Pizza Pie and a Slice of Life

    Asuna is having a better day today. There is a bit more of a bounce in her step as she approaches her home. Sure, she looks tired-her sleep has not been great for months-but she's got a better energy about her than she has in some time.

    And so.. with an inventory full of fresh ingredients and a mind looking forward, she approaches her home. Also, she's not alone! She's walking with Tomoe. The dire red panda seems to be relaxed. Well, it is until it encounters a small rock in the path.

    Asuna sighs gently as Tomoe rears up, paws raised, threatening the rock in the road in front of it.

    "Tomoe! I don't think the rock wants to fight!"

Stretching his arms out above his heads and hearing a statisfying pop, the self-styled samurai swordsman is waiting patiently outside of Asuna's house. He hasn't been here very long, perhaps only five minutes or so, but it's clear he's just came back from traveling for a while.

Hearing someone speak, he looks to the side and laughs softly as he watches Tomoe's antics and Asuna trying to talk down the dire panda from throwing down with the earth itself. "I don't know, that rock said some mean things when I walked by. Hey Asuna!" He cheerfully waves a hand towards his fellow Ronin, a grin clear on his face, even if his clothes and armor look a little worn.

One does not merely walk home when there is a /small rock/ in the way! It could be code to ensure that the upcoming meal is full of vitamins and -minerals-. Or perhaps desert is -rocky road-.

This is the sort of wit that you do not get from Soujiro as he is walking along to notice a panda in dire distress. He has that calm, open hearted and simple approach of, "Oh hey, what are we fighting?" Is it invisible gobins?! Those are great. The blue haired samurai looks around before settling on Klein and offering a wave, "Hi Klein," an a smile to Asuna, "and, Asuna!" Scale members of the same guild! Like cultists. Order of the Pizza.

    Eventually, Tomoe settles back on all fours. She makes a few swipes at the little rock, then leans down to sniff at it. She draws her head back up, head cocked, inquisitive. She steps on it for good measure. Satisfied that the rock has been slain, the monster can be led forward again.

    "Hi Klein! Ahhh! Please do not encourage her. Tomoe's training to properly recognize a threat is.. ummm. It's been somewhat less succesful than I hoped. Fortunately, she is to the point now where she hardly ever gets out of control and tips over fruit vendor carts."

    She turns to smile at Soujiro, looking a bit embarrassed over the behavior or her mount.

    "Oh hello! Umm, well, Tomoe has a problem with being startled. We have made some progress, though. She doesn't carry me off in pursuit of butterflies as often now."

    Sure, yesterday it happened but that was a pretty scary butterfly.

    "Hm, you know, it is surprising you are both here. Did someone send out a chim announcing that I was buying ingredients for pizza?"

Training to properly recognize threats? That certainly seems like it might still be a work in progress. Then again, Klein doesn't know the first thing about trying to tame a dog, let alone a dire panda. "Tipping over fruit carts? I might have to hear about that later."

Soujiro is certainly a welcome surprise to be sure! The fact he always seems to have a cup of tea to pull out is a little odd, but half of Scale's members are weird, so it must come naturally. "Hey Soujiro! Not fighting anything here, but been a few hectic weeks. I been trying to handle a problem and...yeah, i'm not having any luck there." The redhead lets out a sigh at the lack of progress, but he does perk upwards upon hearing Asuna mention the magic word.

"Wait, you were going to make some without me? Was it something I said? Whatever it was, I didn't mean it! Unless it was nice then I really did!" Rambling on in panic at the tought of missing out of all the servings of the food pyramid, he catches himself and coughs into a raised fist in embarrasment. "I-I mean, I haven't heard anything like that here, but if you needed a taste tester..."

That's right, play it cool. Asuna and Soujiro totally don't suspect a thing there.

