outplayed: (Default)
MICHAELâ™›KAISER ([personal profile] outplayed) wrote2024-03-31 05:40 pm

open post / overflow


I came here to meet you!       ( text | action | etc. )
... I want you to get in the way of my life.
rationalizer: (pic#17591452)

[personal profile] rationalizer 2025-07-06 03:22 am (UTC)(link)
And they've come to no conclusion in those centuries. A question debated on for debate sake isn't worth my time.

[ keyword being 'my' -- people are welcome to waste their precious seconds alive on roundabout debates with no answers. noa will spend his kicking around a ball for self-interest, obscene amounts of money, and trophies to put in his closet. ]

If someone is only kept alive because of machines supporting their body, then that answers the question already. Most of what people attribute to a soul is really in their brain to begin with. [ his eyes wander away from kaiser, quickly chewing up a meal to be savored, to the glass of wine. it really does irritate him more than it should to have it sit nearly full. ] ...You're asking me a lot of questions without giving your own thoughts. Are you trying to figure something out about me?

[ it's the only thing he can reason, because kaiser is so strangely curious about him today. "you miss me after all, don't you?" -- he would say it but he knows kaiser would just scrunch up like he ate rotten fish left out in the sun. ]
rationalizer: (pic#17591454)

[personal profile] rationalizer 2025-07-08 03:25 am (UTC)(link)
Uh-huh.

[ he is capable of having normal conversations, thank you, he just chooses not to. instead he has conversations about if babies have souls over fried veal brain. it's preferable to having inane talks with his peers as they try to posture an imaginary superiority over him. the downside is that they both dislike sharing too much of themselves with others, which leads to insane tangents and topics and flipping coins to determine who has to expose their vulnerabilities. ]

Believing in something with no evidence is just blind faith. Are you a spiritual person? Or maybe you just need something to believe in.
rationalizer: (pic#17591070)

[personal profile] rationalizer 2025-07-10 02:03 am (UTC)(link)
You shouldn't compare a preference in meat to the existence of a soul.

[ kaiser knows this though, and noa knows it too, so the underlying "we both know that" is in his direct yet soft tone. instead of sighing, he reaches for the glass and takes a measured sip. he is not going to be insane and down this wine like he does his coffee, though he is curbing the urge to just be uncivilized about it. he's had to learn how to act like normal people do and part of that was understanding wine needs to be savored. despite his attempts, he hasn't learned how to do that part very well yet. ]

Interesting - you don't need to be right, but taking a stance is still important. That explains a lot.

[ perhaps because a good waiter has a sixth sense for it, or because they were being watched, it doesn't take long for their server to come by and offer to bring out a dessert menu. noa nods with a 'please' as his plate is lifted. the waiter, then noticing the bit of fish left, politely asks kaiser if he's still eating. ]
rationalizer: (pic#17591063)

[personal profile] rationalizer 2025-07-11 04:23 am (UTC)(link)
Or worse.

[ noa takes the offered dessert menu out of politeness, not anticipating he'll actually want anything. he's not a fan of sweets and he speculates a lack of snacks during childhood is the culprit. you can't crave the taste of something you have no point of reference for. his real vice is salt -- even after eating an expensive meal, the thought surfaces an image of cup noodles after cooking in boiling water for a few minutes, firm and ready to be slurped up.

kaiser's interjection breaks that dangerous imagery, and for the better. noa gently shuts the menu he barely skimmed and hums quietly.
]

Do you want it to be about a question, or something else? [ because they're so normal and don't need a coin to dictate the flow of conversation, right? (...unless--) ] What are your plans after this?

[ "after this" as if he didn't make up a very spur of the moment dinner date just to see if kaiser would take the bait. ]
rationalizer: (pic#17591068)

[personal profile] rationalizer 2025-07-11 10:11 pm (UTC)(link)
And yet, here you are.

