[PP-F1] The Couple's Meal (ft Steel and Reinka)

[Steel 0]

Steel and Reinka had just finished one of the beginner quests which basically entailed fighting baby boars. Somehow they ended up fighting a really strong mimic monster so that made pushed them behind schedule with all the breaks they needed to restore their stamina but they still managed to complete the quest by the end of the day and now they were going to unwind for the rest of the night. Steel was taking Reinka to a restaurant he frequented so she could get her first taste of food in this world.

"Welcome, will it just be the two of you dining tonight?" An NPC waitress greeted the two of them as they entered to which Steel nodded. The NPC led them to a seat near the window. Trying to be a gentleman, he pulled out the chair for Reinka and pushed her in when she was seated before sitting in his own seat across from her. "Would you like to order anything or should I come back after giving you some time to decide?"

"We'd like to order the couple's meal." Steel said in response, remembering that Reinka wanted to try it. "Hmm, anything else you want to try Reinka?" He asked the woman in front of him after ordering his drink.

[Reinka 0]

She tried to think of what foods she's never tried. She actually didn't get to partake too much in most foods, and she was pretty hungry from all the fighting. Maybe that was why she didn't notice her starvation. One she hadn't done anything about it when she first was trapped in the game, and two she didn't actually fight anything until recently as well.

"Hm, could we have something really sweet?" she asked him curiously. "There's plenty of dishes I've never had in the real world that I was curious about. Mostly sweets." She said embarrassed. "Maybe a hot coco drink?" she asked him unsure. "What kind of sweets do you like. I'd like to try something you like just to see. I didn't get to really enjoy to many Japanese dishes. I had sushi and this salad in a wrap ind of thing. It looked like a bouquet somehow but it was all salad it was kinda nice." She wondered what daifuku tasted like but wasn't sure how to pronounce it correctly.

"Ha, I don't want to gorge myself either."

[Steel 0]

"Sure, go ahead. I'm pretty sure that was on the menu." Steel said in response to her query on the hot cocoa, ordering it with the waitress. "Unfortunately, a lot of Japanese sweets aren't available in this world due to it taking on a more European setting. And that's sadly the case here too so we can't really order the ones I grew up with. How about I order a few desserts that I've taken a liking to here?" He suggested before choosing a few to order. "I guess my little sister rubbed off on me with the sweet tooth thing. Not that I can even begin to compare to her. It's like she has a second stomach for sweets..." Cake buffets and the like feared Takeshi's sister for that monster level ability.

"Hmm, sounds like a savory crepe. Not exactly Japanese as crepes are from Greece actually." Steel said with a bit of a laugh. "And don't worry about gorging, at least for tonight. This is kinda like a celebration for your first taste of food and for us getting through today." He said this with a cheerful grin.

[Reinka 0]

She felt her heart break a little bit hearing that. She wondered if there would be players who might figure out a way to make the food she wanted to try. Then again she wondered if that's why she was able to get a pirate outfit. Was it because the game allowed it and had it already or was it because of the player base. She looked at her gauntlets and everything else. It was hard to want to be normal when she was more of a 'killer' now. What about the mundane tasks. Sure the game let you do a lot of things at the click of a menu screen but could there be a long way or a way to make living in a home feel like living in a home?

"Hm, what's the age difference, is a lot younger?" she asked curiously. It sounded kind of cute the idea of a strong tank like character having an innocent sister or was she more like her brother and a strong young girl. "Is she like you or maybe girly?" then again Steel was a gentleman. "Thanks for getting my chair by the way." She smiled a bit and then curled her hair with her index finger then stopped finding that habit telling and silly.

Edited March 2, 2018 by Reinka

[Steel 0]

"If I end up choosing the cooking skill, I'm sure I'd be able to figure out how to make some form of Japanese sweets. While the dishes are for the most part predetermined by the system, there are still many ways to make it your own. Mixing certain ingredients together or adding something to the dish, including the amounts you put in, all make the flavor a bit more unique to you. It's just a matter of experimenting with the ingredients." Steel had noticed her depression and guessed it was because he said there were no Japanese sweets in this world. "Should be the same for the other crafting skills. They can add their own thing to a predetermined set from the game."

"She's like 5-6 years younger than me, our ages aren't too far apart. And as for your second question, I'd say both." Steel said in response. "She's really girly, being into the latest trends and loving sweets and fashion as well as being able to cook though that's more due to our family situation. She's also rather popular it seems if the amount of love letters she brought home one day were any indication. Normally, this would set off any older brother's overprotective mode but that's not the case with her. While she has yet to beat me in a sword fight, she's the ace of the female kendo team for a reason. Combine that with all the lessons grandpa drilled into us about being proper and you've got a girl who will take down anybody who tries anything improper to her." Steel said with a nervous laugh as he remembered some of her victims. "She'll probably be way stronger than me when we get back."