Soujiro Seta is a friendly sort of guy that has the constant ':D' face on in the flavors of 'Dogge that is happy to see you' 'Dogge that is really happy to see you and playing catch/combat' and 'Murderface'. Currently he is waxing between the first two as there is still a chance of getting combat in with this whole rock situation. "It sounds like Tomoe has a great sense of adventure and wants you to experience it with her," sparkles Souji at the notion of an Asuna bounding through the killing fields of Elder Tales, chasing butterflies and leveling up in a shower of XP and loot.

"I was in the area. If you are making pizza, I can make tea to go along with it," the samurai says, as he has a knack for being exactly where he needs to be when he needs to be there. Souji subsides on dumb luck and predictive instincts that are unfair to the world. Where Souji is, there are followers. Out there. Waiting to glomp onto Tomoe and pet her. Then eat pizza and have tea. So divine it is no wonder he is a Saint.

Then there is Klein who is Klein. Soujiro smiles as the spiral gets deeper and deeper. A hand goes to the fellow samurai's shoulder with a pat, "What would tea and pizza be without all three Scale Samurai there?" It would be pizza and tea without them there, thats what. "An event to celebrate!"

    "Tomeo has a sense of... well, she's a wonderful, brave companion. I am not complaining at all. I have a hard time being strict with her, though."

    She's a giant red panda. Tomoe is practically cuteness given form. Asuna cannot even get mad, much less effectively scold the creature.

    "Oh, and problems, Klein? You have to tell us all about it... over pizza!"

    She smiles at this and diverts just long enough to properly stable Tomoe. She knows better than to try and hold her mount with just a lead. Asuna doesn't want to get a lander hurt, after all.

    Her place is a modest one. But there is a nice kitchen and a table out on a low balcony to eat. Asuna still has that bounce in her step.

    "I have something to celebrate, anyway, that is why I wanted to make something special."

Thankfully his fellow samurai are too good-natured to pick fun on him. That, and Soujiro may not have had an Asuna Pizza before, so he had no clue what he was potentionally missing out on. "Friends can turn a meal into a feast, isn't that how the old saying goes? Besides, a properly cooked meal sounds wonderful right now." But that brings up what he would have to bring to the party. He's an absolute disaster in the kitchen, but remembering something he picked up earlier today has his back. Thanks, past Klein. "Well, then I got dessert! Won't be as good as the tea and pizza, but it's something!"

Silently grateful that Tomoe is properly stabled and wasn't going to break out anytime soon, Klein follows in after Asuna and Soujiro, letting his fellow samurai go in first. Leaning up against the wall furthest away from the kitchen to protect it from his terrible cooking luck, he does raise an eyebrow towards Asuna, curious. "Something to celebrate, then? Hopefully things are turning around for you, then?"

Soujiro Seta is happy to celebrate anything. The here and now is the most interesting of things and when there is good food, drinks, and merriment? All the better. Do what you love! He could always go for some combat, though, since he loves fighting so much. Fortunately Elder Tales has NO shortage of it. "What are you celebrating, Asuna," the blue eyed samurai asks with genuine curiosity. Is this... celebration pizza?! He starts working on a tea set to pair with the pizza, taking care to match the taste with the prepared sauce, dough, and toppings.

Souji may be voted least likely to tease, unless it is his female fanbase in which case everything he does is a tease. "I'll save room for dessert," the young saint says, making the effort to be effortlessly inclusive to the point where it hurts. If all of his fans showed up with sweets he would make sure he tried all of them. He is that kind of trope.

    "I'm sure the dessert will be great. Good company makes the meal, after all."

    She gets herself busy in the kitchen quickly. Pizza does take time to bake, and she senses that her guests are hungry. She will launch into an explanation of her celebration, though. It's a big deal to her. And as odd as it may seem, it has put a bounce in her step.

    "So, yes, things are turning around. Because I turned them around. I have decided not to wait for someone else to fix my problem and deal with it honestly and directly. And so... I'm not with Kirito now. He has other priorities, and you know, that's okay. I deserve to be the top priority of the one I'm with, right? And it's all friendly still, but I'm not for him, he's not for me, and now... I am free to just move on. And so... pizza!"

