinned, pushing his plate forward for the barkeep to take as he sips at the last of his drink as well.

[Koumori 0]

"There's a very big difference between being serious and being taken seriously." I could understand the being serious part, as I didn't like it myself, but I didn't want people to think of me as a joke. He took a labored breath when I brought up what happened earlier. I took one too. "Yet to be seen." I shoved my bowl to the side as he took his last bite and dropped his leftover bone. He brought back up the honesty thing again and I smiled at the example. "Id rather find a way to have fun with that than tell the guy off right away." We stretched out as we let our meals settle. "I knew a guy who only chewed with his mouth open. I'm surprised I didn't punch him at least once. Anyway, thanks for the food."

(sorry for the lameness, I'm at school