"But of course, it is the duty of the man to act as a gentleman to the women he is with." Steel said with a small smile. 

[Reinka 0]

"Oh, that's right you have decided on a profession yet. There's a lot of choices you can take I guess." She placed her index finger on her lips tapping them lightly as she thought about it. She wondered what brought on the idea of being a cook and not a blacksmith, but either way she'd be happy with what he'd choose both sounded very important and useful. "Cooking sounds like a lot of work, it's not like the items are food like we're use to. I've been researching mushrooms, herbs, and a lot of things in this world and it's very different from what I"m use to, but that makes it more exciting." She admitted. "So what are your favorite dishes?"

"Oh she sounds so sweet." She smiled happily hearing about Steel's sister. "I'm an only child myself so I get jealous of siblings sometimes. It must be nice having a brother or sister around. I think if I ever get the pleasure of meeting her we'll go on a shopping spree." She said happily. "Wow, you think so? It'd be fun to see a face off between you two I bet." Reinka felt that Steel's sister would be an absolute treasure to be around, and that was saying something from a pirate.

"Then I'll just have to do my best to be a lady." She smiled happily having fun in the conversation. "I think I might to treasure hunting again soon. My necklace for hunting has been completed. Still fighting mimics seems pretty hard to do if you're by yourself, but I wouldn't mind giving it a try anyway." she was more confident. "Do you want me to invite you next time I go for a treasure hunt run? I was also thinking to doing the feeding the enemy quest to increase my mitigation but I'm not sure it'd be worth it at higher levels or if look for a pet that would heal me instead. What do you think?"

[Steel 0]

"Well, I've narrowed it down to Performer, Cooking and Blacksmith but I'm being rather indecisive after that." Steel said with a nervous smile. "I chose each of them because they were related to some aspect of my life. Blacksmith because of swords, Performer because of my background in music, and cooking because of how me and my sister had to take turns cooking at home." Steel gave his reasons. Reina then talked about how cooking was more difficult here due to different ingredients. "Well, the basic things like milk and eggs still tastes the same and if you happen to get meat as a monster drop, like the boars we fought earlier, it'd taste like pork. So it's not like there's no basis." She then asked about his favorite foods. "This is probably due to how I was raised but I've always been partial to traditional Japanese dishes like tempura and teriyaki. And I hope I can find some miso soup or soy sauce here."

"You two seem like you'd make good friends. She's always wanted to have a friend she could look up to as an older sister type. Most of her friends are around her age or younger. When we get out of here, come on over to my place and I'll introduce you two or I'll bring her over to you." Steel said with a smile though in the back of his mind, he was sure that his sister would drag him along on the shopping spree to hold their bags. "As for a match up, I'm sure I would lose. While my body in the real world is stuck on a bed, growing weaker by the day, she'll still be training. It's no question as to how the match would turn out,  even after recuperating."

"I believe you are already a fine enough lady." Steel said with a grin. "Sure, it would be my pleasure to escort the lovely pirate princess on her next treasure hunt." He said this with a smirk as he added back in the princess thing jokingly. "Somebody's gotta be there to tank that thing for you like today. It'll be stronger when we face that thing next anyway. I'm pretty sure we leveled up and it's stronger the higher the level we get." 

"Planning to get a familiar eh? Sounds fun. As for your familiar, let's look at the stats. If you chose a familiar with a protection skill, at max, you'd get an extra 27 mitigation. For healing at max level, it'd heal you by 135 HP but only once every 5 turns. If I had to choose between those two, I'd go with the Healer one. You have an evasive build and if you've got a tank like me with you, you're less likely to be the one taking damage. So the few times you do get hurt can probably be healed with this skill and perhaps battle healing. Want me to go with you by the way?"

"I also heard of a quest about fighting a level 10 Minotaur. That could be a good challenge." He sort of had a plan involving it but that could wait.

Edited March 3, 2018 by Steel

[Reinka 0]

She nodded.
"Performer seemed pretty good but it it takes a lot to use a crystal in battle, I can't afford to waste that turn I guess. That and it didn't work like how I would like it to work. I dance, and act. For you it'd work as it's more musically based, but even though I could learn that's not what drew me to preforming. I like acting, so I can see why it's harder for you." She tapped her lip again looking up in thought than looking back at him. "Cooking sounds fun as does blacksmithing, but you'll figure it out one day." She smiled happily.