    And not just any pizza. Klein may notice that familiar spices are set out. This is a legendary Asuna extra spicy gruntie sausage deep dish marvel!

Soujiro Seta is happy that Asuna is happy! Big smile on his pretty little face. "I'm happy for you!" Big ole ':D' face. "Who is Kirito?" He missed that memo!

Klein eyes Soujiro's tea set out of curiousity, haven't seen anyone put this much effort into tea before except some wizen old masters at tea ceremonies. A good deal of what the bluehaired samurai certainly seems odd, but it's clear there's more about tea than throwing some leaves into a kettle. "Just don't raise your expectations too high, I think you two are expecting too much of me now." Laughing at himself, he gives Asuna his full attention.

There's an interesting mix of emotions on his face as he hears why Asuna was in such a good mood. There certainly was a great deal of exsaperation, as if a lot of effort just went down the drain. But there was also a bit of second-hand sadness, realizing that a friend of his may have just royally messed up and didn't want to break the news. Klein decided to go with more of the first emotion, and gently slams his head backwards into the wall. He didn't want to leave a dent with his hard head, after all. "I mean, i'm pretty happy that you that you're moving on, Asuna. Just...realizing I could have save myself a few weeks of searching all over Yamato looking for him."

After a few more moments of self pity, he just raises his hands and shrugs in a 'what can you do?' sign. He lowers his head from the ceiling and does give a fond smile towards Asuna, honestly happy that she's getting in a better mental state. "That's the way to go about it, though, and we're all here for it!" And he almost facefaults when Soujiro asks just who Kirito was, having to remind himself not everyone was in the know. "Pretty good guy, taught me a lot on ETO's differences from other MMOs when I first started playing. Gets really caught up in adventure, and drags everyone around him for the ride if they want to or not, though is also a loner."

    Asuna grins at Soujiro's reaction. It's perfect, really. Speaking of perfect. She is watching his tea craft with interest. At least as much as she can. She's a competent cook, but she has to focus here, too. This has to be a great meal! She is quick at it. She's done this many times. The dough has to be hand-tossed, though, which does take time, but it looks really cool!

    "Kirito is a great fighter and does have a wondeful sense of adventure. He loves new places and sharing them. Well, sometimes. And I apologize, Klein. I should have figured this out sooner. It just took me time to find my way forward."

    She lays down a layer of ground gruntie sausage inside the crust. Seasoning is added, her custom red sauce, cheese, and a mix of hot peppers and onion.

    "I hope you will forgive me for not making up my mind earlier, Klein. I really should have."

"Anything you do is enough for me, Klein," Soujiro says in that 'you are enough, as you are, right now' sort of way that OHMYGOD-YOU-ARE-TOO-GOOD-FOR-THIS-WORLD-STAB-ME-NOW sort of goodness. He even does this while doing tea ceremony pouring that would make monks weep with joy. If he ever worked at one of those Hot Springs Inns, it would be packed 24/7 and get its own miniseries. "Manhunting is good training," he looks at the bright side of things for Klein, of course, "and training never goes to waste." He can picture it now: Hunter Klein. Rambo-Style hunting through the marshes of Yamato. Knife in his teeth. Warpaint on his face. "You are too cool, Klein. Like a bounty hunter." o/` His Backpacks Got Jets. Hes Klein-a the Fett. He bounty hunts for Pizza the Hutt.. o/`

"Oooh," Soujiro continues on with the explaination of Kirito. THAT guy! "I will have to ask him for a duel next time I see him," he says with a clenched fist. For Asuna's Honor. For Soujiro's love of Combat. For Klein's Self-Esteem. It shall be done! Outside of that he gives plenty of space for Klein and Asuna to reconcile this epic journey about a man, a woman, and a panda. Tea sip. :D face.

