Very interesting night.
I will fast forward to the most interesting part.
It is unclear to me at this point if how deep his knowledge ran, but it is by the closest I have ever come to meeting someone like us.
So I am standing at the corner of the bar, my friend is talking to this girl who has crush on him and her friend. This guy is standing on the very corner with his hand there holding his place. He is wearing a red shirt, I auto profile him as a potential source of a problem. There is something off about him but I cannot find words for it, so I resign myself to keeping an eye on him.
He walks off, so I write him off as a hater, he obviously noticed me but seemed more focused on the interaction between my friend and those girls. So I assume that he has folded his hand, validated by the fact that when I truly cloak I have never been detected.
I get another drink and a few minutes he comes back, and stands there kinda close to my space. Weird there are no girls there now...not making sense in the context.
So I say
Altair: What's up?
Him: What do you mean what's up?
Me: Exactly, what I said.
At this point there is unwavering eye contact and the attempt of physical intimidation.
A bit back and forth....
Him: What is your goal in this interaction?
At this point it is clear to me that he can see through my cloak and is obviously more than the average opponent. I uncloak but remain cloaked to everyone around me including my friends. Who are oblivious to all of this.
Me: What is the goal of any interaction? (what I consider a smokescreen) and then I counter with "What are your goals for this interaction? (before he has a chance to respond to the first question)
He doesn't have a ready made counter.
The interaction just held in this limbo of intimidation and I turn slightly to protect my vitals waiting for him to go for the first hit. Never taking eyes off each other.
His friend comes up, and goes to say something and he just holds up one finger to his mouth like don't talk. He friend complies so this is obviously a person accustomed to power.
We hold eye contact a bit more, then he extends his hand and says "....a worthy opponent". We shake hands with mutual respect and go our seperate ways.
....in all of the countless interactions I have seen and thought about. I have never once seen someone like that...very impressive