"Maybe she'd show me all the cute shops in Japan. Even though I'm more a pants person, given the right audience anything goes." she smiled happily. "And being around someone younger who might like fashion would really get me into try everything on mode. It'd be fun." She smiled happily.

She tapped her lip again out of habit thinking about it. Then nodded. "Healing might be a good idea, that way I can heal myself with my pet while tossing a crystal at a hurt alley and attack." She thought about loud. "I'd say a ghost kraken small and sweet. Though I'm thinking maybe a kitsune, or cat of some sort to go with my witch apothecary theme." She explained. "What do you think?"

"Hm level ten? After our battle I could help you! When are you going? I want to go with you." She told him getting fired up. "You won't be let down for relying on me. I promise." she thought about the hard fight.

"Hey Steel I have a question actually....Why didn't you use your fists?"

[Steel 0]

"And knowing her, I'd probably get dragged along to carry you two's bags." Steel said with a light sigh. She always managed to roped him into it one way or another. "Well, it might be worth it to see her making a friend. Just don't go too hard on me." He said with a bit of a laugh. "So do you have a style or overall look you go for in regards to fashion?"

"Where would you find a Ghost Krakken anyway..." Steel said in response as he pictured a krakken to be a giant sea monster. "I personally think going for the cute fluffy animals would suit you better. Though now I'm wondering whether you have some of identity crisis trying to be a princess, a pirate and a witch at the same time. Now you're a Witch Princess Pirate!" He said this jokingly.

"I was hoping you'd come along with me. I'll be counting on you then partner." Steel said with a smile. "I was thinking of doing that quest a little over a week from now. That gives us some time to level up and be prepared. With the two of us together, there's no way it'll beat us!"

"Efficiency." Steel replied simply to her query. It looked like she wasn't satisfied with that so he had to explain further. "Right now, using skills from either set uses up the same amount of energy. However, unlike you, I don't have gauntlets so I'd have to rely on forming combos to deal more damage. There are less hits in a martial arts strike at the moment than with a sword so I deal more damage using a sword."

At this point, the drinks had arrived, the waitress saying the food would be there shortly. "Go on then, take your first sip of something with flavor." Steel encouraged her on.

[Reinka 0]

"Hehe, your fate is sealed." She joked. "Huh you're the one who calls me a princess. I'm not a princess!" She got quiet feeling eyes on her when she said that too loudly. "Okay...." she gave a light sigh. "Hm, like a fluffy kitsune or a cute black sheep....Hm....I dunno I still really like krakkens but I guess I could find a fluffy cute pet." She felt conflicted but rolled with the idea.

"Where would you find it? In a harbor at midnight on a Friday that lands on an odd numbered day." She explained. "There will be ghost fish and the like floating about as mobs, as well as small cute krakkens." She seemed to genuinely like them. "Maybe some Shui gui guarding the area as well as the ghost ship never came to shore but is allowed to by some higher power for one night to haunt one of the forests." She felt a bit embarassed. "Ha....Nevermind." She waved her hand in front of herself. "Ignore me."

She sipped at the drink. It reminded her more of tea but through a straw? Maybe her sense of taste was off.

"Is it bitter to you?" she asked feeling really stupid. "Um, yes I want to go and help you fight off the monsters. I'll do my best to help you." she smiled happily.

 

[Steel 0]

"Well, you're a princess to me." Steel said with a bit of a laugh when she got a bit too loud. "Well, it's your choice in the end. Just go with what you want. Let's go out searching in some random area sometime and see if a monster comes to you."

"There was no need to stop there, it was getting interesting." Steel said in response to her getting embarrassed and stopping. "So you like horror movies or the occult?" He asked out of curiosity as she was really starting to get into it. Looks like I've seen a new side of her. It's kinda cute. He thought to himself.

"Let me try." Steel had gotten a different drink so he didn't know what she was talking about until he tried it himself. He took a small sip. "I guess it is a little bitter. How about we add some sugar then." He added some to her drink. "Perhaps you're just getting used to tasting things again. It should go back to normal soon."

"I'll be counting on you then. And just to remind you, this isn't one way. Feel free to rely on me as well. I've got your back." He said with a grin.

[Reinka 0]

"Hm? Occult is always easier to watch." She admitted. "I'm not good with jump scares or suspense to be honest, unless it's in theater instead. Theater does a much better job of showing off screen death, or cruelty." she explained. "I perfer that over gore. Gore is just there for shock value and nothing more, after awhile you just go yup they're dying or being beaten to death not sure I care by this point as usually they just escape or something. While in theater deaths usually occure off screen and there's a scream of pain, or a shadow of their death or noose in the background. It's telegraphed in some way and it always seemed more....Estheticly pleasing. Yes brutality can be done in good taste kind of. Though I'm still not a fan of it." she tried to explain.