Like the good-natured guy that he is, Klein waves a hand dismissively in Asuna's direction when she tries to apologize. "Think nothing of it! I promised I was going to hunt him down if he didn't show up eventually, it just means I can be more relaxed about it." His nose takes a wiff of the seasoning being added from his position, and he forces himself to swallow. "Besides, your pizzas are still the best ones I had here, so that's more than apology enough for me."

Klein already has the headband bandanna down, but there's no way he could pull off the rugged American soldier look. Nowhere near as enough muscles, for one. Soujiro does have a fair point as well. "I mean...you're not wrong about the training. And bounty hunting, huh? I guess I could always give theif-taking a shot sometime." Thief-takers centuries ago were basically Japanese bounty hunters in the employ of the government, so it could certainly work.

The though of seeing a duel between Soujiro and Kirito would have to be one that had to be seen. "Seeing some of the crazy stuff you can do, Soujiro, it'll be a close fight. Honestly, I need to try practicing sparring again, I been doing way too much PvE lately, and I can feel my edge slipping."

    "Well, consider this pizza your reward for all that hard work, at least! And a celebration that somehow, it led to a resolution that works for everyone."

    Asuna has her oven roaring. Fire! She's in the Scale Emblem Alliance, so of course she's got that oven at temperature in record time. It's not a full brick oven, but she has dreams of her own proper pizzeria someday. Probably she can just build it onto Vertina's place.

    "You are getting rusty, Klein? That can't be allowed! People will say my pizza is having a bad effect on your prowess. I need you to be at your very best!"

"Mm, that smells good," Soujiro offers for scent of the bread and the sauce in the air. The spices. The heat. "An epic quest reward," he continues on with a look to Klein and Asuna both. The '!' of awareness when sparring is mentioned. "There is always time to get sparring in! I'll reach out next time there are drills too to see if either of you would like to join in." The past few months he has learned tons from other people and there is no end in sight of learning more and more. It is akin to what bibliophiles do with books, but Soujiro does with techniques. Moooooaaarrr. "I recently relearned my endurance ability that I had before the patch. It really helps when bosses do a tank buster style attack that can't be dodged. And the Lanius Capture is a classic short stun." All the good ones are on LONG cooldowns so it comes down to proper placement.

There's no way he's going to be the cause of Asuna and her cooking to be tarnished. "Already planning on getting back into shape. Fighting monsters out there can make you overconfident and let your guard down a little, and that's the last thing I need." Sparring with another human is always a great way to polish some rust that is sneaking into your combat style, and they need every edge they can get if they want to clear that tower.

Some people might be afraid at the prospect of a Soujiro boot camp, but it's exactly what he was hoping for. "Absolutely, even if you have to drag me out for drills, sign me up." Learning or relearning techniques is brought up, and Klein rubs his chin hair with a hand. "I have a few ideas here that I want to try to make reality, I just need to actually put in some practice and see if they can work..." So far, Klein has been using Sword Artes that are commonplace for any high level Adventurer, but he hasn't really found something that he could call his just yet.

    Asuna grins as her peers talk shop. It's usual Scale Emblem stuff, to be sure, but even more appropriate for a samurai gathering. Since there is talk of custom moves, she pays even closer attention.

    "I have a few tricks I've developed in the past couple months. I wanted a better staggering block and one of the ingredients I found when preparing this extra spicy sauce gave me an idea for a burning attack buff."

    She settles at the table for now. The pizza needs time to do its thing. She knows better than to try to rush it.

    "I may have to take you up on these drills. We have a tower to clear, after all. Pizza isn't going to defeat bosses anytime soon."

Soujiro Seta has tea, serves tea. Tea makes everything better. The samurai settles at the table even though his excitement on the topic of combat is radiant. "Towers to clear. Towns in the Tower to clear. Gnolls to slay. And every new opponent shows something new in the combat, including our ability as Adventurers to keep evolving it." For him it is about seeing what heights can be achieved instead of winning or losing. Every dawn can bring with it a new tease of the reality. "I can't wait to see your new techniques, Asuna, or the ones you draw up. We will have to cross train! I picked up how to Tundra Stride from Shiruba and it is excellent in weather attacks. Gratuitous Acrobatics from Uta is just /fun/ to use off of rooftops." Like an action hero!

