I8DT - Walking the Maze (Open)

[Alexander Kokinos]

"Not everyone behaves that though."

[Ayami Morita]

"Oh, everyone does. Honne and tatemae."

[Alexander Kokinos]

"I'm familiar with the concept that what a person desires and what a person does potentially being two different things, but I fail to see how that fits into the conversation other than to make my point. Just because someone's entertained the notion of doing something, it's not the same as doing it. Well, not for most people. There are some religions where thought is equally as damning as action, but I don't really subscribe to them."

[Ayami Morita]

"I'm sick of false-pretenses."

[Alexander Kokinos]

"Understandable," Alexander said, trying to figure out how to proceed. "So can I buy you dinner to make up for me bringing up painful subjects?"

[Ayami Morita]

"...pardon?" she said, befuddled.

[Alexander Kokinos]

"I'm asking if I can buy you dinner to say thank you for taking the time to lead me around and to apologize for bringing up painful and/or irritating subjects. Just a thank you, no pretenses or anything of the sort."

[Ayami Morita]

"I'm not THAT easy."

[Alexander Kokinos]

"I wasn't implying anything of the sort. I wasn't implying anything really. It was an honest invitation to dinner."

[Ayami Morita]

"Right. Random girl leading you through the hall? A perfect time to see how easy she is, huh? I'm not falling for it."

[Alexander Kokinos]

"You are assuming a lot about my motivations," he said, managing not to sound defensive. "And your assumptions are wrong. But you could have just said no, rather than being insulting by assuming motivations, and rather base motivations at that, that I don't have."

[Ayami Morita]

"Everyone has them. They just might not be aware."

[Alexander Kokinos]

He yanked his hand out of hers. "You know what, I don't need to find the room this badly." He turned around, "And while I'd like to make some assumptions about your motivations, especially after you've been so insulting, I won't. Try to have a good day, Ayami." He started walking down the hallway, sweeping his cane back and forth.