She watched him drink from his cup and took the straw out. She didn't usually use straws anyway. She blew lightly on the hot coco and tried again. This time adding a cube of sugar and drinking it. She wasn't sure she liked it. Her brain was conditioned not to have it normally.

"I think my senses are through off from lack of eating and well....I don't usually let myself drink this sort of thing." She admitted.

She smiled happily. "I would love to follow you. Though after eating I wouldn't mind going to sleep. I'm a bit mentally tired from the fighting today, that and well....Sleeping in a soft bed for once might actually be nice. If that's okay, or are you wide awake?"

[Steel 0]

"Looks like you won't be going into any haunted houses soon. I hear there are some quests that involves some haunted stuff, need me to hold your hand through those?" He said with a teasing smirk. "Yeah, gore can get boring after you've seen it a bunch of times, whether that be movies or anime."

"You haven't even let yourself drink hot cocoa? Ah right, something about needing to keep a diet. I'm hoping you didn't half starve yourself in the real world... Our bodies are probably barely getting by in the real world." Steel said with a worried expression on his face. "Well, let's take our time and slowly get used to the food and drink."

"I wasn't planning on going out any more today. I did say that we'd eat then go home right? It's getting late after all, the sun's setting. Didn't I promise you? To try and be home at a reasonable time." Steel said with a small smile. "Besides, it'd be very ungentlemanly of me to push a lady who's already been exhausted."

It was at this time that the food had arrived. "Sorry for the wait, here's the food for the lovely couple!" The waitress said excitedly as she set down a decent amount of food on the table. "Now dig in!" She said before taking her leave.

"I wonder if that's an automatic response if the Couple's Meal is ordered." Steel said out of curiosity from the NPC calling them a couple. "Well, let's eat."

[Reinka 0]

"It's funny most people would call it starving, but to be honest my portion sizes are pretty big it's just very plain. Some eggs no oil or anything I might add salt or hot sauce as it doesn't have calories for the hot sauce. Ground meat no oil with mustard is fine, and all the veggies I can eat, minus potatoes. Instead I just put cauliflower in a food processor which is nice because then I can put ground beef in that too and tomatoes....Yeah it all sounds wierd I bet, but I don't mind it." She kept drinking. "What, I'm not scared of ghosts." She huffed, though if there was creepy bgm music and sound effects she might hold his hand anyway.

"I didn't think about my health too much in the real world. To be honest I'm surprised someone is paying to keep me hooked up to the machine, I guess that sounds cold huh? I don't know who is doing it but I'll find a way to spoil them later." She hoped it was her parents but something told her otherwise.

She sipped her drink letting her body warm up. It felt pretty nice. This whole thing made her feel pretty safe. She looked at Steel and listened to him. She smiled warmly at him. "You're a good man Steel." She felt a fondness for him. She was partly worried he'd rush and get back to the killing part of the game. "I feel pretty safe around you and this is a pretty big bonus."



Reinka saw the massive amount of food and her jaw dropped. She thought about what the waitress said and a light blush crossed her face when Steel commented about it.

"Probably, I'm just happy I get to enjoy it. I've always seen people come here ordering it during what we believe to be February, and November, and December too, Sometimes January ha, so a lot of the time." She explained. She moved forwards seeing chopsticks. "I have used those before but I"m pretty sure this might be hard." She looked at the soup spoons. "I love those spoons though. Um, Steel can you help me with this." She held up her chop sticks a little clumsy but it wasn't half bad, but it could be better."

[Steel 0]

"I probably wouldn't have been able to last for long on that diet. I kinda need the calories for all of my training. And though Japanese food is considered simple, having some miso or soy sauce in a dish really brings out the flavor." Steel said in response. 

"Honestly, I think the government is the one keeping us hooked up to our machines or at least paying for most of it." Steel said in response. "With how things are, this has become an international incident caused by one person. And the equipment and power needed to maintain the level of life support we probably need for the long period of time we'll probably be stuck here would require way more than the average household can maintain. On top of that, from what I've seen, there are some people from outside Japan like you so that makes it more likely."

"A good man eh? I'm just your average guy who's obsessed with samurai." Steel said with a wry smile. "But I'm glad I can make you feel safe."