Seeing the oven now free of it's bounty, Klein takes a moment to search through his inventory before materalizing a bundle of waxed paper. Unwrapping it a bit reveals several large brownies with large chocolate chips on top. "Mind if we heat these up just a little bit? They're a day old, but heating them back up should make sure they don't taste terrible." Best if he leave this up to Asuna. The last time he tried to heat something up...well, he had to put what little water magic he knew to good use. How do meatballs spontaniously combust?!

Soujiro certainly has not been letting himself sit idle, and that is enough to finally light that spark under his rear end. "It's nothing really fancy, but there's one Iaijutsu move I really want to try to recreate, I just got to figure out how to make it work with magic instead of technology..." Certainly an odd comment to add on there, but the attack must have made an impression on Klein if he's still this eager about it. "I have a few more I want to try out via Iaijutsu, but that one has to come first."

Schneider has eaten at Asuna's place before, and he knows it's a good place to get good food. So, he will make his way there at the end of a long day of searching for silver, in his latest plan to help bankroll his flight school. He has big plans for that, but first he has an empty hole in his belly where food is supposed to be. This is why he adds another Scale to the Scaley gathering. "Good evening," he calls out as he enters.

    There is dessert. Asuna likes desserts. This is the perfect addition to her celebration of being single again. She will eager get them in the oven. She doesn't close the door, though. The brownies would fare poorly.

    While this is going on, there is work to do with the pizza. A deep dish wonder of spices and gruntie steak. She also has to set her table. Forks and knives. Just in case people like to use silverware with pizza.

    "The techniques I have to share are Absolute Void and, forgive me for the lame naming, Extra Spicy."

    Asuna looks up when Schneider enters and smiles. Another place is set as smoothly as if it were the plan all along.

    "Schneider! I'm so happy you found your way to our little party. How is the silver hunt going?"

    She pauses for just a heart beat or two and adds a little bounce in her step as she explains.

    "I am celebrating my newfound umm.. singleness? That sounded cooler in my head."

    Oh! She jumps and darts back to pull the dessert out of the oven. That would have been unfortunate!

Soujiro Seta raises his cup of tea to Schneider upon joining. They are deep into talk about his favorite thing: Combat. "The Vengeance Style I use makes use of Iai combat a lot. I'm curious what interesting combos we can come up with if we develop those more!" Dual Iai Slash Combo Megadeath Go! Especially if Klein forged the weapon from a while back during questing. "Absolute Void sounds absolutely great," Souji Sparkles in, "and nothing wrong with that name, Asuna! Hit Very Hard is right to the point and as effect as any Headsplitter technique I knew before the level reset."

Klein raises a hand in greetings as Schneider enters Asuna's house, a grin lighting up his face. "Hey there! Followed the smoke signal?" Asuna may have joked about a chim going out about free food, but she was certainly starting to draw in the crowd now. It's just proof to him that Scale members can't ignore the promise of a good meal.

A finger is pointed in Asuna's direction, with the scruffy samurai solmenly nodding his head. "Absolute Void...now that is a cool name. Reminds me of that one chick who managed to remake one of the DMC attacks." Making up a good name for your own attack was half the struggle with creating them, after all.

It makes absolute sense that Soujiro has a few Iai attacks of his own. After all, they are rather iconic. "I might need your help to figure out my first Iaijutsu attack here, and making a combo attack? Oooh, now there's some promise." Especially if they manage to make their own version of the X-Slash of Chrono Trigger legend.