[ he's not going to keep up the charade anymore, they both know he gaslit gatekept girlboss'd kaiser into having dinner tonight. but also, kaiser had to have realized they didn't make any plans and still chose to take him up on the meal! this says a lot. ]

What sort of prize would you like? You aren't very materialistic. Would you like to monopolize my time then?
rationalizer: (pic#17591454)

[personal profile] rationalizer 2025-07-11 10:48 pm (UTC)(link)
Hm. [ he flicks his wrist to double check that... if they do dessert, it'll be about ninety minutes. that's allowable. ] Alright then.

Of course, you'll give me the same amount of time if I win the flip.
rationalizer: (pic#17591066)

[personal profile] rationalizer 2025-07-12 12:25 am (UTC)(link)
No.

I don't have a plan going into this. But sometimes that's more interesting, as long as the stakes are low.

[ he is not always making 100 chess moves ahead of time in the span of a minute! sometimes letting things unfold and playing it by ear can be a more enjoyable and pleasant surprise. plus he thinks he has tortured kaiser enough for a day, any further and he might need to assess if their relationship is bridging into possessive obsession. ]

Go and flip. I'll be heads, you're tails.
rationalizer: (pic#17591069)

[personal profile] rationalizer 2025-07-12 03:06 am (UTC)(link)
[ noa doesn't believe in the power of manifesting, but it is of no surprise to him that kaiser does. it's hard to not be curious what kaiser has in mind for ninety minutes of his time when he's so anxious about winning this flip than any other. as for him? he has no preference, and never has through the evening. low stakes like these don't excite him, so he has no need to win or lose. but he thinks he has trouble getting excited about anything other than a difficult game these days...

he peers down the coin when kaiser lifts his palm, expression betraying nothing as he sees the result...
]

Hm. Tails.

[ a dull announcement, but he thinks it'll please kaiser that he could wish upon a coin and his dreams would come true. ]
rationalizer: (pic#17591071)

[personal profile] rationalizer 2025-07-13 03:52 pm (UTC)(link)
... Hm.

[ noa isn't normally stupefied, as he's reasonably confident in his ability to read people relative to the situations they are in. he rightly assumed kaiser would ask for a one-on-one match, as he's never been shy about enjoying the brief times they play against each other. a "friendly" match without the external pressures of having to win, but with all the benefits of learning for a real competition with stakes.

it's that he only allotted thirty minutes to that match, and wants to spend an hour watching the sunset on the beach. that's excessively romantic for both their standards. he wanted to ask "is that really all?" but he doesn't want to make a discussion out of it. kaiser won the flip and his requests aren't egregious, so he will be rational as ever.
]

I accept. It's your win, you can use it for what you want.

[ he just doesn't understand why he's using it for something so... simple, and certainly pure. ]
rationalizer: (pic#17561298)

[personal profile] rationalizer 2025-07-15 10:01 pm (UTC)(link)
[ on the one hand, kaiser being overly pleased is never a good thing for him. him being noa, who knows a happy kaiser is far more of a headache than a solemn one. but strangely, he neither feels inclined to squash or diminish it. sometimes kaiser can get a win and have something going right for him in life, and that can be ok. there's no downside to it at least.

he even got an answer to his question, though he isn't sure what to say about it. as simple being drawn to the ball, like a moth to flame. noa was drawn in too and found a reason to live through the beautiful game. but... if he's not mistaken, it isn't the game that interested kaiser but the ball itself. the tool, not its surrounding context, is where he found purpose. hm.
]

You should be careful. I'm going to stop thinking you're mysterious and complex if you keep revealing how simple you really are.

[ this is a joke, he has never found kaiser to be mysterious and he would only give him half a mark in complexity. ]
rationalizer: (pic#17525881)

[personal profile] rationalizer 2025-07-16 12:01 am (UTC)(link)
Uh-huh.

[ he is not calling him that! ]

So you admit that you aren't complex.
rationalizer: (pic#17550173)

[personal profile] rationalizer 2025-07-16 12:29 am (UTC)(link)
You think I defy understanding? I'm a very simple person. Simplicity is also a part of rationality.

[ he was born with certain gifts that put him a step ahead of the game next to his peers, but so what? there are many geniuses who come in and then burn out after a few years. noa wields discipline like a tool, understanding that if he doesn't hold himself accountable then the world will. and should it come to that, he will be struck down without mercy. ]

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