Steel noticed Reinka blush but decided not to comment on it as he noticed that she had trouble with chopsticks. Why are there chopsticks in this European fantasy world in the first place? Steel couldn't help but question. Reinka asked him for some help regarding them so he decided to comply. He shifted his own chopsticks to his left hand and took Reinka's chopsticks. He grabbed a bite of food for her and held it out for her to eat. "Say ahh." 

[Reinka 0]

She nodded. "There are some with low or no calories but it's all scientifically made and one could argue the possibility for gaining weight with those. It's hard because the body isn't use to certain chemicals that get approved, but there's a scientific argument for the other side as well, so it depends on how your body works I guess, but you're right they don't always taste right." she agreed with him.

"Oh that's right that could be. As anyone outside of Japan would have had to be in Japan to get into a server unless they set up a spoof location set up." She explained. "That would explain a little more." She figured it was't her parents and now it didn't have to be, it made way more sense.

She stared at him for a second then covered her face. That was adorable. She looked at him and opened her mouth and leaned closer to have a bite. "Mm." she lit up a bit. "That's actually really good, you're not going to feed just me this whole time though that'd take forever, come on teach me." She held her hand out for him to help her hold it properly, and to get the chopsticks back.


 

[Steel 0]

"Were you hoping it was somebody else?" Steel said, noticing her facial expressions which went from hope, disappointed, to slightly depressed acceptance. He wondered if she hoping that somebody related to her was supporting her life.

Steel was confused at Reinka's reaction to him feeding her. Though once he figured it out, he too became a little embarrassed but still held the food out for her until she had taken the bite. Now instead of feeding her, she wanted him to teach her how to use chopsticks. Steel took Reinka's hand in his and positioned her fingers to the proper position before placing the chopsticks back in her grasp. He decided to show her by guiding her hand/fingers through the movement, moving her hand to grab a piece of food. "Do you get it now? I'm not exactly the best teacher since using chopsticks is like second nature to me though." He then realized he was still holding her hand and he pulled his hands back out of embarrassment. "Sorry.." He apologized.

 

Edited March 5, 2018 by Steel

[Reinka 0]

"Yeah....I mean I don't want to be a burden or anything but if my family was doing it. It'd mean a lot to me in the end. Even though we don't get along, it'd be nice to wake up to a changed reality but, eh, you're probably right so it's all right." she shrugged it off taking the personality of her friend Outlander for a moment to mask her true feelings quickly. She was the perfect actress after all.

"Yeah I think I got it. " she did snap to hard a few times. "Hm, I'll be more gentle." She kept trying with his help and eventually figured it out. "Hey I got it." she smiled happily. "I think you taught me just fine." she smiled at him. It took er a moment to figure out why he was apologizing then realized it when the warmth of his hand left hers. She looked down and started to become the color of her hair. "Haha, don't worry about it pro teacher noodle eater Steel." She quickly put on a cool persona to try and make the awkwardness go away even if she still had a red face. It seems she couldn't fix the problem after all.

 

[Steel 0]

"I'm sure they got worried about you regardless when they found out about your current condition. I don't know your family situation fully but from what you've told me thus far, I'm sure that would be the case." Steel said with a small smile. If his memory was right, her parents wanted her to get a high paying job like being a doctor in order to live a good life. While they sounded constraining, Steel could at least tell that they were at least a little worried about her future welfare. "Once we get out of here, how about you take some time to try and reconnect with them? I can go with you if you want. I'm sure that the people who raised a lovely lady like you are good people at heart. Though I hope your father isn't the overprotective type." To him at least, he felt there was something behind those words that sounded like they were from a different person but he'd rather her open up to him about it on her own rather than forced out of her.

You could just feel the tension caused by the awkwardness between the two. Now both of them were red in the face despite their best attempts to keep a calm look on their face. There were some other customers nearby who could feel the awkwardness in the air as well. What is this, their first date? Many of them thought to themselves. "We should probably eat the food before it gets cold." Though food didn't get cold just like that in this virtual world, Steel had forgotten that fact as he was too flustered. "Looks like I made things a bit too awkward. Sorry about that. I didn't mean to do anything bad." He ended up apologizing again.

[Reinka 0]

She nodded hoping what he said would be true, and she figured she could try to reconnect with them.

She listened to him apologize which probably made it more awkward. She hoped no one thought she forced him on a date as blackmail or something that'd be even more strange. Still though she watched him.
"Hey don't apologize okay. I don't mind. It's nice in a way you know?" she wasn't sure what she was saying, but went on instinct instead.

She went back to eating the food. With chopsticks though she was able eat the pasta better. Maybe it was because things didn't seem to spill in this world or stain anything. Maybe it'd be worse in the real world.

"Mm, this is all really good." she kept trying different things enjoying the food a lot.