Schneider smiles to Asuna as she greets him, and says, "I'm actually getting a ton of help checking out sites that might have silver. After that project for the Palace Lands, this feels so small." He smirks guiltily, then ohs? "Newfound singleness?" he wonders. Then realizes what that must mean, and looks a bit sad for Asuna. "Sorry to hear that." Which proves that he hasn't worked out this RP thing, because if he were roleplaying Schneider correctly, he would be leering at Asuna and making suggestive comments.

He nods a greeting to Soujiro about combat styles, and says, "I've been thinking maybe I need to work a bit on weapon styles, myself, to complement my incredible sorcery." He's a hybrid caster, ironically, one of the more uncommon classes in the game. Not that hybrid casters are so unique, but there are very few actual Rune Knights like him. Though he plays up the DPS role so far that you'd think it was a pure DPS class.

He chuckles to Klein, and says, "This is not my first supper here." But he has to ask, "DMC attacks? Like I said, I've been working out how I can up my game."

    "When this oven's working, my friends are always welcome!"

    It's not really necessary to point out, but Asuna does it anyway. She shows no signs of being bothered by being officially on the market again! Not that she views it like that exactly. In any case, pizza is ready, plates are set, and Asuna is serving. She starts with one slice on each plate. But these are pretty impressive slices. Her own is a bit more modest. You know, she has to maintain her digitally girlish figure.

    "Absolute Void took me a while to settle on, but I think it works. I also want to work on getting a new weapon. Something that I can upgrade and keep with me. It's not as bad as it was when I broke my first weapon, but I do want something to settle on and get used to. Light in my hands, durable, and great at lots of fast hits."

    When everyone is served, she will sit down. She does use a fork and knife. It's her mother's horrible influence, no doubt. Of course.

    "Itadakimasu!"

Klein gives Schneider a thumbs up and nods, as if he was expecting having to explain. "Devil May Cry from back home, she straightup remade the attack and even gave it it's original name, so the person doing it knew exactly what she was doing." Though hearing about silver draws him away from remaking attacks from video games. "Looking for silver deposits? I'm guessing you have something planned?"

Carefully taking his plate of freshly-baked goodness with both hands and lowering it onto the table, it seems to take a surge of willpower for him not to start eating right then and there. He has had Asuna pizza before, but there was just something about this slice that really seemed special. Either that, or we was really just in the mood.

Spoiler: when it came to pizza, he was always in the mood.

Asuna's comments about weapons does draw him short, and he taps his chin. He doubt they could manage to recreate the steps to get the materials needed for Soujiro's weapon, especially the first step. There was always rumors of hidden materials and locked away weapons that could be worth checking out. "I'll keep an eye and ear out, but first; Itadakimasu!"

With that, Klein takes a bite of the still hot pizza, but doesn't devour it like some likely expected him to. He chews slowly and thoughfully, eyes scrunched up in concentration as he tasted each ingredient. After a few moments, he swallows and looks over to Asuna with a solmen face...before slowly breaking out into a proud smile. "Really starting to make some ingredibly good pizza here. Eight point five out of ten, no doubt about it." And with that, Klein starts to tear into his slice of pizza with gusto, a far cry from Asuna's decourm.

Schneider beams happily at Asuna's announcement. "I'm very glad to hear that. I kind of which I had a talent that others valued so highly. But now, I don't know anymore what's valuable and what's not." But Pizza is valuable, and he's not afraid to eat with his hands. The only possible complications that would make him choose implements are amount of grease and the possibility of toppings falling off, but neither of those is the case here. "This is really good," he says between bites.

He ohs about Devil May Cry, he's not that well-versed in older shows, really, but as to the silver, he can answer that: "Not planned /as such/, but the known silver desposits in Yamato are in exactly one place, and they've got a complete monopoly. If we can find another source, we can bypass that and trade silver at the rates they've kept artifically high."

    "It's crazy how much this world is like the real one. Monopolies, aggression between Japan and China, not to mention all the crazy other stuff. Dating!"

    She laughs suddenly. She can't help herself. Sure, she's still got that silly debuff on her, but she removed another, more serious condition the game didn't show.

    "Thank you for your compliments. I am trying my best to make the best pizza I can. I always enjoyed it before. Obviously! But the cheese. I need to dig into this a bit more. I want better cheese options. Then... oh yes... I will certainly get above the 9 out of 10 on the Klein scale."

    Which is of course the defacto measure of all pizzas. And her ultimate goal. Well, other than clearing the tower and getting home.

    "You know, we talk so much about this place. When we get out of here do you know what you're going to do? I'm almost afraid to think of how big a mess my life is going to be."

Schneider devours pizza. His scale is possibly not as demanding as Klein's. Mouth full, he just nods at how this world is like the real one. Finishing his bite, he says, "It saves the game developers from having to create a world from nothing, right?" As far as getting out, he says, "My life, yeah, I'll have to repeat college, of course, I was only in my first year, and I'm sure I've flunked out by now. I'll tell you what I /won't/ do: I'll never play another video game as long as I live." He sighs.

Schneider certainly has his own desires to improve himself, one he can certainly agree with. "I'm pretty much good for only being a meat shield here, but I'm decent at a thread and needle if need be." Another bite of spicy grunty pizza is taken before Klein actually explains towards any disbeliefing looks pointed his way. "What? I had to make sure I could bring my headband with me." Klein thumbs his said headband on his forehead before turning back to the wonderful meal.

There is one thing that can sour the taste of good pizza, even if only slightly, and that had to be politics. "Ugh, that's one thing I wish we could be free of in general, and that's people in high positions mad with power. They're a pain here, and they're a pain in the office back at home."

Asuna's question certainly gives Klein pause, and not just because he only has the crust left of what was a large slice of pizza. He always just wanted to get out of here, but he never really give thought to what he would do once he's out of here. Lowering the crust down to his plate, he says the first thing that really comes to mind that actually makes sense. "Honestly? I want to find that special someone. You seen me flirt with some of the girls in Scale, and I get shot down time after time, but...finding the one person who loves you for being you? That's the dream for me."

Schneider's last comment brings a look of horror from the wannabe samurai. "No way for me, no matter what has happened here. Video games are a way to enter a world dozens or hundreds of people have created. I want to experience as many of those stories as I can."

    "I imagine my mother will be furious with me. I was supposed to be the perfect student, and I was, and then I logged into a game for the first time ever."

    Asuna sighs softly. But then she hears what Klein has to suggest as the thing he wants most in the real world. She decides to stop using her silverware and raise the pizza to cover a blush.

    "So wow, I.. that is so romantic. I didn't know you had it in you, Klein. Some girl has to have the brains to see a good thing when he's right.. there."

    She realizes that Klein's plate is empty and rises abruptly, to get him another.

    "We can't have an empty plate at my table!"

Schneider chuckles to Klein about experiencing stories, but says, "I'll be happy to explore my own story. Other people's stories are about them. Why do I want to waste my time in stories about other people?" He smirks wryly. As far as flirting with girls, he says disconsolately, "My roommate in school warned me about that before I got into the game. Most girls in games, they're guy players. They shoot down guys because /they're/ guys. They just play as girls for the attention. If there's real girls in Scale, they want the same thing everyone else wants: to get out of the game." Because Schneider knows so much about girls, and he belatedly gives Asuna an apologetic look. Well, he is a Bastard. That's truth-in-advertising. To Klein, he says, "Maybe Lander girls, or ... I dunno. At least you know you're getting as real a girl as some computer programming nerd knows how to program..."

He flashes a grin towards Asuna, completely unaware of the blush that might be on her cheeks. "It's kinda cheesy, even more than the pizza, but it's the truth. My ruggedly good looks hasn't helped out at all, so I just hope I can find the right person when we get out of here." There's that self-depricating humor he's known for, always to help put people at ease.

Klein just nods his head in agreement. "Back when I played Fragment, I clearly remember this one Twin Blade I tried picking up when I met her, wearing a skimpy set of bikini armor. Turns out she was actually a male streamer doing that just to prank people like me. Should have known he was a GIRL: Guy In Real Life." He says this last part for Asuna's sake, since it was likely she didn't know. "And the Lander girls are cute, don't get me wrong! But...even if they were real, it seems cruel to have a relationship with someone here then leave in another year or so, you know?"

A frown crosses his face as he thinks about that a little too much. "Real or not, no way i'm causing that kind of pain to anyone."

    Asuna gives Schneider a smirk.

    "This is 100 percent bodyscan, so.. eat your hearts out, boys."

    Then she turns back to Klein and laughs nervously at herself. A bit too loudly, really. She does sit, then. Rather abruptly and only after awkwardly standing there for a bit too long.

    "I don't think it's cheesy at all! Meeting someone special is so important. And it's difficult. It's so easy to pick the wrong one based on too little information, and it's just as easy to not even realize the right person is right at your t.. well your side, I mean. I probably shouldn't talk. I have only had one experience and it was bad. Another Asuna mess."

    She gets back to her pizza. It has a marvelous way of shutting her up before she rambles even more. She's no expert on any of this.

Schneider smirks, nods at Klein's Guy In Real Life comment. "Yeah, that sounds about right." As far as Lander girls, he says, "Yeah, not being real is sort of a problem outside the game. I met a bunch of players that totally went native about a year ago. Married, /even kids/. I can't imagine investing that much of your heart into something virtual that won't be there when you log out." He shrugs weakly.

Asuna gets another look as she mentions being 100% bodyscanned, and he wolf-whistles appreciatively. Of course he only has her word on that, but as far as eating his heart out, he can only say, "I'm not really looking for love here anyhow, so it's no loss if someone is or isn't available. But looking is free, and you look pretty hot. But really, I think I like you more for your cooking, you know?"

    Schneider gets a laugh from Asuna at that comment. She isn't offended, because, well, there is a point to be made.

    "Honestly, I'm super worried about logging out and being.. I don't know. Fat? Weak? Half-starved? We've been in a coma, basically, right? It has to be horrible for my body. I can't imagine my mother will be caring much for me at this point. I mean, will doctors even put moisturizer on my face and..."

    She smirks and shakes her head. More pizza is eaten. Yeah, that was super smooth. Not at all sounding shallow there, Asuna.

    "So yeah, I worry a bit too much about this little stuff. We need to get out. And being with a lander? I mean, sure some of them are fairly passable as a person, but honestly, I walk by a guy every day who has maybe a dozen dialogue options, half of which are about weather. I'm not sure how that is relationship material. And kids? What are they going to do when we get out of here? Put them on a hard drive?"

    She enjoys some tea, as well. It's hard to imagine, but Souji always has the perfect tea to match anything. Even spicy, deep dish pizza.

    "I will take that compliment though, and hey! Nothing wrong with cooking. Though I'll warn you, away from here I'm not nearly so good."

Schneider shrugs about not being as good a cook in RL as in game. "I can't do -any- of the stuff I do in game in real life," he explains with a shrug. "Well, maybe a tiny bit of the first aid I know from playing sports in high school." He's got a Pharmacy score, after all. As far as his condition in real life, he says, "We've all got to be in some kind of hospital, with feeding tubes and such, or we'd have long since starved to death. So, there's something to come back to, even if we'll need years of physical therapy to recover."

He actually laughs at the thought of putting your Lander kids on a hard drive. "I'm sure that'll be in the next DLC pack or something," he says with a smirk as he finishes his pizza. "But I've got to head out now. Thanks for supper."

    "Thank you for stopping in, Schneider! I hope you find all the silver you could possibly need! And let me know if you run into anything that needs food, monsters, or to be stabbed."

    Setting her food carefully aside, she will hop up to see her guest off, adding a proper bow at the door. Manners have stuck with her, at least to an extent.